Table of contents
- Jeff: The manufacturer
- 21: Products & services
- 22: Suppliers & vendors
- 23: Equipment & machines
- 24: Processes & procedures
- 25: Inventory & stock
- 31: Marketing, PR, & communications
- 32: Sales channels
- 33: Customers & clients
- 34: Orders & jobs
- 35: Shipping & fulfillment
Jeff
The manufacturer
This story is based on Decimal family member, Jeff. He owns Lovett Sundries. They manufacture a range of body-care products and sell them in-store and online.
Jeff produces a tangible thing. So he’s at the very top left of our quadrant chart.
This is how he might use categories 20-39.
21
Products & services
🟢 Heavily used
Jeff creates his own line of products. Here he stores the recipes and other information about these things.
22
Suppliers & vendors
🟢 Heavily used
Jeff can’t make his products without supplies (the raw ingredients). Here he keeps records of his suppliers.
23
Equipment & machines
🟢 Heavily used
Jeff has all sorts of machines to track. From wax melters to lotion pourers to paper folders for the packaging.
24
Processes & procedures
🟢 Heavily used
Here he stores production processes and other things like good manufacturing practice and quality control.
25
Inventory & stock
🟢 Heavily used
Everything bought from a supplier is inventory. Once it’s manufactured, it becomes stock or finished goods.
31
Marketing, PR, & communications
🟢 Heavily used
How would anyone know Jeff existed unless he told them? From online campaigns to the A-frame out front, this is for all marketing efforts.
32
Sales channels
🟢 Heavily used
Without a mechanism to sell his products, how could anyone buy them? Jeff has two primary channels. A physical store and a Shopify store. He tracks them here.
33
Customers & clients
🟢 Heavily used
While Jeff has many customers, he doesn’t spend much time tracking them. This data primarily exists in QuickBooks and Shopify. But if he needs to export it to work on it or create a backup, that data lives here.
Note: when we say ‘heavily used’, we don’t necessarily mean that he’s in his file system. But that customers are integral to his business.
34
Orders & jobs
🟢 Heavily used
Similarly, Jeff’s orders either occur in-store and are immediately fulfilled. Or on Shopify, which tracks order status. Either way, this is the place for anything to do with those orders.
35
Shipping & fulfillment
🟢 Heavily used
While customers take away in-store purchases, Shopify orders must be sent out. Jeff will have a process for this, which lives here.