This page is for a merchandiser or production manager who already keeps an approval matrix, calculates an OTIF rate, and reads a trend scorecard, but has never brought all three into one combined worksheet reviewed at a single sitting. At work, checking three separate tools on three separate occasions means nobody ever sees, at one glance, how an open approval, a slipping OTIF rate and a worsening trend on the same order are connected. This lesson mainly teaches the decision flow: it shows how to build one combined worksheet that answers, in a single review, whether an order is genuinely on track.
Delta Garments runs a hybrid shift, part of the line producing Order A's export goods for Northline Apparel, the rest producing Cedar & Co.'s own domestic reorder. Mona must brief Karim, the production manager, and prepare for Cedar & Co.'s next planning call using all three tools from this course, approval matrix, OTIF rate, and trend scorecard, at once, rather than three separate documents nobody has actually compared side by side.
You need: no previous lesson from this track is required, though this lesson combines the approval matrix built in T27-C04-L01, the OTIF rate calculated in T27-C04-L02, and the trend scorecard built in T27-C04-L03 into one worksheet.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: any further course beyond this lesson, since this is the final lesson of Track 27, Buyer-Side Order and Supplier Management.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Approval matrix | A single list of every approval a specific order needs, across every approval type, each with its own due date, owner and current status. |
| OTIF rate | The share of a supplier's past shipments that were both on time and in full, calculated together, not as two separate figures. |
| Trend scorecard | A single record placing a supplier's own figures for several consecutive seasons side by side, so a trend, not just a snapshot, becomes visible. |
| Combined worksheet | One working document drawing an approval matrix, an OTIF rate, and a trend scorecard together for a single order or supplier, so all three can be checked in one review. |
| Line-split record | A record inside a combined worksheet that keeps a hybrid shift's own export-line and domestic-line figures separate, rather than blending them into one shared number. |
| Single-review check | Reading every relevant figure for an order or supplier in one sitting, using one combined document, instead of checking each tool separately on different occasions. |
The general rule is that a genuinely useful supplier review draws the approval matrix, the OTIF rate, and the trend scorecard together into one worksheet, checked in a single sitting. Reviewing each tool on its own can leave every individual check looking fine while the combination of a slow approval, a falling OTIF rate, and a worsening trend, taken together, is exactly what should change a decision. A combined worksheet exists specifically to catch that combination, which three separate documents, read on three separate days, are unlikely to reveal.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Single-order export shift | A shift running only Order A's export goods has one approval matrix and one OTIF trend to combine, with no line-split needed. | A single-order shift's combined worksheet is simpler, since every figure on it already belongs to the same order. |
| Single-order domestic shift | A shift running only Cedar & Co.'s domestic reorder combines its own approval matrix, if any is required for a familiar style, with its own OTIF trend from past reorders. | A domestic reorder on a familiar style can have a shorter approval matrix, per lesson T27-C04-L01's real-life variants, but still needs its own OTIF trend tracked in the combined worksheet. |
| Hybrid shift running both order types on shared capacity | Delta Garments' own hybrid shift needs Order A's export-line figures and Cedar & Co.'s domestic-line figures kept in separate rows of the same combined worksheet, never blended into one shared score. | Blending a hybrid shift's two order types into one combined figure hides which specific line, export or domestic, is actually carrying the risk. |
| Order tracked through an agent for a combined worksheet review | Meridian Sourcing preparing a combined worksheet for a European buyer draws the same three tools together but adds a column recording which stage, buyer, agent, or factory, each delay or shortfall actually originated at. | An agent's own combined worksheet needs to show where in the chain a problem started, not only that a problem exists on the order. |
Mona pulls together Order A's own approval matrix, its OTIF trend across recent seasons, and Cedar & Co.'s own domestic reorder figures into one worksheet, keeping the two lines in separate rows throughout.
The combined worksheet correctly flags two separate, specific risks, Order A's export-line trend and Cedar & Co.'s domestic-line open approval, rather than one vague overall status. Neither risk would be visible from the other line's own figures alone, which is exactly why the two lines are kept separate inside one worksheet rather than averaged into a single combined score.
A common mistake is a merchandiser combining a hybrid shift's export-line and domestic-line figures into a single blended score for a report, on the reasoning that "it's all one shift, one number is simpler." The mistake persists because a blended figure genuinely is simpler to report, and it can still look acceptable even while one of the two lines underneath it is in real trouble. What this costs is real: if Mona reports one blended OTIF figure for Delta Garments' hybrid shift instead of Order A's own falling 80% and Cedar & Co.'s steady 90% kept separate, Northline Apparel's own planning call proceeds without ever learning that its specific export line, not the shift as a whole, is the one actually trending toward risk.
Checking an approval list, an on-time-in-full rate, and a trend across seasons on three separate occasions means nobody ever sees how the three connect on the same order at the same time, so building one combined worksheet that holds all three together is what actually answers whether an order is on track. A shift producing two different orders at once needs those two orders kept in separate rows inside that one worksheet, never blended into a single shared score, because a blended figure can hide exactly which order is carrying the real risk. Reporting each line's own specific flag, rather than one vague overall status, is what lets a buyer and a factory work from the same combined, separated picture.
Delta Garments' combined worksheet shows Order A's export line with a falling OTIF trend, now at 80%, and Cedar & Co.'s domestic line with a steady 90% OTIF rate but one open trim approval. Karim suggests reporting a single, simpler combined figure of "85% overall, on track" to save time before the call.
Should Mona report Karim's single blended figure, or the two lines' own separate figures? Decide before opening the answer.
No, Mona should report the two lines' own separate figures, not Karim's blended 85%. A single averaged number hides both of the specific, actionable risks the combined worksheet actually found.
First, Order A's export line is trending down at 80% this season, a real risk to Northline Apparel's own next placement, that an 85% blended figure would understate.
Second, Cedar & Co.'s domestic line has one open trim approval that, per lesson T27-C04-L01's own method, needs a specific, named follow-up, something "approvals are progressing" does not communicate.
Mona should report Order A's export-line OTIF trend to Northline Apparel and Cedar & Co.'s open trim approval to Cedar & Co. as two separate, specific items, keeping the combined worksheet's own line-split intact rather than collapsing it into Karim's simpler but less useful single figure.
Reporting Karim's blended 85% figure to Northline Apparel would understate Order A's own real 80% risk by 5 percentage points, on an order of 15,000 pieces, enough to leave a genuine trend problem looking like ordinary variation. The combined worksheet's entire value is in refusing that shortcut: keeping the two lines separate is what lets both Northline Apparel and Cedar & Co. receive the specific figure that actually applies to their own order.
Open the course workbook's "Combined scorecard" sheet, which draws rows from the "Approval matrix," "OTIF rate," and "Trend scorecard" sheets built across this course's four lessons. Enter or confirm each line's own figures; the sheet keeps export and domestic lines in separate rows and flags each line's own specific risk with a live formula.
[Download the Approvals and OTIF scorecard worksheet](../../templates/T27-C04-approvals-and-otif-scorecard-worksheet.xlsx)
1. A hybrid shift's export line has an OTIF rate of 72% and its domestic line has an OTIF rate of 96%. What is the risk of reporting one blended figure of 84% instead of the two separate figures?
2. A combined worksheet shows an order's approval matrix fully cleared, its current OTIF rate acceptable, but its trend falling steadily for three seasons. What should this combination lead a buyer to do?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval matrix | مصفوفة الموافقات | Matrice d'approbation | Onay matrisi | A single list of every approval a specific order needs, across every approval type, each with its own due date, owner and current status. |
| OTIF rate | معدل OTIF | Taux OTIF | OTIF oranı | The share of a supplier's past shipments that were both on time and in full, calculated together, not as two separate figures. |
| Trend scorecard | بطاقة تقييم الاتجاه | Fiche d'évaluation de tendance | Trend puan kartı | A single record placing a supplier's own figures for several consecutive seasons side by side, so a trend, not just a snapshot, becomes visible. |
| Combined worksheet | ورقة العمل المجمَّعة | Fiche combinée | Birleşik çalışma sayfası | One working document drawing an approval matrix, an OTIF rate, and a trend scorecard together for a single order or supplier, so all three can be checked in one review. |
| Line-split record | سجل مقسَّم حسب الخط | Registre séparé par ligne | Hatta göre ayrılmış kayıt | A record inside a combined worksheet that keeps a hybrid shift's own export-line and domestic-line figures separate, rather than blending them into one shared number. |
| Single-review check | فحص في مراجعة واحدة | Vérification en une seule revue | Tek incelemede kontrol | Reading every relevant figure for an order or supplier in one sitting, using one combined document, instead of checking each tool separately on different occasions. |
You have now completed Track 27, Buyer-Side Order and Supplier Management, and its own final course on approvals, OTIF and supplier scorecards. Back to the course map