For an operations manager: make supplier files arrive complete, readable and only once

Write the layout down once

For each supplier, one page: how and when the file arrives, what signals that it is complete, the file type and encoding, the delimiter and quote rule or the XML layout, the key column, and who at the supplier to ask. RFC 4180 records practice rather than a standard, so none of this can be inferred from the file. A written layout is what the next person, and any specialist you hire, needs first.

• Where the credentials live and who can rotate them; never in the page itself.
• What the importer does with a file it cannot read: reject, hold or partially import.

Describe a failure so it can be fixed

Say which layer failed: the file did not arrive, arrived partial, was unreadable, was read wrongly or was read right but meant something else. Give an invented or redacted example of the row that failed and what you expected. Say whether the same file fails on a copy. A good description lets a specialist reproduce the fault on a test copy without touching live systems or credentials.

Which fixed job or standing check fits

Partial, repeated or missing scheduled fetches: sftp-scheduled-supplier-fetch-complete-files, from £445, tested on a synthetic SFTP server. Garbled characters or a lost first column: csv-encoding-bom-garbled-characters-import, £195. Shifted columns from commas, quotes or line breaks: csv-delimiter-quoting-embedded-newlines-import, £195. An XML file that fails or loses fields: xml-supplier-feed-parse-errors-import, £295. A report of what changed before you import: feed-version-diff-report-before-import, £225. A monthly watch over up to three named feeds: import-keep-supplier-feed-import-correct, £395 a month. A whole pipeline rebuilt as one result: feed-rebuild-supplier-feed-pipeline, from £4,500 after a quote. Prices are untested proposals, and payment follows the agreed checks and your sign-off. Nothing is booked or charged by an enquiry.

What stays with you

You hold supplier credentials and the host key records, you decide what to import, you apply every change and you talk to the supplier. This page does not cover the policy questions of product matching, units and update rules, which the existing page for a distributor's supplier-feed owner covers. Do not send real price lists, credentials or private code in a first enquiry.