What's changed in the factory portal

The factory portal has been redesigned. This page is written for you, the factory. It explains what looks different, what is new, and where to find things.

Nothing about your work has changed. You sign in with the same email or factory code and password. Your purchase orders (POs), products, shipments, messages and payment requests are all still there. The companies you make for are called merchants in the portal.

#Where has it gone?

#One language at a time

The whole portal, including the PO board, the PO list and the PO page, now shows either English or 中文, not both together. The switch in the top bar changes it, and your choice is remembered on that computer. Pop-up boxes (confirmations and warnings) now appear in the same style as the portal and in your chosen language. What people typed, such as notes, product names and sizes, is not translated by the switch.

Read Switching between English and Chinese.

#Finding your way

• The sidebar is grouped: Main (Dashboard, To get done, Messages), Operations (Purchase Orders, Products, Customers, Freight, Approvals, Calendar, Capacity), Money (Payments) and System (Resources, Settings, Team, Graveyard).
• The top bar has Search (PO numbers and product codes), the language switch, Messages, the notifications bell, and + New: New shipment, New payment request, New support ticket, and Add a colleague for owners and admins.
• A red Reminders pill appears when one of your reminders is due.
• You only see the pages your factory's owner or admin has given you.

Read Finding your way around the portal.

#To get done and the Dashboard (new)

• To get done lists everything waiting on your factory: POs to accept, POs the merchant has changed, POs past their ETD or due within 7 days, production photos not yet submitted, samples to ship, lines ready to ship, shipments to book, shipped POs to request payment for, unread messages and date requests. Each line is tagged Urgent, Needs action, Your move or Waiting on others, and Show the records lists the POs behind it.
• The Dashboard adds production figures: Units in production, Due this week, Late, On time and Days per stage.

Read To get done and the Dashboard.

#Purchase orders

• Board or List: the board shows one column per status; the list has tabs, search, filters (including ETD: overdue, due in 7, 14 or 30 days, or no ETD set) and sorting, including Most overdue first.
• Quick view: click a PO for its overview, line items, latest message and files, then Open full PO for everything.
• The PO page has a Stage card showing where the PO is, what is Up next and the button for this step. All stages shows the whole path.
• Spec as sent: each product on a PO shows Spec as sent on a date. If the merchant has edited the product since, you'll see Product has changed since this PO was sent and a Compare button showing the two side by side. Make what the PO was sent with unless the merchant tells you otherwise.

Read Opening a purchase order and Products, artwork and sizes on a PO.

#Prices on a PO

• Propose a price on one style or one extra line of a PO, for example a surcharge, with a new unit price and a reason. This is only possible before production starts.
• While your price proposal for a PO (or for a product on it) is waiting for the merchant, Accept & start production is greyed out. Once the merchant approves or rejects it, you can accept. A rejection means the current price stands.
• Once a PO is in production its prices are agreed and do not change, even if a quantity changes.

Read Proposing changes, prices and custom items.

#Messages

• One messages sheet with tabs All, PO messages, Requests (date requests) and Support.
• Enter sends, Shift + Enter is a new line. Paste or drag in files, or take a photo on a phone.
• Seen shows when the merchant has read your message. Your messages are on the right; your teammates and the merchant's team on the left with their names.
• Reply to a message (quoting it), react to it, edit your own message within 15 minutes, or delete it. The merchant sees "edited" or "Message deleted", so a corrected quantity is never silent.
• Saved replies for text you send often, Star and Mute for conversations, and Waiting on us for conversations where the merchant is waiting on your reply.
• New: Message reminders, a per-person setting on Team, sends you an email when the merchant replies on a PO.
• Automatic Chinese ↔ English translation of PO messages works as before where it is switched on. See Automatic translation of messages.

Read Messages and support tickets.

#Calendar and closures (new)

The Calendar shows your closures and every PO's ETD, by month or as a list. Add closure (Chinese New Year, Golden Week, Public holiday, Factory shutdown or Other) with a reason and the first and last day closed. The closure is sent to every merchant you make for, and you can see whether each one has received it. Their customers never see your factory's name. A closure warns about dates that fall inside it; it never moves an ETD.

Read Calendar and closures.

#Capacity (new)

Set your Units per week and Working days, optionally split by category or technique. The Capacity page then shows the next 12 weeks: units committed (POs in production, in the week of their ETD) against what you can make, with warnings when a week is over capacity. Closures lower a week's capacity. Only your factory sees this. Merchants never do.

Read Capacity planning.

#Reminders (new)

On a PO, a shipment or a payment request, + Add reminder: a description, Only me or Team, and a date or a number of days before or after the PO's ETD. Up to three open per record. When one is due it shows in the top bar, above To get done and on the Calendar until you press Done, Snooze, Edit or Delete. Merchants never see your reminders.

Read Reminders.

#Team and permissions (new)

Owners and admins manage the team on Team:

• Roles: Owner (always everything), Admin (every page, can manage the team) and Member (only the pages ticked for them).
• Access: tick the pages each person can open. Pages they can't open are hidden from their sidebar.
• Per person: Factory emails, Message reminders and Portal access.

Good to know

someone whose access has never been set keeps every page they had before, but not the new Calendar or Capacity pages. Open their record, tick those pages and save.

Read Team and permissions.

#Products and the companies you make for

• A product now opens as a full window with tabs: Details, Pricing, Sizes, Artwork & detailings, Files, Orders and Notes & timeline. To change something, press Edit on a section and Save changes; it goes to the merchant for approval.
• Customers (the merchants you make for) has tiles and one row per merchant, with a Connection state (Healthy, No sync yet, Last sync failed). Open a merchant for tabs Overview, Purchase orders, Products, Their customers, Shipments, Payments and Date requests.

Read Products, fabrics and the companies you make for.

#Ask Flyte

If it has been switched on, Ask Flyte / 问 Flyte is pinned at the top of Messages. It is an AI assistant that answers questions about the portal and your POs. It can't change anything, and Send to a human passes the conversation on.

#Common questions

Do I need a new login? No. Sign in exactly as before.

A page is missing from my sidebar. Your owner or admin needs to tick it for you on Team.

Do merchants see my capacity or reminders? No, never.

Will a closure change my ETDs? No. Update your ETDs yourself.

Where do I get help with the portal? Messages → Support.