Documenting third-party fulfillment for research supply payments

Define the information each party owns

Identify the system that owns order status, inventory, shipment details, and customer communications. Explain how orders move from your store to the fulfillment company and how the store receives tracking. Keep the contract or service description available if the reviewer asks how fulfillment is arranged.

Agree on what happens when something goes wrong

• Identify who investigates a missing or incorrect item and what record they can provide.
• Confirm how shipment and delivery updates are linked to the store order number.
• Document where returns go and who approves a refund or replacement.
• Assign someone to follow up when a shipment update fails to arrive.

Verify that evidence stays available

Choose a completed sample order and ask a staff member to reconstruct the order, fulfillment event, tracking record, and any support exchange. If they need access to a partner portal, confirm who maintains that access and how older records can be retrieved if the relationship ends.