How to Track Supplier Lead Times and Late Deliveries

Why you only find out a supplier is late when the shelf is empty

A purchase order usually carries one delivery date, if any. When a supplier ships part of an order now and the rest in three weeks, that one date is wrong for half the lines, and nobody can tell which lines are actually late.

Without dates on the order and receipts linked to it, there is no record of how long a supplier really takes. Reorder points are set from the supplier's own claim, and the first sign of a slow supplier is a stockout.

Line delivery dates, receipts linked to the order, and a report that compares the two give you a measured lead time and an on-time rate for each supplier, plus a list of what is overdue today.

Why this happens

• Orders have no delivery date, so nothing can be late.
• One header date covers lines that arrive weeks apart.
• Goods are received without linking the receipt to the order.
• Lead times are the supplier's estimate, never measured.

Biznsbook addresses this through delivery date per order line, lead times report, late lines on the purchase dashboard, measured supplier lead times in the Purchase module, on the same orders, receipts, bills and stock records.

Purchasing problems rarely start with one big mistake. They start with a price nobody checked, a bill keyed twice, or goods used before anyone looked at them. Recording each step where it happens removes those gaps.

Step-by-step: Track Supplier Lead Times and Late Deliveries

Written for buyers, store keepers and accounts payable teams in small and mid-sized businesses. The steps follow Purchase in Biznsbook.

1. Set the supplier's default lead time. Open Purchasing → Payment terms and find Supplier purchasing defaults. Enter the Lead time (days) per supplier and save that row. It is used when there is no supplier-specific lead time for the item.
2. Date the order and its lines. On a new purchase order, enter the expected delivery date; it is often suggested from the supplier lead time. When items arrive at different times, set the line's own delivery date in the date field under its quantity. A blank line date falls back to the order's expected delivery date, and line dates print on the order and its PDF, so the supplier sees them too.
3. Read the planning warnings. The form warns when the expected delivery is earlier than the supplier's lead time. It is a warning, not a block.
4. Receive against the order. On an Approved order choose Receive goods, or receive against the order in Fast Receive, so the GRN is linked to it. Receipts without an order are left out of lead time figures.
5. Watch late lines. Purchasing → Reports → Purchase dashboard shows late and due-this-week lines and the most overdue deliveries. Each tile opens the matching list.
6. Review each supplier. Open Purchasing → Reports → Lead times for each supplier's receipts, % on time, promised vs actual days from the order date and average days late, every receipt with its promised and received date, and open order lines past their delivery date.

Review results after the first full monthly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.

Inside Biznsbook, each Purchasing screen explains its own steps. This article explains the business process behind those screens.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistake 1: Orders have no delivery date, so nothing can be late. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 2: One header date covers lines that arrive weeks apart. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 3: Goods are received without linking the receipt to the order. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.
• Mistake 4: Lead times are the supplier's estimate, never measured. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in a supplier paid the wrong amount, late, or for goods that never arrived.

Each of these shows up later as a supplier balance nobody can explain. Fix it on the order, receipt or bill rather than in a side spreadsheet.

Best practices that hold up as you scale

• Set the supplier's default lead time — Open Purchasing → Payment terms and find Supplier purchasing defaults.
• Date the order and its lines — On a new purchase order, enter the expected delivery date; it is often suggested from the supplier lead time.
• Read the planning warnings — The form warns when the expected delivery is earlier than the supplier's lead time.
• Receive against the order — On an Approved order choose Receive goods, or receive against the order in Fast Receive, so the GRN is linked to it.
• Watch late lines — Purchasing → Reports → Purchase dashboard shows late and due-this-week lines and the most overdue deliveries.

Keep the order, the receipt and the bill linked, so every payment can be traced back to what was ordered and what arrived.

How Biznsbook supports this workflow

delivery date per order line is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

lead times report is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

late lines on the purchase dashboard is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

measured supplier lead times is part of Biznsbook Purchase. It works on the same purchase orders, goods receipts and supplier bills, so stock, payables and the ledger stay in step.

Access is permission-based: viewing, creating, editing and approving purchases are separate permissions. Purchase orders and goods receipts need the Inventory module; postings to accounts payable need Accounting.

Suggested implementation timeline

1. Week 1: Set up delivery date per order line and give buyers and accounts payable the permissions they need.
2. Week 2: Run one supplier end to end in Biznsbook only: order, receipt, bill and payment, with no side spreadsheet.
3. Week 3: Review the exceptions with the people involved and adjust the rules where they disagreed.
4. Month 2: Roll out to every supplier and retire the old tracking sheet.
5. Ongoing: Monthly review using where the measured lead time is used.

Related guides

Cluster hub: Purchasing guides. Also see three-way match and, for approvals before an order, procurement guides.

The Purchase overview lists what the module includes; the Purchasing edition bundles it with receiving and accounting.

Industry: wholesale, manufacturing, retail.

Metrics to track monthly

• Open purchase order lines past their delivery date
• Bills waiting in bill matching
• Overdue supplier bills and bills due in the next 7 days
• Purchase price variance by supplier this month

Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.

Spreadsheets and email vs Biznsbook Purchase

Compare a typical spreadsheet-and-email buying process with Biznsbook delivery date per order line and the related Purchase capabilities.

Where the measured lead time is used

Measured supplier lead times feed the delivery date suggestion on new purchase orders, the earlier-than-lead-time warning, and replenishment planning. They count only receipts linked to a purchase order, so receiving against the order matters as much as setting the date. When an approved order is revised, the Revisions tab keeps each earlier version with its delivery dates.

Write the rule into your purchasing procedure so buyers, store keepers and accounts payable follow the same steps, and revisit it each quarter.

Frequently asked questions

How this differs by industry