Routines by example
Routines by example
A routine is a check you want kept up: what to look at, how often, and what counts as needing attention. This page shows what that means in practice. Each example starts from the sentence you would type in What’s this routine for?, shows the rows twelfth would draft from it, and says what a run gives you.
The rows twelfth drafts depend on your words and your products, so treat the rows below as the shape to expect, not the exact text. You can change any row before you press Create routine, and If it ran now shows what the routine would find today.
When a routine is the right tool
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| The same check, again and again, on a schedule | A routine |
| An answer to one question, now | twelfth AI |
| A piece of work with a goal and an end, such as a range review | A project |
| Something done once, by a person | A task |
A good routine has three things you could say out loud: which products it looks at, what makes a line need attention, and how often. If you can’t say what makes a line need attention yet, start with a review or a briefing, read a few runs, and tighten Qualifies once you know.
Lines out of stock in a store but held in the warehouse
Every Monday, show me what’s at 0 in Penshurst but has stock in the warehouse.
| Row | What twelfth drafts |
|---|---|
| Products | Your products. |
| Qualifies | Stock at Penshurst is 0, and stock in the warehouse is more than 0. |
| Gives | Lines to act on. |
| When · who | Every Monday, just you. |
Each run: a task with only the Penshurst lines that are at 0 with warehouse stock. A Monday with none is still a run, recorded as No action needed.
To take it further: say “move them to Penshurst” and Raises becomes Moves stock, so each line on the task is a move from the warehouse, sized by how much you set.
Keep a supplier’s lines covered to the next buy
Every Monday, order my Nintendo lines to the next run plus lead time.
| Row | What twelfth drafts |
|---|---|
| Products | Nintendo lines within your products. |
| Qualifies | Lines that won’t have enough stock to last to the next run plus the supplier’s lead time. |
| Raises | Orders, sized to the next run plus lead time. |
| When · who | Every Monday, just you. |
Each run: an order task with the lines to order and the quantity for each. If last week’s order task is still open, the run refreshes it rather than raising a second one: new lines are added, changed suggestions move unless you edited them, and lines that no longer qualify are withdrawn.
Worth knowing: a supplier with no lead time is sized on a 28-day default. Lead times under Products on the routine’s Setup tab lists those suppliers so you can enter one. This is the same job as the Planned buy routine twelfth can set up for you; see Routines twelfth sets up.
Aged stock to clear
Every fortnight, find aged stock in camping and suggest a markdown. Never go below cost.
“Aged stock” could mean more than one thing, so twelfth asks on Qualifies before it adds anything, for example with Days since last sale more than 90 days as the suggested answer. Press Yes, or say what you mean.
| Row | What twelfth drafts |
|---|---|
| Products | Camping, within your products. |
| Qualifies | Aged stock: the conditions you agreed to. |
| Raises | Sets price, to the price you set, such as the current price less a percentage. |
| Objective | Find products to clear. |
| When · who | Every two weeks, just you. |
Each run: a price task with the camping lines that qualify and a new price for each, for you to review.
Worth knowing: with the objective set to Find products to clear, twelfth offers margin, unit cost and stock at cost as columns, sorted by stock at cost. If you say “never discount camping” instead, that is a limit: the routine won’t raise price changes, and twelfth says Kept out: if a later message would add one.
Priced above the competition
Every weekday, show me lines priced more than 5% above my main competitor.
| Row | What twelfth drafts |
|---|---|
| Products | Your products, or a saved Pricing view if you pick one. |
| Qualifies | Your price is more than 5% above the competitor’s. |
| Gives | A review of the lines that qualify. |
| When · who | Every weekday, just you. |
Each run: a review task with the lines above the threshold, to look over. Nothing is repriced.
To take it further: base the routine on a saved Pricing view so it checks only that view’s lines and competitors. Say “match their price” and Raises becomes Sets price, to the competitor’s price.
A weekly sales briefing
Every Monday, tell me how sales went last week against last year, by store and online. Call out the 10 biggest drops.
| Part | What twelfth drafts |
|---|---|
| Report on | Sales $ ex GST |
| Period | Last week (Monday to Sunday) |
| Compared with | Last year |
| Split | Store / online |
| Calls out | The 10 biggest drops |
Each run: no task. twelfth writes a report, listed under Reports on the routine’s Overview. Any part you didn’t say, such as the period, is asked on the Gives row. See A briefing’s brief.
A checklist you repeat
On the first of every month, remind me to check the promo calendar with each supplier.
Gives is A checklist. Each run: the same tasks, on your schedule. A new set is raised only once the previous ones are closed, and until then the run says the previous tasks are still open.
Before you let a routine raise orders or prices
- Run it in shadow first. A routine in shadow runs on its schedule and records what it would raise, but publishes nothing. Read a week of runs under What it would raise, then Go live…. See Shadow and live.
- Read the quiet runs. A run that found nothing is recorded with its result in Runs. A routine that never raises anything may have a Qualifies row that is too strict.
- Mute what you’ve decided on. A line you’ve looked at and want left alone can be muted on that routine for a week, a month, until a date or until you unmute it. See Muted lines.
- Say what it must never do. Limits such as “don’t order anything” hold for the life of the routine and are listed on Setup.
Where routines show up
- Home draws your routines on a timeline: what ran since your last visit and what runs in the week ahead, with Add routine as its last row. See Home.
- Routines in the app rail is the full schedule, with search and the year, quarter, month and week views.
- Tasks holds the work every run raises, next to the rest of your tasks.