How install-date risk works
How Techstyles works out each item's order-by date and decides whether it is Blocked, At risk, Watching or fine.
Techstyles checks every item on a schedule against the date it is needed on site. If an item will be late, or can't move forward at all, it gets a risk chip under its name. This article explains exactly how that is worked out, so you know what each chip means and what clears it.
The three dates behind every item
- Installation date. Set once per project in Settings > Schedule. It is the day the scheme goes in.
- Required by. The date this item must be on site. When you add a product from the library, it starts as the project's installation date. You can only pick a date between the project's start date and its installation date.
- Lead time. How many weeks the supplier needs, in whole weeks.
From these, Techstyles works out the Order by date:
Order by = Required by − Lead time − Order buffer
The order buffer is a safety margin your studio sets. Order by shows a dash until an item has both a required-by date and a lead time.
Your studio's thresholds
A studio admin sets four numbers in Settings > Procurement, under Risk thresholds. They apply to every project.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Order buffer | Safety margin taken off when working out the order-by date | 1 week |
| Order nudge window | How many days before the order-by date an item turns At risk | 10 days |
| Approved-but-not-ordered | How long an approved item can sit unordered before it is flagged | 2 days |
| Long-lead threshold | Lead times at or above this are labelled as long lead | 4 weeks |
The four states
Each item is in exactly one state. Techstyles checks them in this order and stops at the first that applies.
Blocked
The item can't move forward until someone acts. An item is Blocked when any of these is true:
- Its status is Out of stock.
- The client's approval is Rejected.
- Someone ticked Blocked on the item's Watch tab. The chip then shows the note they wrote.
At risk
The item is likely to be late, or its dates don't add up. These checks only run until the item's status is Delivered, Installed, Returned, Refunded or Client existing. An item is At risk when any of these is true:
| What's wrong | Reason you'll see |
|---|---|
| The ETA is after the required-by date | ETA 9d after required date |
| The status is Ordered, Payment due or In transit and there is no ETA | Ordered with no ETA |
| It is flagged Bespoke / made to order and has no ETA | Bespoke, no ETA yet |
| The required-by date has passed | 3d past required date |
| The required-by date is 14 days away or less | Due in 12d, not delivered |
| There is no required-by date | No required-by date set |
| The required-by date is after the project's installation date | Required-by is after the install date |
| The required-by date is before the project starts or after it ends | Required-by is outside the project dates |
| It isn't ordered and the order-by date has passed | Order overdue — was due 6 Nov |
| It isn't ordered and the order-by date is inside your nudge window | Order by 6 Nov (7d) |
| The client approved it more than your approved-but-not-ordered days ago and it isn't ordered | Approved 10d ago, not ordered |
When an item is already at risk and its lead time is at or above your long-lead threshold, Techstyles adds Long lead (12w) to the reasons. A long lead time on its own doesn't make an item at risk.
For these checks, an item counts as ordered once it is on a purchase order or its status is Ordered, Payment due, In transit, Delivered, Installed, Returned, Refunded or Client existing. From then on, the order-by checks stop and the ETA checks take over.
Watching
Someone turned on Watch this item and nothing above applies. The chip shows the reason they picked, such as Long lead time.
OK
Nothing needs attention. There is no chip.
Worked example
Hartley Studio has set its Order buffer to 2 weeks, its Order nudge window to 21 days and its Long-lead threshold to 6 weeks.
On the Mews House project, the installation date is Friday 12 February 2027. The Bouclé sofa, three-seat in the Living room is required by that date and the upholsterer quotes a 12-week lead time.
- Order by = 12 Feb 2027 − 12 weeks − 2 weeks = Friday 6 November 2026.
- On 30 October the order-by date is 7 days away. That is inside the 21-day nudge window and the sofa isn't ordered, so it is At risk with the chip Order by 6 Nov (7d). Because 12 weeks is above the 6-week long-lead threshold, hovering over the chip also shows Long lead (12w).
- If nobody orders it by 6 November, the reason changes to Order overdue — was due 6 Nov.
- Once the sofa is on a purchase order and its status is Ordered, the order-by checks stop. With no ETA yet, it shows Ordered with no ETA.
- The supplier confirms delivery on 29 January, so you set that as the ETA. That is before the required-by date, so the ETA check passes.
- From 29 January, the required-by date is 14 days away and the sofa shows Due in 14d, not delivered until you set its status to Delivered. Then it has no chip.
With the default thresholds instead (a 1-week buffer and a 10-day window), the same sofa would need ordering by 13 November and would turn At risk on 3 November.
Where you see it
- The chip under the product name shows the first reason. Hover over it to read all of them.
- The Order by column shows the date and the days left. It turns amber 10 days before and red with "late" once the date has passed.
- Watchlist in the toolbar shows every Blocked and At risk item that isn't snoozed, plus every item someone is watching.
- The Procurement risks panel at the top of the schedule lists items that need attention with a suggested next step.
- Notifications. When someone's edit moves an item into At risk or Blocked, everyone else on the project gets a notification, and a message goes to Slack if your studio has connected it.
Good to know
- Risk is worked out each time the schedule loads, using today's date. You don't need to refresh anything.
- Notifications are sent when an edit changes an item's state. Items that become at risk because a date is getting closer show up on the schedule and the Watchlist, so check it regularly.
- Snoozing an item hides its Blocked or At risk flag from the Watchlist and the Procurement risks panel for 3 days, 1 week or 2 weeks. The chip stays, faded, with "snoozed". Snoozing never hides an item you are watching.
- Changing a threshold in Settings > Procurement changes the order-by dates and flags on every project.