Audit Shield · Vendor protection
A paper trail for every refusal, buyback and return.
Vendor disputes are settled on documentation. Smoke Alarm records what was refused and why, what arrived short, what was bought back and what expired unsold, with the evidence attached and the vendor's own answer on the record, so neither side is arguing from memory.
- OpenPending
- Waiting for the vendorPending
- Vendor respondedReview
- AgreedReconciled
- DisputedException
- ResolvedReconciled
- ClosedReconciled
- EscalatedBlocked
Nothing reopens a closed claim: a new problem is a new claim.
Every kind of vendor problem, opened from the dock or the shelf.
A claim opens from a receiving case (a short delivery, a wrong product, damage), from the expiry monitor (expired or near-dated stock) or from a recall or failed lab result, with the manifest line, the package and the count that started it.
- Short delivery
- Over delivery
- Damaged
- Wrong product
- Lab failure
- Recall
- Expired or near-dated
- Packaging or labeling
- Pricing
- Other
What the claim asks the vendor for
- Take the product back
- Buy the product back
- Replace the product
- Credit the account
- Reimburse destruction
- Send information
Refusals at the dock never enter inventory; a buyback or an expiration return leaves through the ledger as a vendor return, so the package’s state and the claim always agree. Smoke Alarm records what was claimed and what was answered. Whether a vendor pays is between you and the vendor.
The vendor answers on the record, without an account.
A claim is sent to the vendor as a link that works for 14 days. They see the claim and its evidence, and answer on the same page; the answer is stored with the claim and the audit log.
One link, one claim
The link at /vendor/… carries a token for that claim alone. It expires after 14 days by default (never more than 30) and can be reissued; every open and every answer is logged.
Three possible answers
Accept the request · Propose something else · Dispute the claim. A proposed alternative or a dispute goes back to your team to accept, counter or escalate.
Evidence with a fingerprint
Photos and documents attached to a claim are stored with their SHA-256. A replaced file stays on record with a note saying what replaced it; nothing is overwritten.
Every rate shown with its denominator.
Short deliveries, units received against manifested, packages missing at the dock and exceptions by kind, per supplier, over a window you choose. A percentage never appears without the count it was computed from.
Windows
90, 180, 365 days, 365 by default. Each figure says how many deliveries and lines it covers.
Minimums before a rate is shown
A short-delivery rate needs at least 3 deliveries; a line-level rate needs at least 20 lines. Below that the scorecard shows the counts and says the sample is too small.
Not a finding about a person
Scorecards describe deliveries and lines. They inform a conversation with a supplier; they do not decide it, and they never rate the receiver who counted.
Refusals, short deliveries, buybacks and expiration returns tracked with evidence and a secure vendor link.
Claims, evidence and the vendor’s answers all land in the audit trail and binder.
Bring one short delivery.
We open the claim on the simulated store, send ourselves the vendor link and show you what the record looks like when the vendor answers.