Production photos and pre-production samples

Before a run is finished, you often want the customer to see what is being made. Flyte has two ways to do this: production photo approvals (often called panel prints), where the factory photographs the work and the customer approves it, and pre-production samples (PPS), where a physical sample is approved before bulk production starts.

#Production photo approvals

#How it works

1. The factory uploads production photos against the PO's products.
2. You review them on the PO's Products tab under Panel-print approvals.
3. You send them to the customer, or decide yourself.
4. The customer approves each product or asks for changes.

#Step by step: send photos to the customer

1. Open the PO and go to Products.
2. Under Panel-print approvals, tick the products to send.
3. Press Send Approval (n).

Each order's contact receives an email and link showing only their own products and order numbers. A PO can carry several customers' orders, and each customer only sees theirs. The approval bar lists every recipient, and says why any one cannot be emailed: no contact on that order, notifications switched off, or that order's customer emails paused.

#Deciding yourself

You can make the decision instead of the customer, and it goes straight to the factory. You can also mark a product as Repeat order, when it has been made and approved before.

#What each product shows

#What happens after

• Once every product on an order is approved or marked repeat, that order moves to Production. Orders on the same PO are judged separately, so two orders on one PO can show different statuses.
• Approvals never move an order backwards.
• If a customer requests changes, your team is alerted, the item shows on Approvals as Rejected with Relay to factory, and the PO list shows a Changes pill. Pass their feedback to the factory through the PO's messages.
• If you request changes on the PO, it goes straight to the factory.
• When the factory re-uploads, the item is pending again.

Tip

For a factory that is not on the portal, you can upload production photos to the PO yourself when they send them to you another way.

#Pre-production samples (PPS)

A PPS is a physical sample made and approved before the bulk order. It is set up on the order.

#Setting it up

1. On the order, find the Pre-production sample card at the top of Products.
2. Tick it.
3. Choose Ship sample to: Our warehouse or Direct to customer.
4. Pick a sample size for each style from its size group.
5. Press Save PPS details.

This locks once a PO exists.

#What happens

1. When you create the PO, it opens in the sample stage with a PPS banner telling the factory to make the sample first, and a sample line for each product is added automatically.
2. When the factory marks the sample shipped, the customer receives a review link with photos, and the order sits at PPS Approval.
3. The customer can approve (with or without change notes for the factory), or ask for a new sample.
4. Approval releases everything to Production and tells the factory to start bulk. A new sample request loops the PPS stage for another round.

To give the customer the review link yourself, use Actions → Copy PPS approval link on the PO.

#Common questions

A customer did not get the approval email. The approval bar on the PO says why: no contact on the order, notifications off, or customer emails paused on that order.

One order on the PO is in Production and the other is not. Each order moves when all of its own products are approved.

Where is the old PPS link button? Use Actions → Copy PPS approval link.