Glossary
What is an unconfirmed purchase order? Risks and fixes
Unconfirmed purchase order: An unconfirmed purchase order is an open order line the supplier has not yet confirmed with a quantity and a date, so the date in your ERP is only your request.
By Roufaida Bouchamha, founder
The definition
A purchase order line is unconfirmed when the supplier has not committed to a quantity and a delivery date for it. The line is open in the ERP and carries a date, but that date is the one you requested when you placed the order, not one the supplier accepted.
Most ERPs keep both: a requested date and a confirmed date. When the confirmed date is empty, every report that uses the line, from MRP to the past-due list, treats your request as if it were a promise.
Why unconfirmed lines are a hidden risk
- They look on time until they are late. A line due in three weeks raises no flag, even if the supplier never planned to ship it then.
- They make planned supply look larger than it is. Shortage checks assume the quantity arrives on the requested date.
- They are invisible in the past-due report until the requested date has passed, which is often too late to react at normal cost.
- They distort supplier scores. On-time delivery and OTIF measured against a date the supplier never accepted mix your planning with their performance.
How to find them
- Export open purchase order lines with both the requested and the confirmed date, if your ERP has the two fields.
- Flag lines with no confirmed date, and lines older than a few days with no confirmation at all.
- Add the item's days of cover next to each line: an unconfirmed line for a part with little stock is the one to ask about first.
How to reduce them
- Ask for a confirmation with quantity and date on every line, within a fixed number of days after sending the order.
- Record the confirmed date in the ERP the same day, and keep the first confirmed date for measurement.
- Review unconfirmed lines weekly by supplier. Our guide on supplier order confirmations gives a simple daily routine.
Illustrative example, not a customer result
A buyer has 300 open lines. 42 have no confirmed date. Adding days of cover shows that 6 of those 42 are for parts with less than two weeks of stock. Those 6 get a call today asking for a firm date; the other 36 go into the weekly confirmation request.
How WERISCO helps
WERISCO flags late and undated supplier orders by severity, with each part's days of cover shown as evidence, and lists the data gaps that block the analysis, such as orders without a promised date, from your ERP or your exports. It does not contact suppliers; your team decides. Nothing is written back to your ERP.
Questions people ask
- What is an unconfirmed purchase order?
- An open order line the supplier has not confirmed with a quantity and a date. The date in the ERP is still the buyer's request.
- Why are unconfirmed purchase orders risky?
- Plans and shortage checks treat the requested date as a promise. The line only shows up as late once that date has passed, often too late to fix at normal cost.
- What is the difference between the requested and the confirmed date?
- The requested date is when the buyer asked for the goods. The confirmed date is when the supplier committed to deliver them. Planning should use the confirmed date when it exists.
