Why Accurate Shipment Dates Make or Break Your Automation

Many growing retailers still track Purchase Orders (POs) and transfers manually using Google Sheets or Airtable. While this works for a while, it often causes friction when you adopt an automated inventory planning tool like Singuli.

For retailers still relying on manual tracking, we strongly recommend moving to a dedicated system like Flexport, Sage (previously Anvyl). If that isn’t possible yet, you may need to upgrade how you manage your data. Here is why.

Humans vs. Machines: The Context Gap

A human operator knows that a shipment is “sitting on the dock” or “stuck in customs,” even if the date in the spreadsheet has passed.

A system like Singuli, however, relies strictly on hard data, often Shipment ETA and Current Inventory.

• If a shipment date passes but inventory doesn’t increase, the system can’t always assume the goods are still coming.
• If inventory spikes early, the system struggles to reconcile it against the scheduled arrival and might double count inventory for a while.

Without accurate data, the system cannot accurately predict your future stock needs or suggest the right POs.

How to Upgrade Your Manual Tracking

If you must stick to manual spreadsheets, you need to be more rigorous to help your automation tools succeed. Don’t just track the “Date”. We recommend you also track:

1. Detailed Status Codes Differentiate between “Arrived” and “Available.” Use specific statuses such as:

• At Warehouse: Delivered, but not yet processed.
• Receiving: Inventory is trickling in; counts are changing.
• Fully Received: Fully received; no further movement expected.

2. Actual Received Quantities If a shipment of 1,000 units arrives but only 100 have been processed, your tracker must reflect that. Don’t mark the whole shipment as “Done” until the inventory counts match.

3. Exceptions (Rejections & Missing Units) If a shipment was short by 200 units, mark those as “Missing” or “Rejected” immediately. If you leave them as “Expected,” the system will continue waiting for inventory that will never arrive.

The Bottom Line

Automated tools like Singuli require a level of data hygiene that human teams often overlook. If you aren’t using a platform like Flexport to automate this, your manual tracking needs to be precise, granular, and up-to-date to ensure your planning stays on track.