11. DIFOT Monopoly?
What if you went to an ATM machine to withdraw $100 but it only gave you $90 – feel mad? Well, why would you sit in a supply review and proudly present a 90% DIFOT score while your customers are looking elsewhere for a supplier that will give them what they want?🤔
I’ve frequently witnessed a comfortable internal metric that bears little resemblance to actual customer experience and seen senior people treat DIFOT reporting like a board game, complete with get-out-of-jail-free cards for missed deliveries and creative rule interpretations that would never fly with actual customers. Let's challenge some ‘comfortable’ assumptions about DIFOT reporting:
The DIFOT Identity Crisis
What does DIFOT stand for? Theoretically "Delivered In Full On Time," but I find many interpretations of this:
Some measure dispatch rather than delivery
Others count line items instead of complete orders
Many apply "reasonable" adjustments that conveniently inflate the numbers
This isn't just semantics—it's the difference between understanding true performance and living in a delusion.
The Hard Truth About Customer Expectations
When customers place orders, they expect everything they ordered to arrive when promised. Not most items. Not a day late. Everything, on time.
Your customer doesn't think, "I ordered 10 products and got 9, so that's 90% success!" They think, "My order is incomplete—now I have to follow up."
Seven Sins of DIFOT Reporting:
1. The Delivery vs. Dispatch Confusion
Using dispatch as a proxy without acknowledging the gap is like measuring cooking by how well you follow a recipe—not how the food tastes.
If you must use "despatched-in-full-on-time," call it despatched-in-full-on-time and be transparent.
2. The "Either/Or" Fallacy
DIFOT requires both "in full" AND "on time" components. Being one day late but delivering everything is still a miss.
Sorry, but that's like saying you almost caught your flight. You either did or you didn't.
3. The Line Item Illusion
Reporting Line Item Fill Rate (LIFR) instead of Order Fill Rate (OFR) masks poor performance.
A customer orders 10 items. You ship 9 on time, but miss one. That's an OFR of 0% but a LIFR of 90%. Guess which number gets reported?
I say always measure order fill rate. You either delivered everything, or you didn't—no shenanigans reporting 90% LIFR to disguise a bad customer experience.
4. The "Reasonable Adjustment" Rabbit Hole
There's an element of reasonableness when a customer places an unrealistic order. In these cases, your "first promise" becomes your commitment, not their "first request."
But be careful—I've seen "reasonable adjustments" become a slippery slope of excuses.
Always measure against your "first promise"—what you initially committed to deliver.
5. The Tolerance Trap
Some businesses build tolerances for early delivery or other parameters. That's fine if—and only if—they've been pre-agreed with the customer.
Formally define the tolerances in business rules rather than leaving them to individual interpretation.
6. The Calculation Confusion
The math should be simple: Orders delivered in full and on time ÷ Total orders = DIFOT percentage.
Yet I've seen complex scoring systems that somehow always produce more flattering numbers.
7. The Low Bar
Best practice is 95% DIFOT. Top performers push for 97-98%. If your target is still 85-90%, you're planning to disappoint at least one in every 10 customers.
The Last Words: Who Really Owns DIFOT?
While DIFOT is often considered a supply chain metric, it should be a top-level customer service KPI owned by senior leadership.
Why? Because it's one of the purest measures of whether you're delivering on your basic promise to customers. It's not just about efficiency—it's about trust.
When DIFOT is buried in supply chain reporting, it becomes an internal metric. When elevated to a company-wide customer service measure, it drives different behaviours.
Remember, measuring DIFOT isn't to make yourselves feel good—it's to drive behaviours that deliver what customers expect.
The Question
What's your experience with DIFOT measurement? Have you seen these "creative interpretations" in action?
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