The document is expiring. Who is following up?

Expiring documents: the supplier replied and sent no document

The company requires a certificate with an expiry date from a supplier. A reminder went out a month before the date, and the supplier replied that it has applied for a renewal. There is still no new file. The employee who sent the reminder went on holiday, and the reply stayed in her inbox. The document expires, and the supplier receives another order.

The view shows the supplier's reply next to the current certificate and its expiry date. The employee records when she will follow up, and her deputy sees that date. When the certificate arrives, she opens it in the same case and checks that it concerns the right supplier and the required scope. Only then is the case closed.

A rule is enough for a reminder from a saved date. AI helps when an employee reads many differently worded replies from suppliers and wants to know which one announces a document and which one contains it.

What expiring document tracking costs and when it pays back

The count covers the work around each case: searching, reading, writing and handing over. What remains is the time to check the result, 25% of today's work in the scenario. Before the quote we measure both times on 20 to 100 cases the team has already handled, in a free test that takes 5 working days.

The most expensive document is one that expired with nobody noticing. A supplier with an invalid certificate can mean orders on hold or a problem in a client's audit. So in the test we count the documents that, with the current way of working, would have expired without a new version.

When a calendar or a list is enough

If there are few documents and one person sees renewals through to the end, a calendar or a list with a date and a reminder is enough. Microsoft describes reminders in SharePoint lists set from a date column. An automation makes sense when reminders work and the team still searches for replies and asks who was supposed to follow up. When the problem starts with collecting a new supplier's documents, the agent for supplier documents fits better.

Where to start

The first scope covers one type of document, the current register and email. The team names who handles the contact and who checks new documents. We build this kind of system as part of our AI automations. For the free process review, a description of one case from the last few weeks and the tools it went through is enough. You do not need to send confidential documents, and you receive a written plan within 2 working days.