Reviewing Applications

Applications arrive with a status and wait for a decision.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Commercial:

• Carts — the cart itself and its options
• Shop Insights — what buyers looked for
• Vendor Approvals — applications waiting on a decision

Architect Panel → Data:

• Datastores — then View Data on a cart table, where most shop administration lives

The actions

An application can be approved, declined, or revoked after the fact — and an earlier decision can be changed to approved. That last one matters: a vendor declined for a missing document should be approvable once it arrives, without reapplying.

Approval notes are recorded against the application, which is where the reasoning belongs.

Write the reason down

Every time, approval as well as decline. Six months later somebody will ask why a vendor was accepted, and "it seemed fine" is not an answer that survives a complaint or an audit.

What to check

• Do they exist — company number against the register.
• Are the documents current — insurance certificates expire.
• Do the products fit your shop and your customers.
• Can they fulfil — your customers will blame you, not them.
• Is anything restricted — some product categories carry obligations you would be taking on.

One person should not decide alone

For anything material. Vendor approval is a commercial decision with a fraud dimension, and a single approver is a single point of failure in both directions.

Revocation needs a process too

A vendor who stops fulfilling, or whose insurance lapses, has to be stoppable quickly. Know who can revoke and what happens to their listed products when it happens — an unanswered question until the day it is urgent.

Expiring documents need re-checking

An insurance certificate valid at approval is not valid forever. Either record the expiry and review it, or accept that your vendor checks are a snapshot of the day they applied.

Handle the queue on a schedule

A fixed day each week beats good intentions. Applications that sit are the ones that get decided badly, in a hurry, by whoever happened to notice.

Worked example

Applications are reviewed each Tuesday against a five-point checklist, with the reasoning noted whichever way it goes. Anything above a value threshold needs a second approver. Insurance expiry dates are recorded and reviewed quarterly, which caught two vendors trading on lapsed cover.

Recommendations

• Note the reasoning for approvals as well as declines.
• Use a written checklist.
• Two approvers for anything material.
• Record document expiry and review it.