Proofs and production orders
Send a proof your client approves from a link, order by the date you need it, give the sizes, pay the deposit, and follow the order to delivery.
Checked against Durbar on
Send a proof
When the checks pass, choose Send proof. Studio makes the print PDF the partner will get, and that PDF is the proof, so what's approved is what's printed. The design's Proofs tab has the approval link, the PDF and earlier proofs.
While the file is being made, the proof says Making the print file, and the approval link appears only once the PDF is ready. A file usually takes seconds. If storage or our fonts are briefly out of reach, Studio tries again by itself a few times, then the proof is either ready or failed: it's never left waiting. If it can't be made, the proof says Print file failed with what went wrong: choose Make the proof again. Each new attempt replaces the last, so there is only ever one file to approve.
Send the approval link to whoever signs off. They need no account: they download the PDF, then choose Approve or Ask for changes with their name and what should change. If they approved another way, in person or on WhatsApp, choose Approve proof yourself. Only the newest proof can be approved.
Order it by the date you need it
- From the design, start an order. Enter the quantity, and whether each item should have an NFC tag in it.
- Check Needed by: the day you need it at the delivery address. It's filled in with the event's day when the design belongs to an event, and two weeks from today otherwise.
- For a T-shirt, enter how many of each size, from S to XXL. They must add up to the quantity: the form says how many still need a size.
- Compare the quotes. The partners who arrive in time come first, then the cheapest. Each says when it arrives, such as Arrives 10 Dec, 2 days before you need it, and shows the unit price, setup, NFC tags, the total and the deposit. The Durbar rating is Durbar's own assessment of the partner, out of 100. The total is what you pay: Durbar's 10% comes out of the partner's share.
- Choose a partner, say who receives it and where, and choose Place order.
When it arrives is worked out from today: a day for a proof that's still waiting for approval, the partner's production days (their working days, not Sundays or public holidays), the days it takes to deliver, and a day to spare. It's in time when it arrives at least a day before you need it.
Prices hold for 7 days: the page says until when. When you place the order, the price and delivery time are checked again. If the partner's price changed or the quote expired, the order isn't placed: the quotes refresh, and you check them and place it again.
Pay the deposit online by MoMo or card; it goes straight to the partner. You can also record a bank transfer, purchase order or cash payment.
The exact approved file
An order records the proof it makes, and the partner's link only ever gives them that file. If you edit the design after its proof was approved, production waits: the order says The design changed after proof 1 was approved. Send the new proof; orders that haven't started move onto it and start once it's approved. Orders already in production keep the proof they were made from.
Follow it
An order moves through Awaiting proof, Approved, In production, Quality check, Dispatched and Delivered. Production starts only once the proof is approved and the deposit is paid. The quality check needs a photo. At dispatch the recipient gets a 6-digit code by SMS, and the order is delivered only with a photo and that code.
The partner confirms the job on their link: the quantity, the sizes and the date. What was ordered on the order shows when they did. Starting production confirms it too.
If the event moves, its orders are checked against the new day. The partner's promise doesn't change. If an order would now arrive too late, it's marked May arrive late, the team is told, and the order says what to do: ask the partner whether they can bring it forward.
Change the quantity before production
Until production starts, you can change how many you ordered, such as 600 programmes becoming 650. On the order, choose Change quantity beside What was ordered.
- Enter the new quantity. For a T-shirt, give the sizes again: they must add up to the new quantity.
- Check the new price. The same partner quotes it from their offer today, so a larger quantity can reach a cheaper price per item. It shows the new total, the change, the deposit and the balance, and when it arrives against the date you need it.
- Choose Change to with the new number. If it now arrives after the date you need it, tick Change it anyway, knowing it arrives late first.
A deposit you've already paid stays paid: the balance takes the difference. A deposit not yet paid is worked out again as half of the new total, and the payment link asks for the new amount. If the new total would be less than the deposit already paid, the change isn't made: keep a larger quantity, or agree a refund with the partner and cancel.
The partner is sent a message, and their link and their Jobs show the new quantity with Confirm the new quantity. Production can't start until they confirm it. Until then the order says so at the top, and it waits in Actions for anyone who handles orders.
When the partner changes the date
The partner confirms the date they'll deliver by, and can change it with a reason. What was ordered shows the new Promised for date, and the timeline says why, in their words.
If the new date is after the day you need it, the order says so at the top, and it waits in Actions for anyone who handles orders, due on the day you need it. Choose Accept with the date to keep the order as it is, or call the partner, reprint it elsewhere, or cancel it while it hasn't started. Accepting takes it out of Actions until the partner changes the date again.
At dispatch the partner can add Tracking: the courier or bus company and a waybill number. It shows on the order beside the dates.
The order's contact gets an SMS, and an email if they gave one, at each step. An order can be cancelled up to Approved.
Production orders lists every order, newest first. Search by the design, the partner or the reference, and filter by Status. An order still to arrive after the date the partner promised (or the date you need it by, if there's no promise) is Overdue; the Overdue tab shows only those.
When some fail the quality check
At the quality check, the partner says how many passed. What passed is dispatched now. For what failed they say which sizes, why, and whose fault it is.
- The partner's fault, such as a misprint or a stain: they remake them at their cost. A Rework order appears under Quantities, from the same proof and in the failed sizes, with no price. It has its own steps, photos and delivery code, and the partner records them from the same link.
- Our file or request: nothing is remade. Choose Reprint to order them again as a new order at the partner's price. The quantity, sizes and recipient are filled in.
Either way the original order's price, deposit and balance don't change, and its proof stays the one it was made from. You can also choose Reprint on any order to make it again with the same sizes.
When the wrong items come, or nothing does
- Once an order is dispatched, open it and choose Report a problem with the delivery. Say whether the wrong items came or nothing came, and what happened.
- That opens a case on the order. The partner is asked what happened on their link, with two working days to answer, and the case is in Actions. The order isn't marked delivered.
- Once they answer, decide: Send a replacement has the partner remake it at their cost as a rework (all of it, or how many you choose), from the same proof. Or decide it Not upheld or Resolved, with a reason they read.
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