Why Disputing Walmart OTIF Fines Matter 

[00:00:00] Danielle: On to the agenda. We have a packed one for this hour. we're going to start off the content portion by doing an overview of what it means to be on time and in full, and then we'll move into a more action oriented section where we will go over how to and when to dispute OTA fines with your buyer, how to dispute through high radius, OTA And then we will go over billing for overages. 
 

So following all the content, we will open the floor for some Q and A time with Allie and myself, and then we'll wrap up the webinar with a product preview of SupplyPike for Walmart. So we have a lot of good content to cover today. Alright, so here are a few FAQs that we typically get during webinars. So first being, will we be getting a copy of the slide deck?

Yes, absolutely. you can expect to see the PDF version of the slide deck, as well as the recording of this webinar, appear in your email inbox in about three to four business days. And if you ever want to find another webinar that you maybe weren't able to attend, you can go to our website where you'll find the recordings there, as well as the PDF versions of the slide decks. 
 

And second question that we typically get is, what is the best way to ask a question? So at the bottom of your screen, You will see a Q and A tab that has two little speech bubbles, and this is where we ask you to please submit any questions related to the content, as I'll be able to monitor them and then see them up for Allie for the Q and A time at the end. 
 

If you have any questions about the content, send them in early. I may interject sometime during the webinar if there is a question impertinent to the content that Allie is going through, but for the most part, I will be saving them for the end. Okay, so last little thing before we get into the content. 
 

SupplyPike is a platform designed to help suppliers get paid and get better. So we do this with a software that identifies, recovers, and prevents deductions and compliance issues. Some things we cover at Walmart include AP deductions, OTIF, SQEP, overages. So anything that could be impacting your bottom line, we have built tools to help target and resolve those revenue loss issues. 
 

And just a little shout out. We work with a lot of great suppliers. We have some of them up here on the slide today. and if you aren't currently working with us, we would love to see your brand's logo up here in the future. And with that, I'll hand it over to Allie to get into today's content.  
 

[00:02:37] Allie: Thank you, Danielle. 
 

And thank you everyone for joining. Excited to have you here today. Wanted to start before we get into the content, just answering the question at The top of the hour, why does it matter to dispute OTIF fines? And we'll unpack this today, getting into why it matters, pointing to some of the details, but really wanted to cover high level, give you the cliff notes version, as we go in, so you can have that in your mind. 
 

Really, when it comes to disputing OTIF, it's about Getting your company, your supplier team to think about OTIF fines, not as something that you're continually writing off or struggling to keep up with or it's just, another cost to operating with Walmart. It's thinking about how you as a supplier get paid, address some of those issues that are either your responsibility in fixing them or having your Walmart team The Walmart team understand what's going on and then address those issues depending on who their, the responsibility is. 
 

So that's the get paid part, making sure that you are not leaking cashflow or losing that 3 percent of your cost of goods sold, which we'll get into those details here in a second. The second part of that, so we were talking about getting paid, making sure that you are receiving the money that you deserve, when it comes to working with Walmart is getting better. 
 

And I touched on that already and you'll see that language. throughout any SupplyPike, content that you're, looking at, we really focus on that because there is the get paid part of, it, which is, table stakes, but the get better is how you work with whatever retailer you're working with. 
 

In this case, we're talking about Walmart, but wanting to be great supplier partners, and be able to have more, whether that's space on the shelf, investment in initiatives, and really have your business thrive, in whatever retailer you're in. So that's, why disputing OTIF fines matter, because it can help your business grow and help you be a better retailer partner. 
 

But with that, let's get into the OTIF program and what that means. So we're going to zoom out At Walmart, there are three particular compliance or deduction areas in the revenue loss space at Walmart. And I'm wanting to tease out the difference here so we can really focus in on OTIF fines in particular. 
 

But you'll tend to see how these cross over, if you're a supplier, dealing with these in particular. So we won't spend too much time on deductions, but Danielle will be working in the background sending some links if you're not familiar with AP deductions at Walmart, and even if you are, there's a lot of new information coming out recently, that can help you understand how to dispute better. 
 

at Walmart. So first things first, how AP deductions are different than OTIF fines is that AP deductions are going to come off your check. So it's exactly how it sounds. It's a deduction from your invoice. OTIF fines are different because they are charges. So additional, an additional fine that you need to pay, that come in the, that come in the form of fines to the supplier. 
 

The other thing about deductions is that they can be, disputed and one with the right documentation, invalid deductions can be. With OTIF deductions or disputes, there's not necessarily a specific formula. It can be very, it's very case by case. and then with AP deductions, they're also going to be disputed in APDP. 
 

So that's Walmart's RetailLink application called Accounts Payable Dispute Portal. So that's how deductions are different. If we look on the right side with SQEP finds, SQEP and OTIV finds are going to be really similar and we do have content, educational content on SQEP finds that Danielle can send in the chat. 
 

I'm going to make her work early in today's webinar, sending some additional resources. I like to refer to OTIF and SQEP as almost cousins, because they do touch similar areas. They're both about compliance, and they both, are disputed in high radius. However, the differences are, is OTIF fines are going to, be one or the other. 
 

So typically if you're. If you have a find, it's going to be either an OTIF, so an OT, on time, or in full. you won't get stacked finds, typically. That's very uncommon to happen. Whereas with SQEP finds, you may see them stack depending on the defects within the PO that they're referring to. So those are the differences there. 
 

We're really going to focus, like I said, on OTIF funds. However, here's the overview of what OTIF is. So OTIF is a KPI of supply chain success and may be referred to different things within different retailers. How Walmart refers to it is OTIF and that acronym means on time. So making sure that your product is at the right location, at the right time, and it's in full. 
 

So that's that IF, in full being that you have the correct product to the correct quantity that was, ordered. This is another way to refer to this is, the Walmart Supplier Compliance Program. So it is the KPI that's being used, but it is also in the name of the compliance program. What's the cost of not being compliant? 
 

That's the first thing that suppliers are going to ask. First is poor prefer for poor performance, you're going to get a charge back and it's going to be three percent of your cost of goods sold. So that can really stack up when it's more than one PO, that you're getting this particular charge back for. 
 

These scores are going to be per case. You can see how those, start to add up. And like I mentioned, there are different measurements for on time versus in full, which we'll get into here in a second. And if you're wondering how Walmart calculates OTIF, this is the exact formula that they have shown in their documentation. 
 

And the percentage is going to be the number of cases on time and in full over the total cases ordered times a hundred. That's how you get that OTIF percentage that you'll see in your scorecard, which we can talk about later. And we've, we're trying to put our tips in here early. and you'll hear me say this throughout, but wanted to say it at the top of the hour, just so it starts to stick in everyone's head, is the goal is to prevent the need to dispute OTIFs because it can be a little bit tricky. 
 

and the process is a little bit more convoluted as compared to AP deductions and not have to rely on OTIF disputing. So the game here is prevention and visibility, which we'll get into, as we go through today's content. The other question that suppliers tend to ask often is, who does OTIV affect? 
 

So if you're selling to Walmart, you're going to be affected besides these smaller, groups of suppliers. So Walmart, Brick and Mortar, and e commerce suppliers are on the hook. However, direct to store deliveries are not within this particular program. always be on the lookout because this could change. 
 

Walmart has changed things in the past, but for now, this is not the case. you would still as a DSD supplier be subject to SQEP fines. Thinking about that. Direct import, Walmart International, and Marketplace Sellers are also not affected in this particular compliance program, but be sure to think about the other compliance programs that may be affecting, you if you're not in the OTIF realm. 
 

Another call out is that Sam's Club has rolled out their own OTIF program. If you guys are interested in content on that, we can certainly create something. however, they have not, as of Q2 this year, released any, fines yet, but be on the lookout for that if your particular supplier team does have Sam's Club business and you are not aware of those fines, go check out that platform and see if you're aggregating any fines at this point. 
 

Okay. Now we're going to get into breaking down the acronym. Let's start with what does it mean to be on time? So this will change depending on if you are prepaid or collect, and there's different goals as well. But essentially Walmart replenishment, if you're unfamiliar, it's designed to be just in time. 
 

So making sure that it's the Goldilocks situation, not too hot, not too cold, just right, not too early, not too late, right when they need it. So that they have a warehouse that is, actively moving in the sense that there's not product just sitting there for weeks at a time that's not needed, that they have exactly what they need to then send out to their stores to have, the right products on shelf for customers. 
 

So early and late deliveries are going to lead to congestion within that warehouse, within that supply chain. So you will be fined for that if you are creating any of those, hindrances. So the expectations for prepaid only start with delivering to DCs on time. So being on time in that, MABD window, which we'll talk about, and to do that at about 90%.  
 
So if you have been a supplier for a while, you will notice that number is different for prepaid. So they've actually lowered that this year from 98 to 90, which is pretty impressive. helpful, still in the high expectation range at 90%, but a little bit more room for margin there. And then for collect POs, the expectations are that the root or confirmed POs are on time and that POs are ready for carrier pickup. 
 

So they're not, still getting pulled out of your warehouse. They are ready to get loaded into the trailer as it is pulling up. And that's what it means to be collect ready at Walmart. Again, they have not lowered this particular score, it is still at 98, but if you are Collect, it may feel different than Prepaid because Prepaid you're going to be more responsible, whereas 98 percent for Collect is on the responsibility, of the carrier to do most of the, delivery since it's just making sure that the POs are confirmed and that you have carrier pickup. 
 

a little bit different. And now what does it mean to be in full? So this is not different for prepaid versus collect, but essentially being in full is when Walmart receives 100 percent of all ordered cases and it's the correct type of product as well. and the current goal for in full is 95. 
 

This used to be, I believe, 98 as well and has since been lowered to 95. So there is a little bit more wiggle room, but still relatively high. for suppliers at 95%. and the expectation is to fill those orders exactly to the quantity ordered. And again, I'm adding that caveat of making sure it's the right product. 
 

and that's going to be for all POs, making sure that you're in full. And you do have 5 percent room of margin for error. Outside of that, you will be charged a compliance fine. Okay, so what's going to lower your scores? Here are some of the factors that would be lowering your scores. If you're prepaid for the OT part, that on time, it's if cases arrive early, late, or without an appointment, you're going to see your score lowered, and you can track that in the OTIF scorecard. 
 

How are they defining that? What's late, what's early? So you'll have your, your must arrive by date, that delivery window. If you are outside of that, you will see your score lowered, and if you're getting past those thresholds, you will receive a fine. The second part of that is collect ready. if you are a collect supplier, you need to make sure that your shipment, If the shipment is not confirmed by 4pm CST after the PO is sent, you're going to see your score lowered and what can affect that. 
 

the order not being ready, or the second part of that is the order not being ready for appointment time. And then lastly, in full, that IF part, doesn't matter if you're prepaid or collect, these are the expectations, this is what could lower your score, is if you have fewer cases than, what was ordered, or if no cases arrived at all. 
 

you can also see the overlap here, with possibly a AP deduction, and I'll get into that later, but, just a preview here is, These compliance programs could then, issues in the compliance programs could creep into AP deductions or a SQEP fine as well. Okay, here's some OTIF fine creation scenarios. 
 

So if the ASN shipped amount is larger than the Walmart OTIF app received amount, DSS received amount, or the data you're pulling in Luminate now, the Walmart is larger than the Walmart app. OTIF app received. Receiving errors on Walmart's error end when they have received an overage for an item on one PO and a shortage on another that then can offset each other. 
 

And then factors outside of supplier's control. And we'll get into some of these towards the end, like weather, COVID has impacted this, some of the supply chain issues. I believe two years ago there was a DC that caught on fire in, Indianapolis or that, the Midwest area that caught, that was an impact for OTF funds and, making sure that those were not, distributed because of something that was out of control of suppliers and of the retailer. 
 

Okay, let's get into the actions to take when it comes to disputing OTIF fines. So if you've been working with Walmart for a while, you know that the old process was first, you can dispute OTIF fines, not allowed. Then it moved to, you can dispute OTIF fines, but you do it with your buyer. And now there's the new option of disputing in High Radius, which is an external platform from RetailLink, but similar to APDP in the sense that you go into a platform, you put in the information, you dispute, and then Walmart, or a Walmart affiliate reviews that and then decides if it's an approved dispute, or if it is not approved, if it's declined. 
 

Now that we've moved from can't dispute to now there's a couple different options, we're going to walk through what makes the most sense depending on the scenario. and here's a couple helpful tips. So again, you can still dispute with your buyer. We're going to talk about why, when that's appropriate, and when that's not. 
 

but High Radius is Walmart's newer and preferred option. They would prefer for you to dispute in High Radius as opposed to disputing with your buyer. so The places you would start to think about disputing with your buyer in particular would be if the invoice has not been received. If it's a large amount, so something that's worthwhile to bring up to your buyer, and thinking about the relationship and the conversations that you are already having with your buyer. 
 

So if there's, price negotiations or there's larger conversations that are going on, thinking about how an OTIF fine, would impact some of the other things and prioritizing that, as well as just thinking of the mileage of your relationship with your buyer. And if that's the right thing to bring up. 
 

the other part is disputing in high radius means that the invoice would already be sent and then you can dispute from there. Impact that's going to happen there is that the invoice, The invoice will have already impacted your OTIF score, so that's going to be the issue there. so it will impact your OTIF score, however, it just depends on the particular fine, the size, and, What makes the most sense for your business? 
 

One thing I'll call out here is that first time suppliers have a three month grace period where OSHA fines are waived, so you'll see those impacting your scorecard. but luckily in that three month grace period, you're not going to actually be charged those in high radius, but it is a helpful time to practice thinking about, okay, If I were to actually get these fines, would they be something that I would need to dispute? 
 

Would they be something I need to address and then prevent in the future? Because it is my fault as a supplier, I've set something up incorrectly, or I wasn't ready for pickup, etc. So that's an important call out. I've gotten this question before, about what consider, what's considered a first time supplier. 
 

And I believe, I'd have to look back at the documentation, but it is under the nine digit supplier code. So if you have a new business, I'm, and it has its own nine digit supplier code, you can actually have that three month grace period. all right. So here is our workflow. that can help you make a decision on where you should be disputing and how you should be disputing. 
 

And we'll go through the notes here on the side, but first I want to draw your attention to that number one area, which is checking your OTIF scorecard weekly. That can help you with visibility when it comes to understanding your OTIF compliance at Walmart. However, one call out here is that Walmart In particular, with the OTIF scorecard, only monitors a rolling 13 weeks of data. 
 

So if you're disputing anything back past that rolling 13 weeks, you're not going to have data that's held in that scorecard. So that's why it's really important to think about reviewing those, finds, in a timely manner. So you have access to that data and can better understand whether a fine is invalid or valid. 
 

So when it comes to disputing with Walmart and you see a projected fine, the first thing you can do is communicate with your buyer. Again, we've talked about. If you're seeing a projected fine, you can either go address it. And if it makes sense to communicate it to your buyer and let them know that this is, invalid, that makes sense. 
 

But the thing you want to have, if you're going to, your merchant team is the proper documentation. So make sure that you're spelling it all out for them, making it really easy for them to then waive that fine. and if you're going into that conversation with. not the proper documentation, not a clear story. 
 

It's going to be a lot harder for your buyer to then, waive that for you. And if they're unable to approve that, whether, they have a million emails in their inbox and they don't see it or they don't see the story. That's fine, you can always dispute in high radius, but if it's a large enough, fine, and it makes sense to have them waive that, depending on some of the other factors that you have going on, that's fine. 
 

That's how you would start that process. So what does it look like just to start that dispute process? Here are the main things that you need to have. Make sure you have the PO numbers that are being disputed, any supporting documentation that you can pull, and a detailed dispute reasoning to back up the dispute case. 
 

So give them the TLDR, let them know what's going on, and the amount that's being requested to waive those fines. All right, now we're going to get into disputing OTIF fines in high radius. So we talked about how you could do that with your buyer. Again, that's not what Walmart's documentation has outlined is their preferred method. 
 

So here's how we're going to, we're going to talk a little bit about what they'd like you to do in high radius. So with HiRadius, if you haven't logged into this platform and you're looking for it in RetailLink, you won't find it. It's its own separate platform outside of RetailLink. HiRadius is actually its own company. 
 

It's similar to DirectCommerce in the sense that, it is an outside third party that has built out this platform for. Walmart, and High Radius has, AP accounting software. so it makes sense that they have this, platform. So if you're looking to log in, to high Radius, you have to go to the High Radius login. 
 

You can talk to your retail link admin to get you the right account, and password, and it will take you to the dispute portal. But that's not the only application that you should have pulled up when you are starting to dispute, or review your OTIF finds. So the other one that you need to look at is RetailLink. 
 

the OTIF scorecard within RetailLink is going to give you visibility to your OTIF data. So think about your dual monitors, pull up the OTIF scorecard, have it on one screen, and then have HighRadiusPortal opened up and looking at the DisputePortal on the other. So you're able to have the visibility to your OTIF data, and then be able to take action on disputing those in, HighRadius. 
 

Okay, this is a little bit table stakes, but we wanted to cover this as well. How do I find the OTIF scorecard? This is going to be in RetailLink, like we said. Open the browser window, and if you've had issues with RetailLink in the last week, I know that a lot of suppliers have. Clear your cache, cookies, internet history, to ensure that you have the latest version that's pulling up. 
 

And usually that helps with any of the buffering issues that are happening there. So you'll log into RetailLink and then you'll click on the apps and you have to type in, this is a great tip for any RetailLink users, the exact word that you're looking for within RetailLink. If type in OTIF scorecard, you don't have the S capitalized, sometimes it won't pull up the application that you're looking for. 
 

So make sure you know how RetailLink likes it formatted, and you should see this app. You can also click this star here, and that will actually save it, so it's one of your favorites that pulls up if you're using that regularly. Alright, so when and, when should I use the OTIF scorecard? When it comes to the data in the OTIF scorecard, it's really helpful for reviewing ownership of OTIF compliance issues, so understanding, hey, is this my responsibility as the supplier to address? 
 

Should I have prevented this or is this an error on Walmart's side that they should address? Another helpful use of the OTIF scorecard is creating a root cause analysis. So digging into those compliance issues after you've understood who should own that issue. Discussing compliance issues with your 3PL. 
 

So pulling up that data if you're having issues with your 3PL and being able to point to a data point on where an error is happening. And then that additional documentation for disputing OTIF fines. And then in High Radius Disputing, the summary, you'll go into the EIPP and select either Open, the Unpaid Claims, or Closed, Bills, Paid Claims. 
 

Both are disputable. Want to point that out. The difference between those is Open Claims are If you have unpaid and closed bills are paid, you can actually still dispute both of them. So if you have documentation for a paid claim, you can actually go back and dispute those as well. So what you'll do here, when you're in High Radius, is check the box next to the invoice that needs to be disputed, and then click the Dispute button. 
 

That's going to open the Create Dispute window. Then it's going to populate a couple other boxes. The first thing you'll need to fill in is the dispute reason. So keeping that short and sweet as to what has happened. what's the main point of why this should be. disputed, and then click the dropdown menu and select that dispute. 
 

Then you'll click the blue field under the header to type the amount that's being disputed and enter the amount in the thousands without commas. Again, these feel like little details, but when it comes to disputing within certain platforms, there's always the different rules, that can really either be make your claim because you're doing it the way that the software likes it or break it because you're doing this way, you're formatting something or doing it in a way that the software doesn't like and it can make it confusing for the person on the other end. 
 

So again, little tips and tricks to just make it as clean as possible. When you're in the summary section, there's a comments field. That's where you can be detailed, give facts, supporting the reason for the dispute. if there's an email for the claim, you could consider adding it to a Word document and attaching that. 
 

We've seen some suppliers do that with success. And then you'll click upload to browse any necessary files. So making sure that you're, attaching any screenshots of the OTIF scorecard, or if you want to upload a PDF of a different document that you have, whether that's proof documentation, or you want to upload a PDF of an email, etc. 
 

And you can actually add up to 10 files per dispute if necessary, always put your best documentation first. And then you confirm that by selecting OK, which is in the corner. So make sure that you do that as well. We have had suppliers toggle away because they think that it's done. And this is what it will look like. 
 

So this is just an example, of HighRadius. So you can see some of the information here. And again, it's a customer facing tool. It's a third party that Walmart has used to build out this platform. So essentially that's what it looks like with the open bills, closed bills, and some of the points that we talked about earlier. 
 

Like I said, these are the two that can be disputed. Doesn't matter if they're open or closed. And again, we're walking through just the screenshots here of how you do that. So you select it, and then there's a dispute button off to the right hand side. And here's the information how it's going to be pulled through. 
 

So dispute reason, you toggle down. Amount to be disputed, which I'll call out. Go ahead and just put the full amount. We've seen suppliers Say, okay, half of this claim is right and half of it is wrong. Just pull the full, put the full amount that is being disputed, within that just to make it match on their end and let the, reviewers decide how they want to parse out what amount should be paid back. 
 

And then that comment section and upload, the attachment section as well. Here's a couple tips for disputing in High Radius. No matter if you're disputing OTIF fines or SQEP fines, you can use that dispute button. So there's a dispute button in the right hand corner. up until 2024, Fines were disputed in one month batches. 
 

Now they're disputed quarterly, so they'll be released quarterly. So make sure that's marked on your calendar for when you're disputing that, and spend time reviewing documentation. This can be a little bit frustrating with some of the rolling 13 week data, so being able to download that and save it, or have your own report where that's pulling in similar information is extremely helpful. 
 

Now that they've changed it to quarterly. And you have a 13 month window dispute invoiced fines, so if you have a heavy backlog, whether they've been paid or not, it's worthwhile to go back and review, any fines that you have paid or have not paid in that 13 month window, because you may be able to win some of that money back. 
 

All right, so we've covered a little bit of this. When it comes to the OTIF process in High Radius, One thing to call out that I have mentioned, but I want to spend some time here, is once you get past this buyer part where you can dispute before the invoice fines, once the invoice hits, it will affect your score and you're not able necessarily to reverse it after you've disputed. 
 

So that fine, that score will still look the same even if you've disputed that OTIF fine and it's come back that it was approved. Depending on who's looking at your score, or how you're talking about that within your business, it may be important to call out if you have, let's say, an 86 on your OTIF scorecard, but you've won back the difference and you are in that margin of error that Walmart allows for. 
 

It may be just helpful to have that information and to talk through that as you are reviewing that with leadership. So when it comes to disputing in High Radius, again, you'll see no matter where you're disputing, gathering the proper documentation is the key step to getting something approved. And then once you are moving through, you've cleared your backlog, you have disputed everything that you can within High Radius, monitor that for approvals. 
 

Make sure that those are going through. But sitting in Review status for a long time, possibly following up, depending on the priority of that, and then just ensuring that you're getting paid back in high radius and tracking your win rate for those OTIF fines as well. Okay, we've talked a lot about disputing, but what exactly is the additional evidence that is helpful for disputing in high radius? 
 

So this is from OTIF FAQ document that Walmart has released. You can find that on retail link in Supplier Academy. Screenshots are helpful depending on the context of the particular fine. Documentation, so if you have any BOLs or, other shipping documents or emails from particular teams, whether it's your 3PL or your merchant team. 
 

Any research you can find on RetailLink or within your supplier agreement, and then any communication with Walmart partners, again, that could go under. Emails, as well. Or meeting notes. That's the other one I was thinking of. What info do you need for a successful high radius dispute? Make sure that the supply six digit supplier number is correct, the host you have the host PO numbers that are being disputed, item numbers that were charged. 
 

On the disputed host PO, the charge type, making sure that's matched up correctly. We've seen finds come back because they didn't have the correct charge type matched up. It should have been collect ready, but they put in full, etc. And then the charge amount, which would be listed in that, column within high radius. 
 

That's easy to pull there. I went a little bit too fast. The MABD, you may want to attach that, or any documentation you have for that MABD. And MABD, again, stands for Must Arrive By Date, so making sure that you are in that correct window. And if you have anything to match up delivery to that MABD window, that can be really helpful. 
 

Particularly for collect ready charges. Disputes, making sure that the collect ready cases, that were to be included, any late routing cases, the supplier ship point case columns, the delivery window, if the dispute is for any time related, so any of the OT charges, making sure you have that delivery window is key. 
 

And scorecard. You can also pull some of this data from Nova. If you're not familiar with what Nova is. It is a retail link application, and I forget what it stands for. I could try here for a second, but I know there's validation and approval. order validation and approval is the OVA. Danielle will send that in the chat if you're interested in that data. 
 

Nova's got a lot of great helpful stuff for any manually changed, POs, which can be helpful when it comes to disputing. Almost anything, whether it's an AP deduction, an OTIF scorecard, or a SQEP charge. So that's another helpful one to look at. And here's that save button in the corner that we talked about.

So once you've filled out all that information, hitting that and saving it, making sure that it's, that dispute is completed. Let's say you've disputed everything and you want to follow up. Here is where you would look at all of your disputes. That's where they would populate. And you could see, if they're actually paid back in this area as well. 
 

Alright, let's, and Danielle put in what NOVA stands for, New Order Validation and Approval. Man, I had three out of four. So close. All right, now we're going to talk a little bit about billing for overages, which can overlap into OTIF fines, like we talked about before. But in the sake of time, we'll go a little bit fast through this. 
 

When it comes to overages, there's two ways to think about, or two types of overages. So there's billable overages, and then there's overage fines. So billable overages is if, you're sending too many units to Walmart, which you can see where this starts to occur. overlap with OTIF because it would be over in full. 
 

And then overage fines is just the way that Walmart is de incentivizing sending too much product to that DC. and that can overlap into the SQEP program particularly, but you could see a overlap, in OTIF as well or AP deductions. And If you want to get repaid for overages, you can pull a report on inventory received. 
 

You can do that in Luminate or Nova. Determine orders received over, and then just use whatever your EDI provider is to rebuild Walmart with the appropriate EDI code, and then watching for those repayments and deductions in APIS. All right, I'm going to skip through this just because this is a little bit outside of what I want to cover, but important to think of some of those tertiary types of finds that could come out if you are not, in full. 
 

And I want to get into some of the disputing examples so we have time for questions here at the end. So these are examples that we've pulled from the suppliers that we've worked with in the past, and we've pulled some of the most common themes that we've seen when it comes to disputing with Walmart. 
 

So the first one is just Walmart issues. The document, documentation for disputing this is going to be key. So if you have any communications, one that we've seen that has been really helpful is recapping any meetings. So let's say, your buyer says, I want to send more than what's on the PO. I'm going to fix this in Nova. 
 

I'm going to manually correct this. We need more product. Making sure that you're recapping that meeting. So having an email that says Hey, we covered this in the meeting. That can go a long way when it comes to disputing OTIF charges, because some of those things can slip through the cracks or not go through the, like it's not addressed in Nova. 
 

but if you have that documentation, your buyer then can waive that. That's a really common one that can happen. And you won't have to go through the high radius disputing process, especially if you have documentation like that, recapping conversations, or just, documentation of, emails as well. 
 

Another one is extenuating circumstances. Again, this one is more common than you think, in the sense that things happen. There's, supply chain issues, there's acts of God, etc. This is one you would want to use very limited in emergency situations, because when it comes to weather, for example, that can go either way with Walmart. 
 

it can be, if it's a huge, disaster, if something terrible happens, Warehouse was hit with a tornado and you just can't supply anyone product. That would then, you would want to communicate that and say, Hey, we're going to have issues for the foreseeable future, please help me waive any of these OTIF charges and communicating that proactively, if it's a little bit of snow. 
 

Retailers are probably not going to be as willing to waive fines in that case. So making sure that you have documentation to then back that up as well. A couple other dispute scenarios is DCs being full for prepaid orders. That has happened in the past, especially more When we've had larger supply chain issues, Walmart can miss pickups for collect orders. 
 

So having documentation of a missed pickup, discrepancies in Walmart's internal system. So we've talked a lot about AP deductions, SQEP, OTIF. If you've disputed a similar PO with a similar story within AP deductions and you get hit with an OTIF fine, pulling that documentation over into the OTIF fine and disputing it that way because those programs don't talk to each other. 
 

And then another one we've already talked about is Unpredictable Inclement Weather. Again, That may vary depending on the severity of the situation. The real key here is if you're going to be communicating these to your buyer, being as proactive as possible to communicate with your Walmart team as they come up and addressing that. 
 

That just makes you a good partner, and merchant teams are more willing to work with you if that's the case. If you're addressing it as early as possible. Here's another issue that could come up in the future. we're referring to it as the partially approved OTIF. So essentially SupplierX has disputed 16 not in full POs in High Radius. 
 

One was approved, but 15 were not. This can, I foresee this coming up a little bit more, especially with DSS moving away and going into Luminate. DSS essentially, or Luminate, is going to reflect the P. O. as received, but the OTIF scorecard shows the P. O. as not in full with a fine. You can actually use this discrepancy in your dispute if you're seeing Walmart data not matching up to the dispute, because Walmart's going to prefer you to use their data as that single source of truth, and if you're pointing that out, you have a higher chance of seeing that dispute approved. 
 

Another example that we've seen is supplier, a different supplier has disputed an OTIF fine and high radiance, and then there's a deduction, an AP deduction, and a SQEP fine on the same PO. Again, these compliance programs don't interact, they're not the same teams, they're separate teams, they're separate reviewers, so you can use that dispute resolution or similar documentation from another, supplier. 
 

another program. And that's why if you come on any SupplierWiki webinar, you're going to hear us say save any evidence, save proof documentation, even if that claim is approved. Don't delete it, save it, because it could hit you in another, SQEP fine, in an OTIF fine, in a deduction. They're all released at different times, so you may get that fine, One month and then two months down the road, you're getting your quarterly OTIF fines, and it shows up again, and then zooming out even more, if you're getting some of those quarterly or annual true ups, also known as audits, you could see the same PO coming through in an audit as well, so it's really important to save that information, for short or long term dispute reasons. 
 

All right, so as we're rounding out today's conversation, I'm going to communicate the best practices that we've seen with the suppliers we've worked with, what makes, what are the key things to remember when you are thinking about disputing your O2 fines or chargebacks. First things first, communicate with your merchant team. 
 

Proactively, and clearly. Second, document extenuating circumstances or Walmart issues and use that as proof documentation. Buyers are going to be your primary contact if you're having any waiving fines, but Walmart documentation has outlined that high radius is the preferred method. The goal here is to prevent the need to dispute, so having visibility into those projected fines and not rely on OTIF disputing. 
 

Dispute if you can before fines are issued, But if not, dispute on high radius. OTIF fines are going to be released about four to five weeks after quarter end, so mark that in your calendars and make sure that you have adequate time and have been collecting proof documentation for those chargebacks so you can dispute those. 
 

And remember OTIF data is usually about one to two weeks behind, so you want to make sure that you're looking at a couple different resources and accurately planning when you're disputing those so you have the best possible data at your hand. All right. Last thing is here is how you can follow up with Walmart when it comes to any issues that you're seeing. 
 

So for customer service questions, this is the email that they've asked suppliers, Walmart has asked suppliers to respond or reply to. There's the supplier contact center, that's their number there. And then the contact center link, which we can send in the chat here in a second. With that, let's get started. 
 

I don't know if we have any questions, but I will take them if we do.  
 

[00:46:45] Danielle: Thank you for going through all that content, Allie. we do have a couple of questions that have come through. The first one is from Sarah, and she asked, Do carriers receive fines on collect shipments when a shipment is late and it's their fault? 
 

[00:47:05] Allie: Do carriers Can you just read it one more time to make sure I'm understanding it? Because it sounds like they are collect.  
 

[00:47:13] Danielle: Yes, that is correct. do carriers receive fines on collect shipments when a shipment is late and it is their fault? Something that I can add to this because I know we actually do have an article on this, holding third parties accountable for OTA fines. 
 

I'm going to go ahead and send it in the chat. but just to answer the question, if Walmart carriers are not arriving, on time suppliers can submit a ticket in their transportation portal to ensure that OTA failures fall into Walmart's accountability bucket. So that's probably the best way to go about that. 
 

I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Allie. 
 

[00:47:53] Allie: No, that's, what I was thinking too. I would just say when it comes to the OTIF program, it's directed at suppliers. if someone is not showing up late, you are, as the supplier, responsible to call that out, and make sure that burden of the dispute is not falling on you. 
 

I'd say filling out the ticket is the best way to be proactive about that, to make sure it's not passed to the supplier.  
 

[00:48:21] Danielle: And then a second question, what can we do if we are out of stock on an item and every week Walmart keeps ordering it, which is causing charge, chargebacks? 
 

[00:48:32] Allie: Yeah, that's an important, that's an important question. 
 

what I would say is if you're out of stock on that, communicate that to the team. You can also put a hold on that, whether that's in, you're manually communicating that to your Walmart team or you're putting that in Nova, so canceling all those POs and putting the cancel reason as, No product, but I would first start with communicating that to the Walmart team so they have, visibility that you would be cancelling those P. O. s. If you have a P. O. that is like that one, like an item, let's say you have, a pink lunchbox and you're gonna, you could supplement it with a blue lunchbox, it's basically like for You can also offer those, that as a solution, but I would say communicating that in an email to the specificity of, we do not have this product, we will not have this product for X amount of weeks at the earliest, here's a solution, for how you can make sure that you have the inventory that you're looking for. 
 

Or if you can't provide that, being very clear and saying, hey, we have nothing, and apologize for the issue and explaining that to the best of your ability. 
 

[00:49:58] Danielle: thank you, Allie. And thank you everybody for your questions. it looks like we didn't have any further come in. if you do think of a question later or would like to share any insights with us, Please feel free to reach out to us on our email. 
 

or you can find us at supplypike. com. we would love to continue that conversation with you. and that is all that we have for our product, for the content portion of today's webinar. Now we're going to switch it up and move on to the product preview. We will give you, go and get some insight into our deduction and OATS solutions. 
 

And Allie is going to show you some really cool features and just give you a little insight into how we could potentially help you. So I'll go ahead and hand that back over to Allie.  
 

[00:50:42] Allie: Thanks, Danielle. I did see that. I see a couple more questions come through, and we do have a little bit of time, so I'll answer those. 
 

Danielle may have not seen those, so no worries. and then I'll get into the product preview. I see that someone asked that they've not been able to get access to Nova, and they've requested access through the Replenishment Manager, and they need to add this. Your replenishment manager does need to add you, that's the correct avenue, and they have not responded, so I would go ahead and go to the, EBS center and ask if you can get approval through that. 
 

through EBS, that's the Enterprise Business Services, that's where I would go next, and maybe sending a follow up email to that Replenishment Manager. Replenishment Managers are very busy, so I understand that may be why they haven't responded, but going to EBS would be the next step to escalate that to make sure you get access. 
 

and then another question I saw was that, Walmart sent an email stating that the companies affected by CloudStrike outage, which if you guys aren't familiar, that was in the news a lot last week, were to use that as an extenuating circumstance. that's very interesting, and if you guys have had any of your systems down, Because of the CloudStrike outage, I think that would definitely count as an extenuating circumstance. 
 

so I'd use that wisely. I wouldn't, let's just, pull some more POs into the CloudStrike outage issue. But assess the situation and address that. I know that happened late last week, so there's probably still information unfolding. Bye! I would definitely count that as an extenuating circumstance. 
 

And if you can document that in any way, do that and use that for any of your compliance fines. But again, it may be extenuating to the point that Walmart doesn't approve all POs in that area. Using that, reason. great discussion. Anyways, like Daniel said, I am going to transition here to talking about the SupplyPike product. 
 

At SupplierWiki, we don't like to be super salesy, but we do want to let you know what we're doing at SupplyPike. before I get into that, wanted to say, these are our emails. If you guys have questions or you have content that you want to see, you have a topic at Walmart or other retailers that you want researched and need help with, we would love to Be that help. 
 

So please email us, or if you're interested in looking at what SupplyPike has, but you don't have time to stay around for our product preview, check out SupplyPike. com. you can sign up for a, a demo and get a free analysis with your data as well in that. So you can actually see how your Walmart Kroger, Amazon, Target, Home Depot, CVS Business is performing on, in the revenue loss space. 
 

and that can be helpful or maybe you need to partner with us and use our platform. So here we go. Let's get into SupplyPike for Walmart. I'm gonna transition my screen here. Perfect. And today we have the OTIF dashboard. You can see on the left hand side, we've got deductions, overages, post audits, OTIF SQEP. 
 

There's a lot in the Walmart platform that we could cover. I'm really going to spend a couple seconds here. but if you're interested in looking at more of the features within the Walmart, or some of the other retailers that we have here, I would definitely sign up for that demo, and Danielle can actually send that in the chat if you're interested. 
 

So here's the OTIF dashboard. What is different about the OTIF scorecard compared to our dashboard? So again, this is not Walmart's product. This is SupplyPike's product. is that we pull past that rolling 13 week data. And this is going to give you a higher level of visibility, and a very streamlined look at your OTIF business. 
 

So you can see, again, this is a demo account, the collect ready and in full, this is a collect demo account. We also have, this application for prepaid. Essentially what we're doing here is aggregating your data so you can see it at a better level and we've broken it out into different components. 
 

So you understand that business and you're not pulling your rolling OTIF data. It's not something, a report that you're having to pull. This is essentially a time saver. It's also updated regularly. This is again, a demo account. So this is not updated regularly, but this is something we update for our suppliers. 
 

And then there's also different analysis that you can look at, depending on destination, carriers, items, vendor numbers. You can build out custom segments, departments, etc. So again, just other ways to look at data to make it a lot easier instead of having to manually pull this or dig into and build out root cause analysis. 
 

This is that solution for. Your team. You also have a page that would show purchase orders and the compliance issues, what's not in compliant by those, POs. And then lastly, You can see your disputes by month, see which ones are accepted, have that proof documentation pulled in, pull that dispute files. 
 

So it's a lot easier to then go dispute within High Radius as well. So that's all we have time for. We're getting, I hit it right at 12, but I appreciate everybody for joining. Thank you guys. Hope to see you at another webinar. And thank you, Danielle, for hosting us today. Thank you, everybody. We hope you have a great day. 
 

Bye. Thank you.