Moments in Trade #20｜A-Mei's maternity leave: handovers don't start from zero

This series uses Dingli, a Patisco demo account. Every system screen and all the data shown here came from real operations in the system, including the exchanges between buyers and suppliers; they are not mock-ups. The people and dialogue are dramatized, and the illustrations are for illustration only. Screens are shown in the system's Chinese interface; Patisco is also available in English and other languages.

In the story: A-Mei's last week before leave, Wednesday afternoon

One notebook

A-Mei is taking three months of maternity leave. She has nine purchase orders still open, fourteen supplier groups, and that notebook with the cover worn pale.

"I'll write up a handover for you all," she said.

Chairman Lin shook his head. "Don't write anything yet. Let's first see what no longer needs writing."

How it used to go

A handover used to be a Word file.

A-Mei would spend three evenings getting everything out of her head: who the salesperson is at each supplier, when each order is due, what was quietly worked out with whom. However carefully you write it, you never finish. Because the most important thing is often why a decision was made back then, and that lives only in her memory and her LINE.

In the second week of her leave, the call would inevitably come: "A-Mei, so sorry to bother you, but that Hongtai order…"

Whoever picks it up is essentially starting from zero.

How it goes in Patisco

First, look at what's already at the company

Chairman Lin, A-Mei and A-Zhe sat down and went through it item by item.

• The nine purchase orders: all in the system. Each one's items, quantities and prices, and what changed in each version, are in [Change history].
• Terms hashed out with suppliers: the three terms hashed out with Yongchang in #12 are written in that purchase order's discussion.
• The Hongtai group: it has the record-keeper and is bound to PI-0411. The plating change, the inspection photos, "delivery next Wednesday": all there.
• The Yongchang and packaging supplier groups: all bound too.

A-Mei looked it over, a little amazed. "So all I have left to write is… what tea Ms. Chang likes?"

"That one you still write," Chairman Lin said.

Then, fill in what isn't at the company yet

Of course, not everything just shows up there on its own. The three of them made a list to finish before her leave:

1. Emails not yet placed in a discussion: in [Email inbox], A-Mei places the emails under [To place] into the matching discussions, one by one. Until they're placed, only she can see them. Not even an admin can.

2. Add A-Zhe to her discussions: she adds A-Zhe as a participant on every active thread. Once he's in, he can see all of that thread's earlier messages.

3. Reassign the contacts: in [Account & Authority Management], the admin reassigns the [Seller contact] for Hongtai, Yongchang and the other sellers to A-Zhe. Regular employees only see the buyers and sellers they're the contact for, so without this, A-Zhe wouldn't be able to see some of the suppliers.

4. Tell the suppliers: one line in each group: "While I'm on leave, please go to A-Zhe." The groups stay as they are, and the records keep going to the company.

5. New emails from here on: emails sent to A-Mei's mailbox during her leave can't be seen by anyone else. So she asks the suppliers she deals with most to send future emails to A-Zhe.

These five things took one afternoon. No three evenings writing a Word file.

The notebook

Finally, A-Mei handed the notebook to A-Zhe.

"You keep this one. There are some things in it… that aren't in the system."

A-Zhe opened to the first page. It read: "Ms. Chang: oolong, no sugar. Manager Chen: no tea, coffee, two packets of sugar. Yongchang's meeting room: the AC runs cold, bring a jacket."

He laughed. "Yeah, this really isn't in the system."

Before vs. With Patisco

A word for the boss: People take leave and people move on. That's normal. When the experience stays with the company, handovers don't start from zero.