Say/Do ratio: are your suppliers doing what they said?

The short answer: Say/Do ratio is the share of a supplier's deliveries that arrive on or before the date the supplier committed to. It measures whether a vendor keeps its own word, separate from whether it met the date you needed.

Formula:

Say/Do % = PO lines received on or before the supplier's commit date ÷ all PO lines received × 100

Try the Supplier Pack with example data

Why it matters at a job shop

When a supplier says "Tuesday" and the material shows up Friday, the job you scheduled around it slides, and so does your promise to your customer. Say/Do tells you which suppliers you can plan around and which ones you need to pad, chase or replace. It's the number behind the question every buyer already asks: can I trust this date?

Worked example (Example data)

A shop receives 45 PO lines from its suppliers in a month.

• Say/Do % = 41 ÷ 45 × 100 = 91.1%
• Supplier OTD % = 38 ÷ 45 × 100 = 84.4%

Example data, not from a real shop.

What the gap tells you: suppliers mostly kept their own promises (91.1%), but some of those promises were later than the date you needed (84.4%). That's a buying and lead-time conversation, not a reliability problem.

Example by supplier (Example data):

How to calculate Say/Do in Excel from a JobBOSS² or E2 PO export

These are generic steps. Report and field names vary by ERP version and setup.

1. Export your received PO lines. Pull a purchase order receipts / PO line report for the period you care about (a month or a quarter) to Excel or CSV.
2. Keep only the columns you need: PO number, line, supplier, need/PO date, supplier commit date, receipt date, quantity. Leave out part descriptions, specs and drawings.
3. Filter to received lines only. Open lines don't count yet.
4. Check the commit date column. If it's blank for a line, decide on a rule (exclude it, or fall back to the PO date) and use it every time.
5. Add an "On time to commit" column. If the receipt date is in column F and the commit date in column E: =IF(F2<=E2+$J$1,1,0) where J1 holds your grace days (0 if none).
6. Calculate the ratio: =SUM(G:G)/COUNT(G:G) and format as a percentage.
7. By supplier: put the data in a PivotTable with supplier as rows, and both Sum and Count of "On time to commit" as values. Divide one by the other.

That's the same logic the ShopPane Supplier Pack runs, except you drop the export in and it's done, in your browser.

Say/Do vs. supplier OTD vs. lead-time adherence

Use them together. High Say/Do with low OTD usually means you're ordering too late or accepting dates that don't fit. Low Say/Do means the supplier's promises aren't reliable, whatever the date.

The ShopPane Supplier Pack shows Supplier OTD and Say/Do side by side. Lead-time adherence is coming later and needs the optional supplier ship date.

What's a good Say/Do ratio?

There's no single number that fits every shop. A supplier of standard hardware and a heat treater with a queue are different animals. Instead of chasing a published benchmark:

• Track your own trend month over month, per supplier.
• Compare suppliers for the same commodity against each other.
• Set a target with your suppliers and review it with them. A number they agreed to is the one that changes behavior.

Common pitfalls

• Moving commit dates. If the commit date gets updated every time the supplier pushes out, Say/Do will always look perfect. Measure against the first date they committed to, or keep the original in a separate column.
• Partial receipts. A line received in two drops: is it on time when the first piece arrives or when the last one does? Pick a rule (most shops use the last receipt that completes the line) and stick to it.
• Grace days. A day or two of grace is common, but write it down and apply it to every supplier. Changing it quietly makes the trend meaningless.
• Counting by line vs. by order. One late line on a ten-line PO is 90% by line and 0% by order. Both are valid; just don't mix them.
• Blank commit dates. If buyers don't record the supplier's confirmation, you can't measure Say/Do. Fixing the data entry habit is often the first win.
• Early deliveries. The formula counts early as on time. If early material is a problem for you (space, cash), track it separately.

See Say/Do for your suppliers without the spreadsheet

The ShopPane Supplier Pack reads your JobBOSS² or E2 PO export and shows Supplier OTD and Say/Do, overall and by supplier. You set the grace days and choose line or order. It runs in your browser, so your data never leaves your computer.

• Dashboard $79/mo + Supplier Pack $49/mo ($128/mo), or $199/mo for the full suite.
• Guided setup is $499 one time, waived for the first 10 founding shops.

Try the Supplier Pack with example dataJoin the waitlist →

Built by Jay, 13 years in aerospace manufacturing (engineering, data, lean, supply chain).

FAQ

What does Say/Do ratio mean? It's the percentage of deliveries a supplier made on or before the date they committed to. It measures whether they keep their own promises.

How is Say/Do different from on-time delivery? Supplier on-time delivery compares the receipt date to the date you needed it (your need/PO date). Say/Do compares it to the date the supplier promised. A supplier can keep every promise and still be late for you if their promises are too far out.

Should I use the original commit date or the latest one? The original, if you can. If the date is updated each time the supplier slips, the ratio stops measuring anything.

Can I calculate Say/Do from my JobBOSS² or E2 data? Yes, if your PO export includes a receipt date and the supplier's commit date. Follow the Excel steps above, or drop the export into the ShopPane Supplier Pack.

Does ShopPane upload my PO data? No. ShopPane reads your file in your browser on your own computer. It only uses scheduling and receiving fields, so leave part descriptions, specs and drawings out of the export.