Past-due purchase orders: how to work the report

A past-due purchase order report can list hundreds of open lines, and days late alone won't tell you which one to work first. Rank by the build each line blocks, and the line that threatens tomorrow's schedule rises above a late safety-stock order that can wait. A clean report, ranked by the build each line blocks and checked every day, catches a slipping date before the build stops.

What is a past-due purchase order report?

A report of past due purchase orders lists every late purchase order line whose promise date has passed before the parts arrive. A useful report shows the need date, the promise date, days late, which build the line feeds, and the date of the last supplier contact, so a buyer can act on it without opening the file behind it.

What columns does a past-due report need?

A past-due report needs six fields on every line: the need date, the promise date, days late measured against the promise date, the build or work order the line is pegged to, the date of the last supplier contact, and one next action with an owner. Without the build column, the report can only rank by days late.

The table below lists all six.

Columns a past-due report needs

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A table of six columns a past-due purchase order report needs: need date, promise date, days late, the build or work order the line is pegged to, the date of the last supplier contact, and the next action with its owner. For each column the table gives why it matters and which system field usually supplies it.

Column	Why it matters	Typical source field
Need date	Shows when the build actually requires the part, separate from what was requested	MRP need date or order requirement date
Promise date	Shows what the supplier committed to, so a slip has a date to slip against	Supplier acknowledgement or confirmed ship or delivery date field
Days late	Measures against the promise date, separate from the need date, so the two don't get confused	Today's date minus the promise date
Build or work order pegged	Shows which build the line feeds, so triage can rank by impact instead of by days late	MRP pegging or allocation to the work order or sales order
Last supplier contact	Shows whether anyone has asked for a new date recently, so no line goes untouched	Task or email log entry date
Next action and owner	Gives every line a single accountable next step instead of an open question	Task record

The build-pegging field usually comes from MRP allocation or order pegging. Pull it from the system that already links supply to demand. The last-contact field only stays honest if every date request gets logged against the line, whether it went by phone, email or a task.

Why clean the report before you work it?

Before triage, remove three kinds of noise: parts that arrived but whose receipt hasn't posted, lines nobody needs anymore, and lines the supplier never confirmed to a date. Otherwise the team spends its calls on lines that need no decision.

A receipt stuck in three-way match or inspection can leave a line looking past due for parts already sitting on your dock. Check open receipts before calling the supplier. A line the plan no longer needs, because a work order closed or an engineering change dropped it, should go to the planner to cancel. A line still waiting on its first confirmed date is a different problem: many ERP reports show it against the requested date because no promise date exists yet, so it isn't really late against a promise the supplier made. Track it as unconfirmed and chase a confirmed date; see purchase order acknowledgement for what a complete acknowledgement covers.

Is a line late against its promise date, or against your need date?

A line can be late two different ways, and a past-due report should show both. It is late against its promise date once the supplier's confirmed date passes without receipt. It is late against your need date once the delay reaches the point where the build can no longer start on time.

For example, a line promised three weeks ago and still not received is deeply late against its promise date. If the build that uses it doesn't start for another two months, the line isn't yet late against the need date, and a daily call about it competes for attention with a line that is. Promise date vs need date covers how to set and reconcile the two.

How do you triage a past-due line?

Triage every past-due line through the same four questions, in order: has the receipt not posted, is the part still needed, does the line have a confirmed new date, and does that date land after the need date. The answer sorts the line into one next action.

The figure below shows the four checks in order.

Triage for a past-due line

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A four-question decision tree for triaging one past-due purchase order line. Question one: has the receipt arrived but not posted; if yes, fix the receiving record instead of chasing the supplier. If no, question two: is the part still needed; if no, cancel or reduce the line. If yes, question three: does the line have a confirmed new date; if no, get a date before anything else, then return to question four once the supplier gives one. If yes, question four: does the new date land after the need date; if yes, expedite; if no, monitor.

1. 1

   Receiving check

   Question

   Received but not posted?

   If yes

   Fix the receiving record; the line isn't really past due

   If no

   Continue to the next check

2. 2

   Need check

   Question

   Still needed?

   If yes

   Continue to the next check

   If no

   Cancel or reduce the line

3. 3

   Date check

   Question

   Confirmed new date?

   If yes

   Continue to the next check

   If no

   Get a date before anything else, then return to step 4 once the supplier gives one

4. 4

   Impact check

   Question

   New date lands after need date?

   If yes

   Expedite

   If no

   Monitor

Days late only tells you how long ago the promise date passed. For example, a safety-stock replenishment fifty days late can wait another week, while a line feeding next week's build cannot wait a day. Triage on the fourth question and let that decide the priority.

Why do you need a date before you look for a cause?

A past-due line with no new date is risk you cannot size. Until the supplier gives a date, you don't know whether the line is a day from arriving or a month away, so get the date first and ask what caused the delay after.

Asking for a root cause before a date invites a long explanation that still leaves the build unprotected. Once the line has a new date, ask why the first one slipped, so the same cause doesn't repeat on the next order to that supplier. Supplier not responding covers what to do when the supplier won't give either.

In the United States

Under UCC §2-609, as enacted in most states, reasonable grounds for insecurity about a supplier's performance let a buyer demand adequate assurance of due performance in writing; see supplier not responding for how to send that demand. On a past-due line, missed dates on earlier lines or releases under the same order or agreement may give grounds to demand assurance for the deliveries still to come, and that right survives even after you accept a late or partial delivery. UCC §2-609(1) and (3). Between merchants, commercial standards decide what grounds and what assurance are reasonable. UCC §2-609(2). Failure to give adequate assurance within a reasonable time, not exceeding 30 days after a justified demand, is a repudiation of the contract, and a repudiation lets the buyer treat the remaining deliveries as breached under UCC §2-610, rather than wait out the full delay. UCC §2-609(4). The rule assumes a contract exists and the UCC applies, so check your contract and counsel before sending a formal demand.

Selling into the EU?

EU law doesn't harmonize remedies for late delivery between businesses, so German law is shown here. Once the contract fixes a calendar date for delivery, missing it puts the supplier in default without a reminder (Mahnung), unless the delay isn't the supplier's fault. § 286 Abs. 2 Nr. 1, Abs. 4 BGB. Default entitles the buyer to damages for the loss the delay caused. § 280 Abs. 1–2 with § 286 BGB. Claiming damages instead of performance, or withdrawing, also needs a reasonable further deadline (Nachfrist) that passes without delivery, unless, for example, the supplier has seriously and finally refused to deliver, or, for withdrawal, you flagged the date as essential before the contract. § 281 Abs. 1–2 BGB. § 323 Abs. 1–2 BGB. For a cross-border sale between businesses in different CISG Contracting States, every EU member state but Ireland and Malta, the buyer may fix a reasonable additional period for delivery, may not use another remedy while it runs unless the seller refuses in time, keeps any delay-damages claim, and may avoid the contract if the seller still hasn't delivered, or refuses to, by then. Contracts can exclude the CISG. CISG Arts. 1, 6, 47(1)–(2) and 49(1)(b).

What is a working rhythm for past-due lines?

Work the past-due report on a fixed rhythm, with one owner accountable for every open line. At scale, every past-due line needs a date request each day, and that daily pass is where lines get missed without an owner. Rank the calls so the line blocking a build gets attention first.

Give each open line an owner, so a date request doesn't wait for whoever notices it next. When a line is due and nothing has been received, a readiness signal opens a task, and Cartograph hands it to your team or Scout Agent, who emails and calls the supplier for a new date, within the permissions your team sets. Weekly, roll every line still blocking a build into a shared list so the whole team sees which lines threaten which build.

When do you escalate a past-due line to expediting?

Escalate a past-due line to expediting once its date, confirmed or not, no longer covers the build's need date. A past-due report finds the line and gets a date; expediting chooses how to close whatever gap remains between that date and the need date.

Not every past-due line needs expediting. A line already committed to a new date that still lands before the need date only needs tracking until it arrives; see purchase order tracking for that check. Move a line into expediting once the confirmed date, or the absence of one, puts the need date itself at risk.

Questions teams ask

How many days late does a line have to be before it counts as past due?

A line counts as past due the day after its promise date passes before the parts arrive. Days late sorts the report; it isn't a threshold for adding a line to it.

What if the receiving dock already has the parts but the report still shows the line open?

Check for an unposted receipt before you call the supplier. A receipt still moving through three-way match or inspection can leave a line looking past due for parts that already arrived.

Can planners keep using the original promise date until a new one is confirmed?

Only as a placeholder marked as missed. Until the supplier gives a new date, treat the line as risk you can't size and chase the date first.

Should every past-due line go to expediting?

Send only the lines whose date, confirmed or not, no longer covers the need date. A line with a new confirmed date that still lands in time only needs tracking until it arrives.

If your team works a past-due report of more than a handful of lines, talk to our team about how Cartograph's readiness signals open a date request as each line comes due.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check how the rules apply to your business with your legal or tax advisor.

Sources (7)

1. UCC §2-609, Right to Adequate Assurance of Performance (Cornell LII)
2. § 286 BGB, Verzug des Schuldners
3. § 281 BGB, Schadensersatz statt der Leistung wegen nicht oder nicht wie geschuldet erbrachter Leistung
4. § 323 BGB, Rücktritt wegen nicht oder nicht vertragsgemäß erbrachter Leistung
5. UCC §2-610, Anticipatory Repudiation (Cornell LII)
6. United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (UNCITRAL), Arts. 1, 6, 47 and 49
7. UNCITRAL, CISG status table (Contracting States)