Business Analysis

Process Map

The wool trading process from selling forward to margin reporting, in 8 stages. Click any stage to expand substeps, decision points, and pain points.

1
Sell Forward
Trader creates a sales contract with a customer for a specific wool type, weight, and price
3 substeps, 1 decision point, 1 pain point
  • 1Customer and wool type selected (or new wool code created if needed)
  • 2Sales contract created with type, weight, and price
  • 3Contract creates SH/SM lot number in the system
Decision point
Existing or new product type?
✓ Existing - select from dropdown of known wool codes
✗ New - create wool code with attributes (microns, length, grade, origin)
Actors Trading Systems WTS
PP2 - Product code grouping unreliable
Different blends are classified under the same product group. The decision to create a new code versus reuse an existing one is inconsistent, making downstream position reporting unreliable.
2
Procure Greasy Wool
Trader creates purchase contracts for greasy wool from auctions, UK farms, or global suppliers
4 substeps, 2 decision points
  • 1Trader identifies wool sourcing requirement against forward sales commitments
  • 2Sources: British Wool auctions, UK farms (grading division), global suppliers (e.g. Standard Wool NZ)
  • 3Purchase contract created in WTS
  • 4Purchase creates H-prefix (home scour) or M-prefix (merchanting) lot
Decision point
Wool source?
✓ Auction - British Wool platform, test results available
✓ UK farms - sourced via grading division
✓ Global supplier - e.g. Standard Wool NZ
Decision point
Yield known?
✓ Auction wool - test results provide actual yield
✗ Other sources - yield estimated from trader expertise
Actors Trading Grading Division Systems WTS British Wool
3
Receive Goods
Wool received at warehouse or acknowledged in transit on paper
3 substeps, 1 decision point
  • 1Wool arrives at warehouse (or acknowledged in transit before physical arrival)
  • 2Warehouse logs bale-level weights (gross, tare, nett)
  • 3Stock receipt recorded in WTS
Decision point
In warehouse or in transit?
✓ In warehouse - standard goods received, bales weighed and logged
✗ In transit - received on paper before physical arrival
Actors Warehouse Trading Systems WTS DEWSDB0
4
Allocate & Create Blend Recipe
Trader allocates greasy wool lots to a blend and creates the blend recipe
3 substeps, 1 decision point, 2 pain points
  • 1Trader allocates greasy wool lots to a blend
  • 2Blend recipe created by copying and modifying a previous similar blend from memory
  • 3Blend instruction generated in WTS for Chadwicks
Decision point
Allocate before or after receipt?
✓ After receipt - system's intended workflow, stock formally in system
✗ Before receipt - traders often need to allocate before wool arrives, working around the system
Actors Trading Systems WTS
PP1 - No formal recipe storage
Blend recipes aren't formally stored. Traders copy from memory and modify previous blends. Historical blend data exists in the database but isn't queryable as recipes. Can't answer "what did we typically blend for this client?"
PP6 - Allocation timing mismatch
WTS requires stock receipt before allocation, but traders need to allocate before wool arrives. The workaround is either allocating outside the system or forcing a receipt on paper before the wool is physically present.
5
Scour at Chadwicks
Blend instruction sent to Thomas Chadwicks for scouring across multiple days
5 substeps, 1 decision point, 1 pain point
  • 1Blend instruction sent to Thomas Chadwicks
  • 2Chadwicks manages weekly capacity, calls in raw wool from warehouses
  • 3Wool scoured in rounds across multiple days
  • 4Output packed into bales
  • 5Packing list and processing invoice sent back to Standard Wool
Decision point
Which blends to prioritise?
Weekly negotiation with Chadwicks based on customer urgency and available capacity. Standard Wool is ~90% of Chadwicks' volume.
Actors Trading Chadwicks Warehouse Systems dbScour DEWSDB0
PP5 - No visibility into Chadwicks' capacity
Capacity scheduling is a weekly verbal negotiation. Standard Wool needs 2-3 weeks of forward visibility but typically gets 5-10 days. No digital record of capacity allocation or scheduling.
6
Result Blend
Blend "resulted" - actual weights replace estimates, output stock lots created via Blend Output
4 substeps, 2 routing notes
  • 1Blend "resulted" - actual weights replace estimates
  • 2Input stock consumed, output lots created via Blend Output records. Each output has a role (Primary or ByProduct) and a valuation method that determines cost apportionment.
  • 3For scouring, cutting, and superwash: single primary output gets full cost. For tops making (Punta): two outputs - the top (primary, absorbs balance) and the noil (by-product, NL lot type, valued at predetermined price per kg).
  • 4Rolled-up cost calculated from input lots, yields, and processing charges (Blend Cost Lines). Total cost pool fully distributed across outputs (BR25).
Routing note
Four processing paths through stages 4-6
✓ Scouring (HSC) - greasy lots in, single scoured lot out (SS number). Full cost.
✓ Tops Making (Punta) - scoured wool in, top + noil out. Split output with cost apportionment.
✓ Cutting - top in open form cut and repacked. Single output, cost accumulates.
✓ Superwash - top treated for washability. Single output, treatment cost accumulates.
Routing note
Not all wool goes through stages 4-6
✓ Merchanting - wool bought already scoured, stages 4-6 skipped entirely
✓ Greasy sales - greasy wool sold direct without scouring, stages 4-6 skipped
Actors Trading Systems WTS
7
Dispatch & Invoice
Customer calls off stock, delivery arranged, invoice and packing list generated
6 substeps, 2 decision points, 2 pain points
  • 1Customer calls off stock against their forward contract
  • 2Delivery instruction sent to warehouse and haulier
  • 3Trader generates sales invoice in WTS
  • 4Packing list created by manually re-entering bale weights
  • 5Documents sent to customer as PDFs via email
  • 6Stock removed from system on invoice generation
Decision point
Stock in warehouse for dispatch?
✓ In warehouse - warehouse picks bales, haulier collects
✗ In transit / direct - skip warehouse pick, ship direct
Decision point
Local or export?
✓ Local - haulier arranges collection and delivery
✗ Export - shipping team arranges container and documentation
Actors Trading Warehouse Haulage Shipping Systems WTS DEWSDB0 Email
PP3 - Manual bale weight re-entry
Bale weights are manually re-entered to create packing lists. The data already exists digitally in the warehouse system but is transcribed by hand - duplication of effort and risk of transcription errors.
PP4 - Manual invoice and document distribution
Invoices are manually generated as PDFs and emailed to customers. No automated document assembly, no audit trail for distribution. Shipping documents assembled manually for export customers.
8
Margin Reporting
Margin calculated per invoice line, batch posted to Dynamics GP
3 substeps, 1 pain point
  • 1Margin calculated per invoice line: sale price minus rolled-up stock cost
  • 2MARGIN_REPORT stored procedure runs monthly
  • 3Invoice batch posted to Dynamics GP (SWB) for the financial ledger
Actors Finance Trading Systems WTS SWB
PP7 - Position reporting broken
Position reporting is unreliable because product grouping is inconsistent (linked to PP2). Traders can't accurately determine their long/short position by product, so buying decisions are made on gut feel rather than data.