ThreadCloud SOPs

For the ThreadCloud team only

◐ ThreadCloud SOPs

Budget & OTB

Open-to-Buy. The classic retail planning view — for each category in a buying season, how much budget remains unspent. Use it during the buying calendar to keep the season on plan.

When to use
Before every supplier appointment. The OTB tells you how much room is left in each category — drives what you order at the appointment.

What you see

Open a buying season → click Budget tab. You see one row per category, with:

ColumnWhat it means
CategorySuit / Blazer / Knitwear / etc.
PlannedDollars budgeted for this category in this season
CommittedDollars you’ve ordered (sum of all order line totals at cost)
OTBPlanned − Committed. What’s left to spend.
% of planVisual indicator of how much of the plan is used

A category showing OVER PLAN means you’ve ordered more than budgeted. Not necessarily bad — a strong category may deserve over-spending. But surface it before you keep stacking.

How OTB updates

Every time you create or push an order:

  1. ThreadCloud sums the order’s line totals at cost (qty × cost, FX’d to store currency)
  2. Buckets them by the styles’ categories
  3. Adds to the season’s committed total

So the OTB is live — assuming the supplier confirms the order. Drafts that haven’t been pushed yet are also counted, so you don’t blow the plan by accident on drafts.

Using OTB to plan an appointment

Before a supplier meeting:

  1. Open the relevant buying season → Budget tab
  2. Look at the OTB column
  3. For categories where OTB is high, you have room — order more
  4. For categories where OTB is at or below zero, you’re full — only buy if you’re rebalancing

Adjusting the plan mid-season

If reality drifts from your original plan — e.g. you decide to lean into a category that’s selling — you can rebalance:

  1. Open the buying season header → click Edit Plan
  2. Move dollars between categories
  3. Save

This doesn’t change committed dollars. It only changes Planned, which changes OTB.

Heads up
Rebalancing during the season is fine, but if you do it constantly the plan becomes meaningless. Try to set a strong plan up-front and stick to it; only rebalance for material shifts.

Common patterns

Locking categories at the start of the season

For categories you don’t want to overspend on (e.g. niche / risky ones), set the planned dollars conservatively. The OTB column will turn red quickly and signal “stop ordering”.

Seeing where you over-bought last year

End-of-season, look at Committed vs Planned across categories. The ones with negative OTB (over-spent) are the ones to reduce in next year’s plan.

Weeks of Supply integration

The Budget tab also surfaces a per-category Weeks of Supply (WOS) number:

  • Estimated weeks until the current inventory sells through, at the current rate
  • Helps you decide: do I have room to buy more, or am I already drowning?

A category with high OTB but also high WOS (lots of inventory sitting) is a signal to slow down even though you have budget.

Common mistakes

Committing past plan without knowing
If you don’t check the Budget tab before placing orders, you can be way over plan by the time you notice. Make checking the OTB part of your supplier-appointment prep.

Confusing committed with received
Committed = ordered. Received = arrived. An order placed but not yet shipped still counts as committed. The Budget view tracks dollars regardless of physical receipt.

Next steps