Many organizations rely on suppliers who move through multiple stages of production or fulfillment, such as fabrication, inspection, packaging, or shipment, before goods are ready to deliver. Just as buyers manage internal workflows, suppliers follow their own set of steps to complete an order.

Milestones provide visibility into where each order currently sits within the supplier’s process. This insight helps buyers:

• Forecast when orders will be ready

• Spot delays or risks earlier

• Improve collaboration and accountability with suppliers

• Strengthen overall on-time delivery performance

By tracking production and fulfillment milestones directly in SourceDay, buyers gain the clarity needed to plan proactively and build more resilient supply chains.

How milestones work

Milestones allow both buyers and suppliers to update and monitor production progress on individual purchase order (PO) lines. Each milestone reflects a key phase in the supplier’s workflow.

Buyer-defined milestone lists

Each Buyer company manages its own milestone configuration. Buyer admins create a standardized list of milestones that apply to all suppliers. Admins can:

• Add or update milestone names

• Reorder milestones

• Enable or disable milestones as needed

Suppliers cannot add or edit milestones. They may only select from the milestone list defined by the Buyer.

Enable and customize milestones

Buyer admins can enable or disable milestones under Account Settings. 

1. Select Milestones from the left side navigation
2. Enable or disable milestones using the toggle 
3. You will first need to create the desired milestones then drag to rearrange the order

How to update milestones 

Buyers and suppliers can update milestones anywhere they already manage PO activity. Milestones can be changed from:

Click here to learn more about how milestones for suppliers. 

PO Dashboard

• Check the boxes on the left of the PO Lines to update

• Click on the milestones icon in the upper right action button

• Select the milestone from the drop down menu to apply to all the PO lines selected and add an optional message. The message will be added to the PO line and send a notification for the recipient. 

Single active milestone per PO line

Each PO line can have only one active milestone at a time. When a user updates a milestone, it replaces the previous one. All milestone changes are captured in the PO’s history.

Tracking milestones in the PO Dashboard

The PO Dashboard includes new fields and filters to help buyers understand progress at a glance.

Advanced filters

You can filter PO lines by:

• Current milestone

• Milestone days aged (how long the PO has remained at the current milestone)

• Additional details needed

Manage columns

Two new optional dashboard columns are available:

• Milestone

• Milestone days aged

These columns may be reordered or toggled on/off like other dashboard fields.

Viewing milestone history

Any time a milestone is updated on a PO line, SourceDay records a new activity entry on the PO History page. This allows buyers to review when each PO entered and exited each milestone. Milestones are a SourceDay only feature and do not integrate into the buyer companies ERP.

Historical Milestones report

The Historical Milestones report provides a full view of milestone progression across open and recently closed purchase orders, helping buyers analyze supplier performance trends, identify bottlenecks, and track milestone adherence over time.