Retail Planby RetailNorthstar
// Guide

How to build a T&A (time & action) calendar

A time-and-action (T&A) calendar maps every production milestone backward from the in-store date, with an owner and a lead time on each step and a buffer at the end. Built well, it tells you a delivery is at risk the moment a milestone slips — not at the weekly call after the ship date has passed.

// Steps
  1. 01
    Anchor on the in-store date
    Start from the floor-set / in-store date and work backward. Every milestone is scheduled relative to this fixed end point.
  2. 02
    List the milestones
    Lay out the critical path: line freeze, PP sample, fabric commit, trims, cut, sew, finish, QC, and ship. Use the milestones your product and vendors actually have.
  3. 03
    Assign an owner to each milestone
    Every milestone needs one accountable owner — design, sourcing, the vendor, or QA. Unowned milestones are the ones that slip silently.
  4. 04
    Add lead times and transit
    Put a realistic duration on each step plus transit to the destination. Use vendor history, not best-case quotes.
  5. 05
    Add buffer before the in-store date
    Hold a buffer (often 1–2 weeks) between projected arrival and the in-store date so a small slip does not become a missed floor set.
  6. 06
    Review variance every week
    Each week, compare actual milestone dates to plan. A milestone that moves should immediately re-project the arrival date — that is the early warning.

Want to pressure-test a single order first? Use the lead-time / OTD calculator to project arrival against the in-store date, or see the full production tracking overview. To calculate the lead time on each step from actual dates and size the buffer from past deliveries, read how to calculate lead time.

A spreadsheet T&A works until you have dozens of styles across many vendors. RetailNorthstar maintains the T&A for every style and re-projects the in-store risk automatically as milestones move.

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