How to commit to an outcome and have it measured

An outcome is a result you commit to on a purchase order before it happens, measured by Tideswell when its window closes. It is part of What are decisions and track records?: you make one in the order's Memory section, and its verdict counts toward the Track record on Brain › Decisions.

Before you start

Committing to an outcome, or cancelling one, needs two rows on Settings › Permissions: Edit purchase orders and the buying calendar and Change stock, receiving and store settings. Both start at lead; see How to set who can do what.

Your workspace may use its own word for purchase orders; Settings › Terminology shows both.

Why commit in advance?

Because judging a decision afterwards is almost worthless. Everybody can tell a story in which what happened is what they expected.

Writing down "Portside Mills fills at least 95% of this order" before it ships is a real test. Reading the verdict later is a fact rather than a memory.

How do you commit to an outcome?

1. Open the order from Buying › Purchase orders (see What are suppliers and purchase orders?).
2. In the Memory section, which opens on Decisions & outcomes, find Outcomes and press Commit to an outcome.
3. Choose the metric.
4. Type a target if you want one, or leave it empty.
5. Set Window start, which starts on today and can be today or later, and Window end.
6. Press Commit to this outcome.

The commitment appears as a card marked Pending, reading "Tracking through" the end date. A line about it also lands on the order's Activity.

For On-time delivery and Days late, set Window end on or after the date the order is due. If it is earlier, the dialog names the due date and asks you to extend the window.

Which results can you commit to?

Four, each about this one order:

• Fill rate: how much of what was ordered actually arrived. The target is a percent it should reach at least.
• On-time delivery: whether it arrived by its due date. The target is fixed and reads "Target: arrives by its due date."
• Days late: how many days past the due date it landed. The target is the most days late you will accept.
• Units sold: how many of the order's products sold during the window. The target is the fewest units it should sell. The dialog notes that this counts units sold before returns, and only lines linked to a Shopify product.

Leave the target empty to measure the result with no bar to clear. The card then says no target is set, and the verdict reads Measured.

How do you change or withdraw one?

Press Cancel on its card while it is still Pending, then commit a new one with the metric, target or dates you want.

A cancelled commitment stays on the order, marked Cancelled, and no verdict is recorded for it.

How do you attach an outcome to a decision?

Record your decision on the same purchase order first (see How to record a decision). Once the order has a commitment, your decision card shows Attach an outcome…. Pick the commitment from that list.

The verdict then shows on your decision card and in the Verdict column of the decision log. Detach outcome takes it off again.

Only the person who recorded the decision sees Attach an outcome… on it. They can attach a commitment anyone on the order made.

When is it measured?

The day after Window end, as it stood on the end date. Tideswell does the measuring for you, so nobody has to remember.

The person who committed gets a notification: "The results window closed, so this commitment has been measured." The verdict also lands on the order's Activity.

The measuring is done by the Purchase order results automation on Brain › Automations. If someone switches it off, results wait until it is back on and are still measured as at the day the window closed. See How to turn an automation on, off, or run it now.

What verdicts can an outcome get?

• Pending: the window has not closed yet.
• Target met or Target missed, with the measured value, such as 96% or 3 days late.
• Measured: there was no target, so you see the value alone.
• Unmeasurable: the information needed to judge it was not there.
• Cancelled: withdrawn before it was measured.

What does Unmeasurable mean?

That no fair verdict was possible, so Tideswell gives the reason in a sentence rather than a number. For example, the order had no line items, it had no due date, or none of its lines was linked to a Shopify product.

It is never counted as a miss. The Track record shows it in its own Couldn't measure column, and it stays out of the hit rate.

To get a verdict next time, give the order an Arrival or Ship date and match its lines to your Shopify products before the window closes. See How to write a purchase order and How to add products and choose your columns.

Does a met outcome mean the decision caused it?

No, and Tideswell will not say it did.

It reports what was decided and what was measured side by side. A drop that sold through in a warm October is not proof the buyer was right.

Where do you read them all?

On the Track record tab of Brain › Decisions, grouped by supplier, person or team, with a hit rate. See How to read the decision log and check a track record.