Build a reusable internal record after an inquiry
The last half hour of a sourcing exercise is worth more than the first day, and it is the one almost nobody spends.
The enquiry is finished, the order is placed, and the knowledge lives in one thread in one mailbox. The next person to need this valve starts from nothing.
Half an hour writing it up changes that, and the write-up is short. Its whole job is to separate three things that the thread has mixed together.
Three sections, always in this order
Confirmed - Stated by the supplier in writing, against an exact model designation. Record the value, who said it, and when.
Measured or observed by us - What you saw on the sample or the delivered item. A different kind of fact from the one above, and worth keeping apart from it.
Assumed - Everything that was never actually confirmed but that the decision relied on. This is the section that saves the next person, and it is the one people leave out because writing it feels like admitting something.
Four lines of context, then the open questions
Then four lines of context: which exact models were ordered, who supplied them, what the lead time actually was, and anything that went wrong. Actual lead time is worth more than quoted lead time and almost never gets recorded.
Finish with the open questions - the things still unresolved when the order went out. An open question recorded as open is a head start. An open question that quietly disappeared is a trap.
Where it goes
File it in the folder named after the model designation, alongside the photographs and documents. Do not file it by project: projects end, models recur.
Six months from now this is a one-page file that answers "have we bought this before, and what did we learn?" That question currently costs most teams several days, every time.
Send the exact model and what you already have confirmed. We will tell you what still needs checking rather than starting again.