Improvements to Our eDirect Delivery Paperwork

Our customers have told us that when an eDirect order is delivered into their stores, it is not always possible for them to identify from the accompanying paperwork which department the item needs to be sent on to.

When paperwork is incomplete, one option is to try and find this information from ‘Latest orders’, under ‘My orders’ in our Online Catalogue.

However if they’re unable to do this, they have to call our Customer Services teams for help with:

• Identifying the requisition point number that the order was raised on.
• Finding the local reference or purchase order number that the order was raised against.

We acknowledge that the need for these extra calls, which can be several times per day, causes frustration and can be time consuming.

We set up a project group, with representatives from our Customer Services, Non-Stock Inventory Management and the Voice of the Customer teams. From the outset, the group decided to work with a small number of customers who had been supportive of projects in the past. These customers were:

• Hull University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
• Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
• Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
• South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust.

The ask of these customers was to scan through to us any eDirect delivery paperwork that didn’t contain the following minimum information:

• Requisition point
• Requisition number
• Local reference (if provided at the point of order).

This documentation was logged within our call management system and the paperwork saved to a shared area for our Inventory Management team to access. The team then liaised with each supplier to remind them of their contractual obligation regarding the information required on delivery paperwork, and worked with them to support the resolution.

After a few weeks, we also accepted ad hoc contributions from other customers. This brought new suppliers into the mix which we were able to work with on the improvements.

We received paperwork submissions from customers related to deliveries from 34 different suppliers, and to date 30 suppliers have worked with us to rectify the issues. This means that paperwork on 201,576 orders (nationally)* will have been positively impacted.

The suppliers are:

Some of these suppliers make up a large proportion of our transacted lines, so customers should see a noticeable improvement in the amount of time taken in identifying which department a delivery needs to go to at point of receipt.

Becky Allen, Regional Customer Service Manager – Central and Southwest

For deliveries from these suppliers, customers should no longer need to interrogate ‘Latest orders’ in our Online Catalogue or call Customer Services if that is their preferred route for queries.

We have already seen a 42% drop in calls to our Customer Services team related to purchase order queries between January and June 2024.

The project is moving to a ‘business as usual’ phase to ensure that with customer support we continue to target those suppliers where delivery paperwork does not contain the correct detail.

If you notice your eDirect delivery paperwork is missing information to enable you to identify which department the item needs to be sent on to please flag with your Customer Services Advisor.

*Data based on orders delivered between January – June 2024

Examples of improved delivery notes

Yellow highlighting shows the key information populated to identify delivery location.