A supplier or equipment stop occupies working time even though it is not a customer Visit. Confirm readiness and collection arrangements, include the stop in the day's itinerary, and calculate the onward journey before promising arrival. Keep the dependency visible in the Job so a change at the supplier does not become a surprise at the customer's property.
Check readiness before planning the journey
Identify who will confirm that the required item is available for collection. Check the collection point and any agreed timing directly with the supplier. A branch opening time does not establish that your order will be ready when you arrive.
Record what the Visit depends on and when you will review it. If readiness is uncertain, explain the next customer update rather than treating the collection as a completed task in the schedule.
Count more than driving time
A collection can require parking, queueing, checking the supplied items and loading. Use your experience of that specific process rather than assuming it happens instantly. The sample below shows the calculation; it is not a recommended allowance for all suppliers.
| Step | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Travel to collection point | 20 |
| Collection, checking and loading | 25 |
| Travel to customer | 30 |
| Total before on-site work | 75 |
Protect the dependency in the daily plan
With an 8 am start, the sample reaches the customer at 9:15 before any additional recovery allowance. Promising 9 am would already be inconsistent with the plan. If the customer must provide access at a fixed time, work backwards from that constraint.
Use a planning note or a run-sheet row for the supplier stop. It need not become a fake customer Job simply to occupy a visible row. The important outcome is that the time is accounted for and cannot be promised to another customer.
Recalculate if collection changes
If the order is delayed, confirm whether independent work can proceed or the Visit needs another time. Contact the customer before an affected arrival commitment expires. Do not dispatch someone to a site with a known missing dependency unless the agreed purpose of the Visit has changed.
At week's end, review repeated collection delays. Earlier readiness checks or a different collection arrangement may improve planning more than a larger generic travel buffer. Keep ordering, inventory and procurement in the appropriate business process; Daylane's Job notes support the scheduling handover.
Sources and scope
An original operational guide from the Daylane team at Blu Mint Digital. Scenarios, durations and message wording are illustrative planning examples, not customer results or industry benchmarks. Product references were checked against the Daylane implementation on 5 September 2026. Adapt the workflow to your service, customer agreements and working conditions.
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