Quality incidents that belong on a scorecard
Not every complaint belongs in a supplier score. Criteria we use when clients ask which incidents should affect the next review meeting.
Not every customer complaint belongs on a supplier scorecard. Overloading the sheet dilutes the incidents that should drive a review action. Clients often ask us where to draw the line during supplier performance reporting.
Include
- Confirmed non-conforming goods with a written disposition (reject, rework, or use-as-is with concession)
- Recurring labelling or documentation errors that delay customs clearance
- Safety-related findings from inbound inspection
Park elsewhere
- One-off preference comments that did not change the receipt
- Damage clearly attributable to a named carrier after handover
- Issues still under joint investigation with no agreed root cause
Counting method
We prefer incident counts tied to PO lines, plus a severity note, over a single composite quality score. Composite scores invite debate about weighting; counts keep the discussion on what happened and what changes next quarter.
When you commission a scorecard engagement, settle the quality criteria in the measure workshop. It is harder to retrofit them after the first draft is circulating.