Sampling: every sample round on record

Each product has a Sampling tab. Record the samples you order from your suppliers there, review them when they arrive, and keep every round with its photos, notes and price in one place.

#Where samples live

Open a product from its collection, pick the colour, and open the Sampling tab. It has one tab per milestone of the Critical Path, with how many samples each holds:

Every sample belongs to one colour, so the Black and the Ecru Oslo Coat each keep their own rounds.

#Record a sample

When you've asked a supplier for a sample, put it on record:

1. Choose New sample.
2. Pick the Type. Only the types of the product's current milestone can be picked.
3. Check the Name, filled in as Proto 1, Proto 2 and so on, and pick the Supplier from your Library, such as Atelier Nord.
4. Fill in the Sampling price, Requested on (today by default) and Expected by (a week later by default). Add Instructions and Files if you like, such as the tech pack you sent.
5. Choose Save as Requested.

A colour takes one sample at a time: decide on the one in review before you record the next. Production samples open at 08 once the colour is on a sent purchase order, and their supplier starts as that order's vendor. When a sample can't be recorded yet, the tab says why.

#Receive and review it

When the sample arrives, open it and choose Mark received. It moves to In review, and its Review tab opens: the Received on date, Review notes, Change requests for the next round and Files, photos from the fitting included. The Request tab keeps what you asked for. Every field saves as you leave it.

Each sample has its own comments too, so the fit notes and the supplier's answers stay with the sample.

#Decide on it

A sample in review has three decisions at the top:

• Approve: the colour has an approved sample at this milestone. Anyone but a viewer can approve.
• Reiterate: records the next round, of the same type, filled in from this one. Its change requests become the next round's instructions.
• Discard: ends this sample, with a reason. The product stays in development.

Made a mistake? Sample actions steps a sample back one status at a time: Back to In review or Mark not received. A sample that is still Requested or In review can also be deleted there.

#Samples and the Critical Path

At 04 and 06, a colour is settled once one of its samples is approved, or once the colour is dropped. When every colour is settled, the milestone's owner completes it on the product's Current milestone card. Approving never closes the milestone by itself, so you can still make another round.

Production samples at 08 are kept for the record. They don't close 08, and they never move a purchase order.

#What samples cost

Every sample's Sampling price counts towards the collection's Spent, whatever became of the sample. The product's Cost card shows Sampling so far for all its colours, and the foot of each colour's Sampling tab shows what that colour's samples have cost.

#Who can

Owners, admins and members record, review and decide on samples. Viewers can read them and comment.

#Next

• The Critical Path
• Cost and margin
• Comments and the Inbox