How to chase suppliers for missing documents without chasing from memory

This article is AI-generated.

Anyone who handles supplier paperwork knows the routine: a certificate of conformity that never arrived with the delivery, a safety data sheet that's two revisions old, an insurance certificate that expired last month. You email, you wait, you forget, you email again. One commenter on Reddit summed it up: "Chasing is a poor use of company resources ( your time)".

The problem usually isn't that suppliers refuse. It's that nobody on your side has a list of what's missing, when it was asked for, and when to ask again. This guide shows a simple routine that works in any spreadsheet: one register of missing documents, three formulas that tell you who to chase today and who to escalate, a fixed chase sequence, and a short message template. It's written for purchasing, quality and operations teams in manufacturing, distribution and logistics.

Step 1: Decide what you need, once

Before chasing anything, agree internally what a complete supplier file looks like. For most teams it's a short list per supplier type, for example:

• certificates of conformity or analysis for each delivery or batch;
• safety data sheets for chemicals, at the current revision;
• quality or management system certificates, with expiry dates;
• insurance certificates;
• any customer-specific declarations you have to pass on.

Write this list down. Half of the chasing in most companies comes from asking for different things at different times, so suppliers never know when they're done.

Step 2: One register, one row per missing document

Don't track missing paperwork in your inbox. Track it in a register with one row for each document you're waiting for:

Supplier	Document	Requested	Due	Last chased	Chases	Status	Days overdue	Next chase	Flag	Owner
Supplier 1 (illustrative)	CoC, PO 4471	2026-09-20	2026-10-01	2026-10-06	1	Waiting	12	2026-10-13	CHASE TODAY	Buyer A
Supplier 2 (illustrative)	SDS rev. current	2026-10-01	2026-10-15		0	Waiting		2026-10-08	CHASE TODAY	Quality B
Supplier 3 (illustrative)	ISO certificate	2026-09-01	2026-09-15	2026-10-08	3	Waiting	28	2026-10-15	ESCALATE	Buyer A
Supplier 4 (illustrative)	CoA, batch 0912	2026-09-01	2026-09-15	2026-09-20	1	Received				Quality B

A few rules make this work:

• One owner per row, a named person, not "Purchasing".
• A due date for every request. "As soon as possible" can't be tracked. If the supplier hasn't committed to a date, set a reasonable one yourself, often 10 working days.
• Status has three values only: Waiting, Received, Not needed. Anything else drifts.
• Received means checked. Mark a row Received only after someone has confirmed it's the right document, the right revision and still valid.

Step 3: Three formulas

Assume Requested is in column C, Due in D, Last chased in E, Chases in F and Status in G.

Days overdue (column H):

=IF(OR(G2<>"Waiting",D2=""),"",IF(TODAY()>D2,TODAY()-D2,""))

Blank unless the row is Waiting with a due date set; otherwise the number of days past due.

Next chase (column I), a week after the last chase, or a week after the request if you've never chased:

=IF(G2<>"Waiting","",IF(E2="",C2+7,E2+7))

Format the column as a date.

Flag (column J):

=IF(G2<>"Waiting","",IF(AND(F2>=3,D2<>"",TODAY()>D2),"ESCALATE",IF(AND(I2<>"",I2<=TODAY()),"CHASE TODAY","")))

After three chases on an overdue document, it stops being a chasing job and becomes an escalation. Otherwise, any row whose next chase date has arrived shows CHASE TODAY.

I tested these in LibreOffice Calc with a fixed date of 2026-10-13 in place of TODAY(), using the four rows above plus one with no due date. The results matched the table: 12 and 28 days overdue, CHASE TODAY for suppliers 1 and 2, ESCALATE for supplier 3, blanks for the received row, and no flag for a request sent on 2026-10-10 (next chase 2026-10-17). In some locales you'll need semicolons instead of commas between arguments.

Step 4: A fixed chase sequence

1. Request: send one message listing every missing document for that supplier, not one email per document. Give a due date.
2. First chase, a week later: reply on the same thread so the history stays together. Restate what's still missing.
3. Second chase: copy the supplier's account manager or quality contact, if you have one.
4. Third chase: same thread, and say clearly what happens next, for example that the goods will stay in quarantine or that orders will be held, if that's your policy.
5. Escalate: when the flag says ESCALATE, the owner hands it to their manager or the person who owns the supplier relationship. They decide whether to hold orders, accept a deviation, or call the supplier.

After every chase, update Last chased and add one to Chases. That's what moves the next chase date forward and keeps the flags honest.

Step 5: A message that's easy to answer

Suppliers respond faster when they can see exactly what you need and can reply with attachments in one go. An example:

Missing documents (illustrative): Hello, we're still missing the following for our orders with you: (1) certificate of conformity for PO 4471, delivered 2026-09-25; (2) current safety data sheet for product X. The due date was 2026-10-01. Could you reply to this email with both attached by 2026-10-16? Thank you.

Keep it short, number the items, give a date, and always reply in the same thread.

Step 6: A weekly ten-minute review

• Every Monday, the register owner filters on the Flag column and sends each owner their CHASE TODAY rows.
• ESCALATE rows go to the weekly purchasing or quality meeting.
• Rows marked Received are checked by a second person once a month, so "received" doesn't quietly mean "someone said they sent it".
• When a buyer leaves or changes role, their open rows get a new owner as part of the handover.

Checklist

• [ ] A written list of required documents per supplier type.
• [ ] Every missing document has its own row, owner and due date.
• [ ] Status is limited to Waiting, Received, Not needed.
• [ ] Days overdue, Next chase and Flag formulas are set.
• [ ] Last chased and Chases are updated after every chase.
• [ ] Chases stay in one email thread per supplier.
• [ ] ESCALATE rows have a named decision-maker.

Common mistakes

• Chasing from memory. Some suppliers get three emails a week, others none. Fix: chase only what the register flags.
• One email per document. Suppliers lose track. Fix: one numbered list per supplier.
• No due date. Nothing is ever overdue. Fix: always give a date.
• Marking Received too early. The wrong revision gets filed. Fix: check before you mark it.
• Chasing forever. Ten polite reminders don't change anything. Fix: escalate after three.