122 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
# Approver / Supervisor — Quickstart
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**One-line job:** keep the team unblocked, the system healthy, and
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the customers happy.
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You don't do the pricing or the driving. You make sure the people
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who do have what they need, the system gives them the right signals,
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and the customers don't fall through the cracks.
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## What you do
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- Sign off quotes that landed in `/quotes/approvals`.
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- Handle escalations the operators bring to you (discount, cancellation,
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customer complaint, supplier dispute).
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- Pull the weekly KPI one-pager, run the Monday standup.
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- Write the Friday summary.
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- Set pricing policy when costs / markets shift.
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## Your day
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| Time | What to do |
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| **08:00** | Open `/quotes/approvals`. Clear the queue. Anything > 4 hours old = bug. |
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| **08:30** | Glance at `/dashboard`. Approval rate, pipeline depth, follow-ups due. Anything red? |
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| **13:00** | Re-check `/quotes/approvals`. Anything still pending from this morning is now a bug. |
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| **17:00** | Triage escalations. Every escalation gets a decision or a clear next step. |
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**Monday** (90 min block): pull the weekly KPI one-pager, run the
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standup (15 min), update pricing policy if needed.
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**Friday** (afternoon): write the 1-page weekly summary, forecast
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next month's cash collection.
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## How to do the common stuff
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### 1. Approve a quote
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1. Open `/quotes/approvals`. Oldest first.
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2. For each quote, check:
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- **Customer + rep** — known account? Standing discount?
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- **Every line priced** — any zeros? Refuse and send back.
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- **Markup** — does it match the policy for this category / customer?
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- **Validity date** — realistic?
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3. **Approve** (status → `approved`, operator can send) or
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**Request changes** (operator re-prices) or **Reject** (with
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a reason — not a silent "no").
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4. **Log the decision in the quote's notes** if it's non-obvious
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(e.g. "approved at 18% markup per Aug 2026 customer contract").
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### 2. Handle a "should I give this discount?" escalation
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- **< 5%** — the operator can do it. Tell them to apply and log.
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- **5-15%** — if strategic account OR one-off (large order, end-of-line),
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approve. Otherwise tell the operator to push back.
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- **> 15%** — you (or the owner) call the customer. Don't delegate.
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### 3. Handle a "customer wants to cancel" escalation
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- **No PO sent yet** — easy, cancel the line.
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- **PO sent, supplier hasn't confirmed** — phone the supplier NOW
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(most will cancel without charge if pre-confirm).
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- **PO confirmed, goods in transit / collected** — three options:
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accept and book to stock, refuse delivery (restocking fee?), or
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return-to-vendor. You decide based on the customer + the cost.
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### 4. Set / change pricing policy
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1. Identify the scope (category? customer? supplier?).
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2. Pull the data: current avg markup for that scope, competitor
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pricing, supplier cost trend.
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3. Document the change: scope, new range, effective date, why.
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4. Communicate: post in the team chat, mention Monday standup, pin
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in `/settings` if there's a policy field.
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5. Audit after 2 weeks — is the team actually applying it?
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## Don'ts — the 3 things you must never do
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1. **Never approve a quote without reading it.** 30-second reviews
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miss the wrong SKU, wrong qty, wrong customer. If you don't have
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time, do it later. Don't rubber-stamp.
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2. **Never reject an operator's escalation without a reason.** "No"
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is demoralising. "No, because the markup is below the policy
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for this category" is a teachable moment.
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3. **Never push a system-level decision to the operators.** If
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the data is wrong, the SOP is unclear, or a workflow is
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broken — that's yours to fix, not theirs to work around.
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## When to escalate to the owner (the 4 most common situations)
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- **Strategic account (top 10% by spend) wants bespoke terms.** Call
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the owner. Strategic accounts can have bespoke anything; it's
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a relationship call, not an SOP.
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- **A supplier wants to renegotiate terms that change > 20% of our
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spend.** Call the owner. This is a business call, not an
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operator call.
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- **A customer escalates a quality issue and asks for the owner /
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MD by name.** Call the owner. Don't try to be the buffer.
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- **Anything involving a refund > R50,000, a credit note > R100,000,
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or a write-off.** Call the owner. Documented, in writing.
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## How you're measured (the 3 numbers that matter)
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1. **Approval turnaround** — target: **< 4 working hours median.**
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(Quotes don't sit in your queue.)
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2. **Escalation response time** — target: **< 2 working hours.**
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(Operators aren't blocked waiting on you.)
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3. **Team KPI attainment** — target: **> 80% of operator KPIs at
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target** each week. (Your team is doing their job.)
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Bonus number: **catalogue coverage** — target > 60% of quote items
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matched. If low, the Pricelist Curator needs to upload more supplier
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lists. That's your nudge, not theirs.
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## Who to ask
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- **The owner / MD** — for any of the 4 escalation situations above,
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anything strategic, anything you can't decide alone.
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- **Other supervisors / industry peers** — for pricing policy sanity
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checks ("does this markup make sense for JEI?").
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- **When in doubt, write it down.** If you made a decision, log it
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in the relevant record. Future you (and the auditors) will
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thank you.
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