Here's a question sure to cause dread in the hearts of Buyers everywhere: Where's my stuff?
Assuming that the end user has filled out all proper requisitions, the Purchasing Department has processed all the necessary paperwork in a timely fashion, and the item is not already sitting in your company's receiving area, then there is no good answer to that question past "I've placed the order and it's on the way."
The end user is not going to be satisfied with that. (Would you if you were the end user and did not know how things happened behind the scenes in Purchasing?)
If you are constantly being confronted with this question, you need to do two things:
1) Manage Expectations. Years ago, when I was a Buying Assistant, our system was automatically set to assign a two week lead time to all products. No matter what someone ordered, we always said it would take two weeks for him or her to get it. That was terrible! Buyers need to know how long it takes their vendors to send items and that information should be customized in the system per item or per vendor, whichever makes the most sense in a given situation.
2) Track Delivery Times. This one is the hard part. Buyers need to track lead times from vendors. First, they need to ask the vendors, then they need to measure to see if reality meets promises. Those vendors that are consistently late should be dealt with per the terms of the contract, and the expectations should be adjusted all around.
The reporting features of purchase order system should be able to provide delivery stats. A low-tech, but almost as effective way would be to set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep an eye on a limited number of vendors.
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