Written by DROPS.ST.
When an expected wholesale delivery is incomplete, compare what your business requested, what the supplier confirmed and what was received. A line never confirmed needs a different follow-up from a confirmed line missing from the delivery.
DROPS gives you a clear shop record for the decisions that follow: product references, units and stock belong to the catalogue, while customer-linked orders retain the items buyers selected. Your team can identify the sales-side work affected by a supplier discrepancy.
Supplier purchases, receipts and shortage claims remain in a separate approved process; DROPS catalogue and sales-order records do not establish native procurement or receiving software.
Establish the delivery being checked
Record the supplier, purchasing reference, destination and delivery reference. State whether you are checking one shipment or the cumulative result of several.
Preserve the supplier confirmation showing each item, unit and quantity. Do not assume every requested line was accepted.
Identify what was due in this shipment. If delivery is split across dates, a later scheduled line should not automatically become a shortage today.
This guide concerns paperwork for authorised business transactions. It does not define a regulated supply route or required traceability system.
Compare the lines
| Record element | Capture | Question answered |
|---|---|---|
| Item identity | Supplier reference, shop reference and unit | Same item in each record? |
| Requested quantity | Quantity and request version | What was asked for? |
| Confirmed quantity | Quantity and confirmation reference | What was accepted? |
| Quantity due now | Amount assigned to this delivery | What should arrive now? |
| Received quantity | Checked count and receipt reference | What arrived? |
| Open difference | Quantity, evidence and known explanation | What remains unresolved? |
| Next action | Owner, question and review date | Who resolves it? |
Keep units explicit. Four cases and forty-eight units agree only if each case contains twelve units. Record the mapping between supplier and shop references rather than combining similar descriptions.
BDC’s procurement guidance describes comparing received quantities and prices with purchasing documents and retaining receipt evidence. This worksheet uses that comparison principle without assuming a procurement application. BDC: digital procurement.
Separate confirmation and receipt differences
Use these calculations when quantities have the same unit:
Confirmation difference = requested quantity − confirmed quantity.
Receipt difference = quantity due in the checked shipment − quantity received.
A positive result means fewer units at that stage. A negative result means more units were confirmed or received than the comparison record indicates; investigate rather than silently accepting it.
The calculations identify questions, not invoice decisions, refund amounts or liability. A revised confirmation, incomplete delivery and counting error need different explanations.
Hypothetical example: two gaps, not one loss
A fictional business requests twelve units of item A. The supplier confirms ten, all due in one shipment. Staff count eight on arrival.
The confirmation difference is 12 − 10 = 2 units: requested but not confirmed.
The receipt difference is 10 − 8 = 2 units: confirmed as due but not accounted for in the receipt.
The team asks whether the confirmed missing units are delayed, omitted or explained by another document. Separately, the purchasing owner decides what to do about the units never confirmed.
Calling all four units “lost in transit” would invent an explanation.
Follow up without counting a receipt twice
For split deliveries, retain each shipment reference and add only distinct receipts. An updated document may replace an earlier version rather than describe another shipment. A recount verifies an existing receipt; it is not a second delivery.
Separate arrival from completion of your required receiving checks. Quantity may be present while identity, condition or paperwork remains unresolved.
Send a precise question through the approved business channel: reference, line, unit, quantity due, checked quantity and supporting documents. Assign one person to retain the response and decide the next action.
If timing remains unknown, record it as unknown. An informal possibility is not a confirmed delivery date.
Review the shop consequences
Once the receipt facts are understood, compare the authorised stock source with relevant customer orders. DROPS product references and customer-linked items provide the sales-side context.
Make stock corrections through the authorised process. If the checked source and menu disagree, use the menu accuracy incident guide.
For an affected customer order, follow the agreed confirmation process. Do not silently substitute an item or treat the initial request as approval for another outcome. The wholesale enquiry guide explains that initial handoff.
Keep the next decision clear with DROPS
Choose DROPS when you want the products you offer and the items customers ordered connected in one shop. Those records give the team concrete sales-side facts to review after identifying a supplier shortage.
Explore DROPS and open the demo shops. Bring a fictional requested-confirmed-received comparison and inspect the catalogue and customer-order context it affects. Keep supplier reconciliation in its approved process, then use clear shop records for the next authorised action.