Managing specification revisions during sourcing

A requirement changes halfway through sourcing. That is normal and not a problem in itself. The problem is the week afterwards, when a quotation is built on the old outlet designation, a drawing request on the new one, and nobody notices until the parts arrive.

Three habits prevent nearly all of it, and none of them requires a system.

Three habits

• Give the requirement a versionA letter or a number, stated in the message and in the filename. "Rev B" beats "the updated spec" because it is still true when forwarded.
• Say what changed, not just what it now isOne line: "Rev B: outlet changed from G5/8 to G3/4; everything else unchanged." It saves the recipient re-reading the whole document to find the difference.
• Say what it invalidatesName the quotations, drawings and enquiries that were built on the old version, and say plainly that they need reissuing. A superseded document that is never withdrawn stays in circulation.

The step people skip

The step most often skipped is the third one, and it is the one that costs. A new revision is naturally addressed to the people working on the new thing. The people still working from the old one are, by definition, not in that conversation. So the withdrawal has to be sent deliberately, to whoever received the previous version, naming it.

If you keep a short list of who was sent what, this takes a minute. If you do not, this is the moment you will wish you did.

What to expect from a supplier

On the supplier side, the courtesy that helps most is confirming which revision a reply is answering. A quotation that says "against Rev B" is self-describing forever. One that just says "as requested" is a puzzle in three weeks.

ANYI quotes against an exact model designation and the requirement version you give us. If a change arrives after a quotation, say which version it supersedes and we will tell you what is affected rather than quietly requoting.