The customer asks for 24 tonnes at their site on 28 October. NetSuite shows 16 tonnes available now and another 8 tonnes due from production. Sales needs a delivery date for the full request, not just the stock that is ready first.
To make that promise, your team needs to establish when each quantity can leave your facility and how it will reach the customer. Availability calculations help with the supply position. The remaining work is checking production, transport and any conditions the customer must meet.
Establish whether the date means availability, dispatch or arrival
Requested delivery, supplier dispatch, warehouse availability and customer arrival are not interchangeable. Keep them distinct in the order handoff process and on the customer document.
Oracle’s Available to Promise methods calculate availability using supply information. Accounts using Supply Allocation can have different behavior through Earliest Availability. Confirm which planning features your team uses before designing a quote workflow around a particular field or screen.
For our steel request, “available on 26 October” does not necessarily mean “at the customer’s site on 26 October.” Operations may still need to inspect and load the material, and logistics needs to confirm transport.
Build the plan for all 24 tonnes
Suppose the first 16 tonnes are available on 22 October and the remaining 8 tonnes finish on 26 October. To promise arrival on the 28th, your team must confirm that inspection and transport after the 26th fit into that window.
Do not promise all 24 tonnes from the date shown for the first 16. Build the plan for the full requirement, or prepare a partial delivery option with separate quantities and dates.
| Question | Owner who should answer |
|---|---|
| Is the required stock available for this commitment? | Inventory or planning |
| Is incoming supply confirmed? | Purchasing or production |
| What processing remains? | Operations |
| What transport service will meet the site date? | Logistics |
| Will the buyer accept an alternative schedule? | Commercial owner |
Record when each answer was checked. A plan built last week may need review before you send the quote today.
Distinguish the remaining production time from the customer’s waiting time. The Lean Enterprise Institute’s order lead-time definition includes order-processing and downstream delays. “Production completes Friday” therefore needs a second check before sales promises arrival on Friday.
For the final 8 tonnes, work backward from the receiving appointment through transit, carrier collection and any release inspection. Record each confirmed date separately. If collection runs only twice a week, finishing one hour after the cutoff can matter more than saving a day earlier in production. Give sales the resulting arrival date and the condition most likely to change it.
Tell the customer which actions the schedule depends on
If production depends on drawing approval, state the required approval date. If purchasing depends on the customer’s deposit, include that dependency in the internal plan and relevant customer terms.
Use supplier lead-time confirmation to establish when the vendor’s clock starts. A quoted duration without a start event cannot produce a reliable arrival promise.
Do not hide a best-case assumption inside a firm date. Offer a conditional schedule where appropriate, or ask the responsible owner to confirm a firm commitment. The buyer should know what they must do to preserve the date.
Recheck the promise when the PO arrives
The customer may accept after quote expiry or increase the quantity. Reconcile that through PO matching, then check whether the original supply still supports the offer.
Bourne can bring current supply records, supplier messages and open approvals into the commercial workspace. It can propose a schedule and identify the unresolved dependency. The planning or operations owner remains responsible for confirming what the company can deliver.
After release, monitor changes to the supporting milestones. If production moves the final 8 tonnes to a later date, the account manager should receive the affected commitment and a proposed customer update. They can then agree a revised schedule instead of discovering the delay from the buyer.
Frequently asked questions
Is available-to-promise the same as customer delivery date?
Not necessarily. Check what the calculation represents in your account, then include remaining processing and transport required to reach the customer’s site.
Should a quote reserve stock automatically?
Only if that is your agreed process and your configuration supports it. Do not imply a reservation simply because an availability check showed stock when the quote was prepared.
What should happen when a customer accepts an old delivery date?
Recheck the supply position and accepted terms. Have the commercial owner resolve any difference with the buyer before releasing a commitment operations cannot support.
Further reading
Lean Enterprise Institute: cycle and lead times
Definitions that distinguish processing time from the time a customer waits.
Buğra Gündüz
Buğra Gündüz is the co-founder and CEO of Bourne and co-founder of HockeyStack. He built HockeyStack into an eight-figure AI business. At Bourne, he works with entrepreneurs and established companies to create AI products and services.