Every commitment, visible from buy to delivery.
Critical Path & PO Management connects buying decisions to supplier execution in the same data flow that started at MFP. Full visibility from buy commitment to store delivery, with exceptions surfaced early.
Critical path management shouldn't live in a separate silo. It should be part of the same data flow that started at MFP, connecting buying decisions to supplier execution.
For planning and trading leads
On-order is not a black box between sign-off and the DC. Late samples, slipping ship dates and at-risk receipts surface while there is still time to expedite, re-flow or re-buy.
For the buying and supply teams
One working view across order placement, production milestones, shipment and receipt. No chasing suppliers through inboxes and trackers that disagree with each other.
For finance and the OTB owner
Commitments and receipts reconcile live against the plan, so the OTB position is always current and freed OTB can be flowed quickly to in-season opportunities.
From commitment to store delivery.
The full life of every order, tracked in the same platform that planned it.
Order placement
PO creation linked directly to assortment plans, so every order traces back to the range decision and the budget that approved it.
Production tracking
Milestone monitoring across suppliers: samples, approvals, production and QA, with slippage flagged the moment it appears.
Receipt & reconciliation
Arrival confirmation against commitments, quantity and timing variances reconciled automatically into the plan.
Exception management
Exceptions surfaced early and ranked by the value at stake, so the team works the eight that matter, not the 241 that exist.
OTB management
Live commitment and receipt positions feed the OTB, making re-buys and in-season opportunities fundable with confidence.
Deliveries you can plan a season on.
Critical Path & PO is measured on flow: stock arriving on time, into the right receipt dates, with OTB working rather than stranded.
A great buy that lands four weeks late is a markdown. Milestone tracking with early exception flags keeps receipts aligned to the trading calendar they were bought for.
- Supplier milestones monitored against the critical path per PO
- At-risk receipt dates flagged with time to expedite or re-flow
- Receipts confirmed and reconciled against commitments
- Higher on-time delivery rates
- New-season launches that land complete
When commitments, receipts and cancellations reconcile live, freed OTB is visible the day it frees. In-season winners get funded while the trend is still climbing.
- Live OTB position from commitments and receipts, not month-end maths
- Cancellation and shortfall value surfaced as available-to-spend
- Connected to Analytics signals on what deserves the next rand
- Faster in-season re-buys on winners
- Less OTB stranded in dead commitments
Exception-led working means the team spends its week on the orders that threaten the plan, with the full context of why each one matters and what it is worth.
- Exceptions ranked by revenue and margin at stake
- Slippage trends by supplier, visible for range and sourcing reviews
- Same view shared by buying, supply and planning, no swivel-chair
- Earlier interventions, smaller consequences
- Supplier conversations grounded in shared data
Built on the Pattern Engine.
Most critical-path tools are silos bolted to email. Pattern's lives on the same foundation as the plan it protects, which is what makes early warning and live OTB possible.
POs trace to plans natively: every order links back through Assortment Studio to the MFP budget that approved it.
Supplier and logistics data is ingested into the same data foundation as sales and stock, one source of truth for on-order.
Receipt slots align to the trading calendar the whole platform shares, so "late" is measured against what trading actually needs.
Exception values are computed by the retail science layer, ranking risk by rand impact, not just days late.
Configured Workflows
Tailored to how you trade
AI Intelligence
Forecasting & reasoning
Retail Science Engines
Optimisation engines & methodologies
Data Foundation
Single extendable model, built for high-volume SKU retail
Data Ingestion
Any source system
The plan's connection to the real world.
Each module maps to a stage in the merchandise planning lifecycle. All draw from the same single source of truth, so what is decided here is already understood everywhere else.
MFP
Budgets & targets
Item Planning
Style & store line plans
Assortment Studio
Cluster-level ranges
Critical Path & PO
Commitment to delivery
Allocations & Replen
Right product, right store
Analytics
In-season intelligence & stock health
The committed buy plan that POs are raised against.
OTB framework and budget context for every commitment.
Milestone updates, shipment status and receipt confirmations from your supply chain.
Live on-order and commitment values feeding the OTB position.
Confirmed receipt timing and quantities that shape allocation runs.
Delivery performance and supply signals for trade and supplier reviews.
Connect the buy to the delivery.
See Pattern configured on your own data in weeks, not months.