Notify Producers email to include customer details

What is the source of the information in this email? Is it coming from an existing report (ie. Customer Totals) and dumped into the email, or is it generated independently?

I’m wondering if the new ‘Customer Names in Reports’ checkbox in Shop Preferences can be linked to what is generated for this report? Or is an additional step required to sync them up?

It makes sense to me (and we’ve already had customers ask us) that if you check the Customer Names in Reports button, the Notify Producers email should also include Customer Names.

As a first step (and to make this potentially Papercut sized) the Notify Producers email could be brought in line with other reporting, and be linked in with the Customer Names in Reports button.

I think it’s a valuable addition to consider, but perhaps we leave out the option of targeting the email to particular producers, and incept it separately?

completely agree @EmilyRogers

Unless there’s any disagreement, on the below, can we move ahead with getting a t-shirt size on the following please @Matt-Yorkley?:

  • Bring Notify Producers Email in line with other reports that are linked to the Customer Names in Reports checkbox.

  • When a customer checks the Customer Names in Reports button, the Notify Producers email should also include Customer Names.

The current included data in the Notify Producers email is shown below. When the Customer Names in Reports button is checked, this data should include an additional column for Customer Name (or two additional columns for Name & First Name if relevant for this report).

Screen Shot 2020-09-24 at 9.46.15 AM

Ah sorry I missed this. I didn’t get an email alert on the pings. Yeah, it should be fairly simple now the Customer Names epic is done, as long as the product team figures out the exact implementation we want first.

We can add an additional button in the enterprise settings (under the new one added for customer names in reports). Adding the new email template is fairly easy.

We just need to answer these questions like: will it apply to all producers or certain OCs, or specific producers, and how will that be handled in the UI?

I’m of 2 minds on these questions. I think ‘simply’ adding the names to this notification as it currently happens, with the option to add the names in enterprise settings where the names on reports option is. I’d say doing this would solve most of this issue.

But I’d also like to see us keep a new wishlist item that would give an OC coordinator the option of notifying selected suppliers. Hub enterprises here increasingly have a mix of suppliers. Some suppliers are independent producers who manage their products themselves on OFN - and they would need to be notified. But other suppliers are large wholesalers and the hub coordinator is basically managing their products for them. Notifying them is just confusing. So right now, with the above change, these kinds of hubs would not notify ALL producers. Which is what they do now - and they send reports to the producers who need pick sheets. But this would require creating this producers to be notified selection - and thats a bigger issue I think.

@tschumilas I tend to agree that I’d like to keep a wishlist item open that explores giving an OC Coordinator the option of notifying selected suppliers. This is definitely more complex though, as you say.

Currently the Notify Producers email goes to all Producers, and so to take the first step, I think we simply add customer names to the existing email, based on whether the existing checkbox is selected.

So @Matt-Yorkley the current proposal is that when the EXISTING Customer Names in Reports button is checked, the data in the Notify Producers email should include Customer Name.

That brings this report in line with all the other reports that are updated when the Customer Names in Reports checkbox is checked.

It’s not just adding the customer names @EmilyRogers - the current email is summed up by product and variant so it’s showing something more like the Supplier Totals report, but with the correct tax information.

To put customer names next to it means breaking it out by line item. So each 1kg x carrots needs to be listed, not just 50kg x carrots. So I think there is also a question of ordering - should it be by item then by customer, or by customer then by item?

i.e.
Mark - Carrots 1kg 2
Fred - Carrots 1kg 1
Mavis - Carrots 1kg 3
Satya - Carrots 2kg 1
Myriam - Carrots 2kg 2
Mark - Apples 1kg 1
Mavis - Apples 1kg 2

OR

Mark - Carrots 1kg 2
Mark - Apples 1kg 1
Fred - Carrots 1kg 1
Mavis - Apples 1kg 2
Mavis - Carrots 1kg 3
Satya - Carrots 2kg 1
Myriam - Carrots 2kg 2

etc. If you are wanting it exactly as in a particular report I suggest you create a csv or table here to show the data exactly as you’re wanting it to make sure that is agreed

Of course - thanks @Kirsten, don’t know how I missed this. And I’d raise the question of how we want the quantity ordered and the units arranged also. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve missed the quantity and packed for the unit value.
ie:
Mark - Carrots - 1kg 2 - I miss the 2 totally, and pack 1 kg
but if it was written:
Mark - 2 Carrots - 1kg - I’d get it right.
When hubs here do packing slips they always re-order the report columns this way - so the quantity ordered is read first, and the units are a modifier of the product or variant, And a few hubs go to the trouble of making the quantity ordered bold or in colour because this packing error is so frequent.
Anyway - this is an issue beyond the email - but I’m just agreeing that we need to think about exactly how we want this conveyed in the email. And since producers will be using this info on their mobiles to pick/pack, we really want to make sure its an easy read. @Erioldoesdesign - any experience with how people read quantities ?

OK right. Yes I completely missed that too as my test scenario (in the example table above) only had one order in it!

@tschumilas it sounds like you are closer than I am to how Hubs use this email. Is there an obvious way forward that feels sensible to you - in terms of re-arranging the existing content to include Customer Names?

Or do we need to collect some more data on how the Notify Producers email is used in practice - which I feel is stretching this beyond papercut size!

I think we need to collect some info on how notify users is used, and what the ideal format of the email would be. We don’t have to put a lot of energy to this. Maybe each instance support team might just post in this thread the response to these 2 questions:

  1. How are your enterprises using the ‘notify producers’ feature (are some not using at all? are some ‘types’ of hubs using and not others? is it widely used by al hubs?..)
  2. What would be the ideal format of the pick/pack information that the notify producer button sends to suppliers/producers? (see above discussion). @Rachel @lauriewayne @lbwright22 - who else to ping?

Seems like it would be a lot quicker and more effective for someone to mock up a detailed example of draft pick/pack information for this email. You are far more likely to get people commenting on a starting point than someone from each instance coming up with their own ‘ideal’ format

The current email that the UK automatically sends to producers looks like this:


Hi there,

Here is your list of totals by variant for this order cycle:

Product Variant Quantity Total
Beef Sausages (Pack of 6) 6 Sausages 1 4.95
Feather Blade Steak 250g 2 6.3
Gourmet Steak and Marrow Burgers (6 oz) 2 burgers 2 9.6
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 15 72
Minced Beef (500G) 500g 5 19.75
Ox Liver 500g 1 2
Rib-Eye Steak (8 oz) 227g 5 32.5
Rump Steak (10Oz) 284g 2 10
Sirloin Steak (8 Oz) 227g 1 4.6

Here is your list of orders by customer for this order cycle:

Product Variant Quantity First Name Last Name
Gourmet Steak and Marrow Burgers (6 oz) 2 burgers 1 Jenny xx
Beef Sausages (Pack of 6) 6 Sausages 1 Melissa xx
Ox Liver 500g 1 Melissa xx
Rib-Eye Steak (8 oz) 227g 2 Kate xx
Sirloin Steak (8 Oz) 227g 1 Kate xx
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 1 Mark xx
Rib-Eye Steak (8 oz) 227g 3 Mark xx
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 4 Elizabeth xx
Minced Beef (500G) 500g 2 Elizabeth xx
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 4 Beryl xx
Minced Beef (500G) 500g 1 Beryl xx
Feather Blade Steak 250g 2 Kate xx
Minced Beef (500G) 500g 1 Stuart xx
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 1 Michelle xx
Rump Steak (10Oz) 284g 2 Michelle xx
Gourmet Steak and Marrow Burgers (6 oz) 2 burgers 1 Chris xx
Minced Beef (500G) 500g 1 Katarina xx
Homestead Beef Quarter Pounders (Pack Of 4) 4 Burgers 5 Charlotte xx
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Another thing…
We won’t use this in the UK until we can add the option of automatically sending when the OC closes. This is the feature users really want here, reducing the need to log in and press a button.
We have ‘implemented’ this ‘feature’ by employing someone to press buttons in spreadsheets at specific times. It is working out well for Sadati in Uganda and for us :slight_smile:

thank you @lin_d_hop - I think you just saved a lot of going around in circles. Does anyone disagree with moving forward with the format used in the UK?

@lin_d_hop re. the auto-order cycle thing - your spreadsheets are using webhooks to trigger an action in zapier I think i.e. the buttons in the sheet send webhooks to zapier? or perhaps yours do things in the sheets themselves, but the scripts might be able to be triggered from zap?

Maybe zaps we have set-up that watch for when an order cycle closes and then do a thing might be useful

This picks up every closing order cycle

This for a specific shop / hub

I know that you are the zap-master so if not doing this there’s most likely a reason why, but just in case.

Thanks Kirsten. I have created this document in the Zapier how to’s folder to ensure that this isn’t lost in this thread:

The reason we can’t do this is that there is an additional step (not yet supported by the API) to get the right data out. Sada downloads reports, imports to OFN then presses the buttons.

I agree (I had made a jumbled comment above which I’ve deleted. All good to go with this from our perspective at OFN-CAN - either as is now, or once we make it automatic at OC close. But fyi - if its automatic at OC close, we still would need to give a hub an option to send or not sent I presume)

Thanks @lin_d_hop @tschumilas and @Kirsten for narrowing in on a solution. It looks like the UK are sending the Customer’s First Name in all Notify Producers Emails. Am I understanding this correctly?

I feel like there are now two options:

  1. Update the Default Notify Producers Email to replicate the UK version, whereby we provide two data sets, one by Variant and one by Customer. We would therefore be sharing First Name with all Producers but xxx out the Last Name. This option would not have any relationship to the Customer Names in Reports check box .

  2. Leave the current Notify Producers Email as is, but when the Customer Names in Reports button is checked, the email should include a second set of data grouped by customer for the Order Cycle. The email would look like what the UK send (see above) but would also show the Customer’s Last Name.

Is there a leaning towards one of these options? Option 1 is obviously the easiest. Is it sufficiently helpful to move ahead with?

I see an immediate problem with 1 in that people often have the same first name so this is going to be very error-prone. So I think it has to be 2, but within 2 there are 2 options?

  • When the checkbox is ticked either
    a) the Notify Producers box has an option to send by Variant OR by Customer or
    b) the email contains both by variant and by Customer, and includes both first and last names of the customer

My preference would be for 2a, but if 2b is easier let’s do that

@EmilyRogers Nope that’s not correct.

In UK we send the customer names out only when hubs ask for it and only to the relevant producers. Some hubs have only one producer for which customer names are included in the emails.

Option 1 is actually harder than option 2 to implement. Option 1 is not a viable solution to this problem
Option 2 is better from a user perspective and a product product but I think is imcomplete as both sets of data are useful for different reasons. The first part is useful for accounting, invoicing etc. The other is useful for packing.

@Kirsten
I would suggest that when the box is ticked BOTH are included. This one email server two purposes in most cases - packing and accounts. We’ve never found that people are confused by having both sets of data in the email.

Note the UK won’t use this unless the process can be automated to happen on close of OC.