Exercise 1
A. Listen and complete the conversation about issuing a purchase order with the correct words.
A: So, to (1)……………… a purchase order, you have to go into the payment system. First, you have to open the system.
B: OK.
A: Then you (2)……………… the supplier’s details: name, address, etc. on the system.
B: Do I have to do that every time?
A: No, you don’t. You can choose it from a list here. When you have the supplier’s details, you enter the price here and the delivery date here. You can find the information on the contract.
B: And do I (3)……………… the supplier that the purchase order’s ready?
A: No, you don’t have to do that. The system notifies the supplier automatically by email.
B: OK, that’s clear. What’s next?
A: The supplier delivers the items and (4)……………… payment.
B: So they have to tell us to pay them. Right?
A: Yes, they (5)……………… an invoice with the purchase order number on it. We can’t pay invoices without a purchase order number. You have to check the invoice against the purchase order. If it’s correct, you can (6)……………… management approval. The manager (7)……………… the payment. And when they approve it, you can make the payment. but that’s later. Do you want to try to create a purchase order?
B: Yes, please.
Answer & Audioscript
1 issue 2 enter 3 notify 4 requests
5 issue 6 request 7 approves
Audioscript
A: So, to issue a purchase order, you have to go into the payment system. First, you have to open the system.
B: OK.
A: Then you enter the supplier’s details: name, address, etc. on the system.
B: Do I have to do that every time?
A: No, you don’t. You can choose it from a list here. When you have the supplier’s details, you enter the price here and the delivery date here. You can find the information on the contract.
B: And do I notify the supplier that the purchase order’s ready?
A: No, you don’t have to do that. The system notifies the supplier automatically by email.
B: OK, that’s clear. What’s next?
A: The supplier delivers the items and requests payment.
B: So they have to tell us to pay them. Right?
A: Yes, they issue an invoice with the purchase order number on it. We can’t pay invoices without a purchase order number. You have to check the invoice against the purchase order. If it’s correct, you can request management approval. The manager approves the payment. And when they approve it, you can make the payment. but that’s later. Do you want to try to create a purchase order?
B: Yes, please.
B. Listen to the meeting between the Sales Manager and the Warehouse Manager at Office2UDirect. Choose the correct option.
1 Office2UDirect are only receiving complaints / receiving positive and negative comments at the moment.
2 The sales department always / never check the inventory system when they receive an order.
3 The warehouse team can / can’t always find the items they need for the orders.
4 The problems are usually with big / small orders.
5 The sales team don’t check with the warehouse / client the number of items on the order.
6 The inventory system is efficient / unreliable because it only updates once a week.
Answer & Audioscript
1 receiving positive and negative comments
2 always 3 can’t 4 big 5 warehouse 6 unreliable
Audioscript
A: So we have a problem. We’re receiving lots of complaints about late deliveries, missing items and incorrect invoices.
B: I know but I don’t understand why. We’re also receiving lots of positive comments about deliveries and orders.
A: Right. So, I think we have a problem in the workflow. When we receive an order in the sales department, we always check the inventory system and, if we have enough items, we give a delivery date and send the invoice to the customer.
B: Yes, but often when my warehouse team go to collect the items, we can’t always find all of them. Sometimes the inventory system doesn’t have the correct data.
A: So that’s the problem. When you don’t have all the items, what do you do?
B: Well, we wait for more items to arrive or we send the items we have. If we only send the items we have, then we have to send the other items later.
A: OK. So now we know why orders are late and why people don’t always get all the items they ordered. But why is this happening?
B: Well, the problems with delivery only happen with large orders. Usually fifty items or more. Do you check with the warehouse before you approve the order?
A: No, we just take the number from the system.
B: Ah … but the system only updates on Thursdays.
A: So I think that’s the answer. If the system only updates once a week then my sales team are looking at old information.
B: OK. And when we look in the warehouse, we don’t have the right number of items.
A: Exactly, so we could …
Exercise 2
A. Listen to Laure talking about starting a new job. Tick (✓) the things she mentions.
◻ accept job offer
◻ attend induction meetings
◻ discuss tasks
◻ do health and safety training
◻ do job-specific training
◻ get a medical certificate
◻ give references
◻ meet colleagues
◻ provide bank details
◻ send copies of qualifications and diplomas
◻ sign a contract
◻ tour the offices
◻ set up an email address
B. Listen again. Put the things she mentions in the correct order.
C. What did Laure find a problem?
Answer & Audioscript
A
accept job offer
attend induction meetings
do health and safety training
do job-specific training (she didn’t do this for three months)
get a medical certificate
meet colleagues
send copies of qualifications and diplomas
sign a contract
tour the offices
B
accept job offer
sign a contract
get a medical certificate
send copies of qualifications and diplomas
tour the offices
meet colleagues
attend induction meetings
do health and safety training
do job-specific training
C
Laure didn’t receive job-specific training for three months. She had to ask her colleagues what to do.
Audioscript
So I received a job offer after the interview and I accepted. Then the company sent me a contract. I signed it and sent it back with my medical certificate and qualifications. On the first day, I had a tour of the office and met my colleagues. I had an induction meeting and did health and safety training. The company managed everything well. The only problem was I didn’t receive job-specific training for three months. I had to ask my colleagues what to do.
Exercise 3
A. Complete the workflow with the stages a-e. Then listen and check.
a Deliver the item to the client
b Enter the order into the system
c Receive an order from the client
d Request the product from the supplier
e Ship the order from the warehouse
Answer & Audioscript
1 c 2 b 3 d 4 e 5 a
Audioscript
So, when we receive the order from the client, we have to enter it into the system. Then, we have to check if the product is in the warehouse. If it‘s not in the warehouse, we have to request the product from the supplier before we notify the client about the delivery time. When we have the product, we can ship it from the warehouse. The delivery company delivers the item to the client, and the order is complete.
B. Listen to a conversation about the workflow in Exercise A. Tick (✓) the problem(s) they talk about.
◻ damaged packages
◻ incorrect invoices
◻ late deliveries
C. Listen again. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 There were more orders this month than last month.
2 The process was longer because the products were not in the warehouse.
3 Customers often get the wrong information about delivery times.
4 Product delivery is always three to five days after the company receives an order.
5 The team agree to change the workflow.
Answer & Audioscript
B late deliveries
C 1 F 2 T 3 T 4 F 5 T
Audioscript
A: Hi. Thank you for coming to this meeting. As you know, last month we had a lot of complaints from customers about late deliveries.
B: Yes, but we had more orders last month than any other month.
C: And we had to order the products from suppliers because we didn‘t have them in the warehouse. So the process was longer. We had to wait for supplies before sending products to clients.
A: Yes, this is all true. But the problem isn‘t that customers have to wait longer for their delivery.
B: What do you mean?
A: The problem is that they get the wrong information about the delivery time.
C: Why does that happen?
A: Well, I think it‘s a workflow problem. We tell customers delivery is three to five days after shipping. But we always notify them about the delivery date before we ship the product.
For example, we tell a customer on the 10th that their delivery will arrive between the 13th and the 15th. So we have to send it on the 10th to meet that deadline. But often we don‘t do it.
B: But we can‘t always send the order the same day. Last month was very busy.
A: This is why we have to change the workflow. We have to notify the customer about the delivery time after we ship the order, not before.
C: OK. We‘ll change the workflow. So now … we‘ll ship the product after we check it is in the warehouse. Then we‘ll send a notification to the client.
B: That‘s a very good idea. But how do we know …
Exercise 4
A. Write sentences for making and responding to suggestions using the prompts.
1 OK / not totally convinced / .
………………………………………….
2 interesting . / tell more / .
………………………………………….
3 why don’t / ask HR to find someone / ?
………………………………………….
4 that / good idea / .
………………………………………….
5 why not / ask finance for more money / ?
………………………………………….
6 not sure / that / .
………………………………………….
7 think / should hire / a new person / .
………………………………………….
B. Complete the conversation with the phrases from Exercise A. Then listen and check.
A: So the team has too much work. We need to help them. How can we improve the situation?
B: I think (1)…………………………….. .
A: That‘s interesting. Tell (2)…………………………….. .
B: We can get a new person to help with the work. Why (3)……………………………..?
A: I‘m (4)…………………………….. . We don‘t have the money.
B: Why (5)……………………………..?
A: OK, (6)…………………………….. .
B: I can arrange a meeting with them to talk about it.
A: That (7)…………………………….. .
Answer & Audioscript
A
1 OK, but I‘m not totally convinced.
2 That‘s interesting. Tell me more.
3 Why don‘t we ask HR to find someone?
4 That‘s a good idea.
5 Why not ask finance for more money?
6 I‘m not sure about that.
7 I think we should hire a new person.
B
1 we should hire a new person
2 me more
3 don‘t we ask HR to find someone
4 not sure about that
5 not ask finance for more money
6 but I‘m not totally convinced
7 ‘s a good idea
Audioscript
A: So the team has too much work. We need to help them. How can we improve the situation?
B: I think we should hire a new person.
A: That‘s interesting. Tell me more.
B: We can get a new person to help with the work. Why don’t we ask HR to find someone?
A: I‘m not sure about that. We don‘t have the money.
B: Why not ask nance for more money?
A: OK, but I‘m not totally convinced.
B: I can arrange a meeting with them to talk about it.
A: That‘s a good idea.
Test
A. Listen and complete the workflow with a short phrase.
|
(0) Receive the order. |
||
|
↓ |
||
|
(1)………….. on the system. |
||
|
↓ |
||
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(2)………….. is on the inventory system. |
||
|
↙ |
↘ |
|
|
If it’s in stock, (3)………….. to the warehouse. |
← |
If it’s (4)………….., email or phone the customer with the delivery date. |
|
↘ |
||
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(5)………….. and send the order to the customer. |
B. Listen again and choose the correct word.
0 The website has / doesn’t have an automatic order system.
1 The company has a small / large warehouse.
2 They can / can’t phone the customer about delays.
3 The system is very good / bad.
4 They can always deliver in a month / week.
5 Customers have / don’t have 40 days to pay.
Answer & Audioscript
A
1 Enter the (telephone) order
2 Check the product
3 send the order
4 out of stock
5 Issue an invoice
B
1 large 2 can 3 good 4 week 5 don’t have
Audioscript
M = Man, W = Woman
M: OK, so what happens here?
W: Well, we receive the order from our website or our telephone sales.
M: Do you need to enter the order on the system?
W: Yes, we enter telephone orders on the system. The orders on the website are automatic.
M: OK, and then what?
W: Well, we need to know if it’s in our warehouse. But the warehouse is very big, so we have to look at the inventory system. We check that the product …
M: The order or the product?
W: We check the product is on the inventory system.
M: OK.
W: Then, if it’s in stock, we’ll send the order to the warehouse.
M: So the warehouse receives the order?
W: That’s right. But if the items are out of stock, we’ll email the customer …
M: Or phone them …
W: Or phone them, to tell them the new delivery date.
M: So, is it a big problem when an item is out of stock?
W: No, our system is very good and our suppliers are very reliable. We receive a lot of big orders from international companies, but we can always deliver in a week.
M: And then you complete the order.
W: Well, we issue an invoice first, and then we send the order to the customer.
M: OK. So you issue an invoice before you send the order.
W: That’s right. And the customer has 30 days to pay.
M: OK. I understand.
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