Field notes · 2026-06-12
What belongs on a manager pack from a warehouse app
Most warehouse exports drown a manager in scan counts. Here is a tighter set of figures that survive a Monday stand-up.
Warehouse apps are good at recording every scan. Managers rarely need every scan. They need to know whether outbound promises held, where pick delays clustered, and which exceptions keep repeating.
Start with three numbers that match spoken commitments: orders released on time, average pick minutes for the top SKU band, and open exceptions older than one shift. If a column does not help answer one of those, leave it in the operational workbook.
When two teams disagree on “on time,” write the definition on the pack itself. In Johor sites we often see cut-off times differ between the dock and the planning desk. Naming the cut-off once removes half the argument.
Keep a short appendix for auditors who want volume detail. The front page should stay short enough to discuss standing up. That discipline is what turns an app export into a manager report.