Understand Orders for Suppliers

Use the Orders page (Menu > Orders) to review and manage supplier orders, including concrete deliveries, concrete testing, materials, and spoil transport.

Suppliers and head contractors use the Orders page to confirm, update, track orders, and request order pauses until the scheduled date.

Permissions

Suppliers with Subcontractor Admin permissions have read-only access to orders shown on the Orders page (Menu > Orders) but to accept and manage orders, you must have the following permission:

• Subcontractor Order Admin

Understand the Order Process

When an order is first sent to a supplier:

• The new order appears on the Orders page (Menu > Orders) with a status of Requested.
• An email summarizing the order details and containing a link to view the order in Virtual Superintendent is sent to the supplier.

Suppliers then review the request and choose whether to accept or reject it.

When an order is accepted, it can be updated or cancelled until the scheduled date of the order. The head contractor can also request that the order be paused or resumed.

Any changes made to the order automatically trigger email notifications and changes must be accepted or rejected. This back-and-forth notification and confirmation process ensures that everyone remains aware of any changing order requirements.

Order types

Orders sent to suppliers can be of four types:

Order status

Orders change state as they are submitted, accepted, modified, withdrawn or rejected by the order supplier and a head contractor.

Available order statuses are:

Review and Manage Orders

Suppliers can accept or reject orders that are submitted to their organization and confirm cancellation requests when an order is cancelled by a head contractor.

Review order requests

To review new order requests:

1. Sign in to Virtual Superintendent.

2. Click Menu > Orders. The Orders page opens.

   

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3. Locate orders using the filter options to the left of the page. You can filter by Order Type, Order Number, Scheduled Date, Order Status, and Hold Status. Suppliers typically work with Requested, Amended and Cancellation Requested order statuses.

   

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   You can also select Hide sub orders to show only parent orders and hide all concrete test sub-orders, Only show orders assigned to you to show only orders for which you are the assigned supplier contact, or Only show orders needing your acknowledgment to show only orders that are waiting for a response from you.

   
   

4. Click an order in the grid. The Order Details page opens.

   

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   Details shown on this page include the:

   
   
   • Order number
   • Order status
   • Order creation date and time last updated
   • Reason supplied for the most recent update (when cancelled or withdrawn)
   • Scheduled date of the order and scheduled end
   • Scheduled start and end times, if a concrete order
   • Order location that will be used on the docket
   • Order quantity
   • Supplier name
   • Head contractor who created the order
   • Supplier contact used for the order
   • Supervisor who will appear on the docket
   • Engineer who will appear on the docket
   • Cost code that the order will be charged against
   • External order number
   • Notes supplied by the supplier
5. Choose whether to Accept or Reject the order, confirm an order cancellation, or manage order hold and release requests.

Accept an order

To accept an order:

1. Click Accept. The Accept Order dialog opens.

   

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2. Type an order number into the External Order Number field. This identifier is used by the supplier's internal order tracking tool and is required.
3. Type any relevant notes about the order into the Notes field.

4. Click Accept. The status of the order is updated from Requested to Accepted on the Orders page and an email notification is sent to the head contractor notifying them that the order was accepted. Any informational text written in the Notes field is visible to the head contractor.

   

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When an order is accepted, its note text can be updated by clicking Update. Only the most recent note is shown on the order summary, but all previous notes are recorded in the order history (View changes link).

The order can still be rejected at any time by clicking Reject which changes its status to Rejected.

If an order has been accepted and is then edited by a head contractor, its status changes to Amended. The supplier must then accept or reject any changes.

If an order has been accepted and is then cancelled by a head contractor, the supplier must confirm the cancellation by clicking Confirm Cancellation. This updates the order status from Cancellation Requested to Cancelled.

Reject an order

To reject an order:

1. Click Reject. The Reject Order dialog opens.

   

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2. Type a reason for your rejection in the Reason for rejection field.

3. Click Reject. The order status changes to Rejected on the Orders page and an email is sent to the head contractor notifying them that the order was rejected.

   

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When an order is rejected, the head contractor can Cancel the order, or Update the order by modifying it (for example, by changing load types, quantities or the date of the order).

If an order is updated, its status changes to Requested and the review process resets. If it is cancelled, the order's status changes to Cancelled immediately.

Confirm cancellation of an order

If a head contractor wants to cancel an order that was previously accepted by a supplier, the supplier must confirm the cancellation request.

To confirm the cancellation of an order:

1. Sign in to Virtual Superintendent.
2. Click Menu > Orders. The Orders page opens.
3. Filter the order requests by clicking the Cancellation Requested link in the filters column. The order grid updates.
4. Click an order in the grid. The Order Details page opens, showing the details of the order.
5. Click Confirm Cancellation. The order status changes to Cancelled and the head contractor is notified.

Manage order hold requests

Head contractors can ask to place Item Orders and Spoil Transport Orders on hold if the order has an Accepted or Amended status and is no longer required at the scheduled time. The order can then be resumed later when work is ready to proceed.

When a hold request is submitted, the order is assigned a hold status of Hold Requested and the supplier is notified. The supplier can either acknowledge the request, changing the hold status to On Hold, or cancel the order.

When the head contractor is ready to resume the order, they can submit a release request. This changes the hold status to Release Requested and notifies the supplier that the order is ready to proceed. The supplier can then acknowledge the release request, which removes the hold status and returns the order to its active state, or cancel the order.

Available order hold statuses are:

To manage an order hold request when you received an order hold email notification from a head contractor:

1. Sign in to Virtual Superintendent.
2. Click Menu > Orders. The Orders page opens.
3. Locate the order the head contractor has asked to place on hold. You can filter the orders list to show only orders with pause requests by selecting the Hold Requested filter option.
4. Click the order. The Order Details panel opens.
5. Read the reason for the order hold provided by the head administrator. This is displayed at the top of the order details. This reason is also included in the notification email you received.

6. Click Acknowledge Hold. The Acknowledge Hold dialog opens.

   

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7. Enter comments in the Comments (optional) field, then click Acknowledge Hold. The order's hold status changes from Hold Requested to On Hold, your comments are added to the top of the order details, and an email notification is sent to the head contractor.

   

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To manage an order release request when you received an order release email notification from a head contractor:

1. Sign in to Virtual Superintendent.
2. Click Menu > Orders. The Orders page opens.
3. Locate the paused order the head contractor has asked to reactivate. You can filter the orders list to show only orders with release requests by selecting the Release Requested filter option.
4. Click the order. The Order Details panel opens.
5. Read the reason for the order release request provided by the head administrator. This is displayed at the top of the order details. This reason is also included in the notification email you received.

6. Click Acknowledge Release. The Acknowledge Release dialog opens.

   

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7. Enter comments in the Comments (optional) field, then click Acknowledge Release. The order's hold status of Release Requested removed, your comments are added to the top of the order details, and an email notification is sent to the head contractor. You can now fulfil the order.

   

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Additional order actions

Use the More actions menu to access additional order options. To open this menu, click the hamburger menu icon (three vertical dots) in the upper-right corner of the Order Details page.