Delivery Ops
Part of Startup documentation
Recording customer-facing commitments in shared systems
Keep customer promises visible with a compact record of terms, conditions, approval, owner, due date and follow-up.
Record a customer-facing commitment where the people who must fulfil or explain it can find it, linked to the relevant customer, order or case. Capture the exact promise, its conditions, the person who authorised it, the action owner and the next date. A private message or a vague note such as 'sorted with customer' leaves the next person guessing.
Separate an offer from a promise
Before adding a commitment, establish its status. Was it proposed, approved internally, communicated to the customer or accepted by them? Those stages can lead to different work. Record the customer's words or the agreed terms accurately without treating an unapproved possibility as a confirmed obligation.
For a hypothetical service team, 'We may be able to deliver on Friday' is a proposal. 'We confirmed Friday delivery, subject to the customer providing access by Wednesday' is a conditional commitment. The record should preserve that condition and identify who will check it. If the condition is not met, the team needs a route to contact the customer rather than silently changing the date.
Use a compact commitment record
A shared record can contain:
- Customer and case:the account, order or request the promise concerns.
- Agreed outcome:the deliverable, concession, response or next action in specific terms.
- Conditions and limits:what must happen first, what is excluded and what remains uncertain.
- Decision trail:who approved the commitment and when the customer was told.
- Follow-through:one action owner, due date, current status and next customer update.
- Original context:where the relevant message or approved agreement can be found, if it needs to be retained.
Use fields your team can reliably maintain. A short, accurate record beats a long form that people fill in after the event. Keep sensitive personal information to what the work needs and restrict access appropriately. Check OAIC guidance for privacy requirements relevant to your organisation.
Reconcile the record with delivery
At each handover, the receiving person should check the live record against the agreed scope and dates. If capacity, stock or another dependency makes the promise doubtful, mark it for a decision and assign the customer update.
The ACCC accepts reports about possible misleading or false claims and can require businesses to back up claims they make about their products or services. A shared record can help the team retain the basis for a claim; entering a promise does not make it achievable.
When the action is complete, record the result and what the customer was told. If terms change, retain the prior context where appropriate and write the newly agreed position clearly. Do not simply overwrite the old date and lose why someone expected it.
Key compliance considerations for recording commitments
- ACCC oversight
- Can investigate misleading claims; businesses must back up promises
- Privacy requirements
- Follow OAIC guidance; limit access to necessary personal information
- Data retention
- Keep original context where needed; avoid overwriting prior agreements
