Story 4: What You Don't Know Will Hurt You- Order Cancellation

While conducting a review of EDI process performance for distribution company we noticed a large number of ‘lost' orders.  It is common practice for customers to put a deadline for fulfilling an order with a missed shipment or acknowledgement causing the order to be considered cancelled.  This customer had almost 30% of the received orders cancelled in that way.  Senior management was aware that some orders are being cancelled but did not realize the magnitude of the percentage.  Adding insult to injury, the customer often requested increased quantities verbally which were not reflected on the invoices.