twelfth · Glossary · Working in twelfth
Guardrail
In twelfth, a guardrail is a commercial limit every recommendation passes through, such as a margin floor, an approval limit or a locked supplier setting.
What it means for retail and category teams
Most retailers already run on commercial policies: minimum margins, approval levels for spend, rules about who can change terms with key suppliers. In twelfth those policies are guardrails, and they are shared: a range proposal, a price move and a buy all pass the same floor and the same authority limit, whichever part of the product raised them.
Why it matters
Guardrails do not block work; they decide which work needs another person's agreement, so the rest can move without one. That lets a team push routine decisions to the people closest to the category while keeping consequential ones in front of someone senior, and keeps policy consistent across price, range and buying decisions.
Illustrative example
The business and figures are illustrative, not customer data
A retailer sets a 28% category GP floor and a $50,000 authority limit for buyers, and locks strategic-vendor settings. A routine $12,000 decision at normal margin goes straight through. A $70,000 seasonal buy waits for a manager's sign-off, and a price cut that would take a line to 24% margin is held for review.
In twelfth
twelfth has three guardrails: the category GP floor, the authority limit, and the strategic-vendor lock, which limits changes to strategic-vendor settings to authorised operators. Owners and admins can edit them, and changing one changes who is asked to review commercial work.
Related terms
Related on twelfth.ai
- twelfth for heads of category
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