> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Late Shipments, Interlink Express > Late Shipments for Interlink Express stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Shipping & Courier](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Count of Interlink Express consignments that missed their service-day delivery promise in the period. Interlink (DPD-group premium tier) sells time-definite SLAs (Pre10:30, Pre12, Next-Day, 2-Day, Saturday). "Late" is judged against each service's specific cutoff time on the promised day. Each shipment that overruns scores 1. | | | | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(shipments WHERE actual_delivery_datetime > promised_delivery_datetime AND status IN ('DELIVERED','FAILED'))` over rolling 7 days. Still-in-transit consignments not counted yet; flip into the count only when a final scan lands. | | **Delivery success criterion** | Driver POD scan or signature-on-glass captured at the doorstep, returned via Interlink's tracking webhook (Delivered, Delivered to neighbour, Delivered to safe place). | | **On-time threshold** | Service-tier-specific. Pre10:30 = 10:30, Pre12 = 12:00, Next-Day = end-of-day next working day, 2-Day = end-of-day day-2. Interlink's published predicted-delivery-window (the DPD-group 1-hour-window) is a customer-perception layer; the contracted SLA is the cutoff used here. | | **Returns / RTO** | RTOs excluded (tracked on `int_returned_to_sender`). Failed-and-redelivered consignments score against the *first* successful POD; a Pre10:30 re-attempted at 14:00 is late, even if it ultimately delivers. | | **Service level scope** | All services pooled. Pre10:30 / Pre12 dedicated cards split out the contracted premium tiers. | | **Money-back-on-late eligibility** | Pre10:30 / Pre12 / Next-Day Parcelforce-fault misses qualify for carriage-charge refund. Filing window is **14 days from failed POD** (tighter than Parcelforce's 30 days). The card surfaces candidates; pair with `int_open_claims`. | | **B2B vs B2C** | Pooled. Pre10:30 / Pre12 are heavily B2B (clinics, corporate IT, healthcare). Next-Day skews B2C consumer DTC. The same five-minute slip is critical for a B2B audience and immaterial for a Saturday consumer; the count treats them identically. | | **Failure-cause attribution** | Interlink publishes a `failure_reason` per failed event: most common are *recipient absent*, *no safe place / no neighbour*, *access denied*, *out for delivery, not delivered*. Customer-fault and carrier-fault sit in the same headline; `int_exception_rate` splits. | | **DPD-group relationship** | Interlink shares the DPD-group network and tracking infrastructure. A merchant running Interlink Express alongside DPD UK should treat them as separate accounts with overlapping infrastructure. | | **Time zone** | UK local time (GMT or BST). | | **Time window** | `7D` (rolling 7 days, period-over-period vs prior 7 days) | | **Alert trigger** | `>5% of total`, the gauge sentiment trips when late count exceeds 5% of weekly volume. On a heavy-Pre10:30 merchant this is a tight threshold. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Interlink Express data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK B2B medical-supply merchant: clinics, pharmacies, care-homes are the primary customer base. Interlink Pre10:30 is the contract carrier (medication must be on shelf before staff start morning rounds); Next-Day is the secondary tier for non-time-critical accessories. Reading taken at 09:00 GMT on 16 Mar 26 for the trailing 7 days (09 Mar 26 to 15 Mar 26). | Service | Shipments (7D) | Late (POD after promised cutoff) | Late % | Notes | | ----------------------- | -------------- | -------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Pre10:30 (B2B clinics) | 280 | 8 | 2.9% | All eight delivered between 10:31 and 11:15; service-failure refund candidates. | | Pre12 (B2B mixed) | 95 | 3 | 3.2% | Delivered 12:30 to 13:15; eligible. | | Next-Day (mixed cohort) | 720 | 32 | 4.4% | 24 same-day after 17:30; 8 day-2 deliveries. | | 2-Day (bulk DTC) | 60 | 2 | 3.3% | Both day-3 deliveries due to inbound consolidation delay. | | **Total (this card)** | **1,155** | **45** | **3.9%** | | The card reads **45** as the headline; **3.9%** of total is below the 5% alert. Five things to notice: 1. **Money-back-on-late candidates: 45 domestic premium shipments.** Interlink's Pre10:30, Pre12, Next-Day, and 2-Day Parcelforce-fault failures all qualify for carriage refund. At an estimated £10 average refund, that is **£450 of recoverable carriage** if filed within Interlink's 14-day window. (£15+ on Pre10:30 specifically; lower on Next-Day.) 2. **B2B clinic Pre10:30 misses are the most expensive misses.** Clinics may invoice contract penalties of £25 to £100 per missed pre-shift delivery. Eight Pre10:30 misses × £50 average penalty = £400 of B2B-customer financial exposure on top of carriage refund. Track Pre10:30 with extra scrutiny via `interlink_pre10_30_sla`. 3. **8 day-2 Next-Day misses are the worst customer-experience cohort.** Next-Day consumer DTC at 4.4% is borderline; receiving the parcel on day 2 is a clean broken promise. Likely £20 to £40 goodwill credits on the order itself. 4. **Filing window discipline matters more on Interlink than Parcelforce.** Interlink's 14-day window means these 45 misses must be filed by 23 to 29 Mar 26. A weekly review cadence is the only way to consistently file inside the window. 5. **3.9% headline does not fail the 5% alert,** but is uncomfortable on B2B medical accounts where clinic-customer NPS hinges on delivery reliability. If headline is at 3.9% week-on-week, look at dispatch-cutoff slippage on the merchant side (see `int_route_otd`), and at Pre10:30 specifically (see `interlink_pre10_30_sla`). ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Late count is a count, not a rate. To act, pair it with these: | Card | Why pair it with Interlink Late Shipments | What the combination tells you | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [On-Time Delivery Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/on-time-delivery-rate) | The percent companion. Late count rising while OTD% stays flat means volume up, not service. | If both move, real degradation. | | [Pre-10:30 Service Promise](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/pre-10-30-service-promise) | The most-stringent contracted tier. Pre10:30 misses are the most expensive misses (B2B contract penalties). | Even one Pre10:30 miss may be a contract-penalty event. | | [Pre-12 Service Promise](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/pre-12-service-promise) | Mid-tier B2B contract. Less severe than Pre10:30 but still time-definite. | Watch alongside Pre10:30. | | [OTD by Route](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/otd-by-route) | Splits the count by Interlink depot-and-route. | One-route drops are an account-team conversation. | | [Open Claims](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/open-claims) | Each carrier-fault late is a service-failure-refund candidate. 14-day filing window. | If late count is 50 and open-claims is 5, the merchant is leaving £400+ of carriage refunds per week unclaimed. | | [Failed Deliveries](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/failed-deliveries) | Some late shipments are also failed-first-attempt; some failed parcels are still on-time after rescheduling. | Late minus Failed roughly equals "would-be-on-time-if-rescheduled-faster" parcels. | | [Interlink OTD by Sales Channel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/interlink-otd-by-sales-channel) | Cross-platform split. A late spike concentrated in one channel = single-cohort fix. | Channel mix in the late count matches the channel mix of customer-service tickets. | | Cross-connector: [`shopify.unfulfilled_orders`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/unfulfilled-orders) | Upstream. Shopify orders booked too late cannot make Interlink's collection cutoff. | A creep in late-day Shopify orders predicts a 1 to 3 day late-shipment rise on this card. | | Cross-connector: [`apc.apc_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/apc/late-shipments) | Peer UK premium. APC's 14-day filing window matches Interlink's. | If both spike at the same time, cause is upstream (warehouse, dispatch); if only one, carrier-specific. | | Cross-connector: [`parcelforce.par_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/parcelforce/late-shipments) | Peer UK premium (Royal Mail group). Different network. | Used for carrier-mix decisions. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Interlink Express's own dashboard:** [Interlink Express MyDPD Business](https://www.interlinkexpress.com/) → **Reports → Failed / Late Deliveries**. Filter by *All services / All depots / Last 7 days*. Per-consignment audit at *Track and Trace → Failed Deliveries*. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Interlink's portal:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ---------------------------------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Predicted-window vs end-of-day** | Either | Interlink/DPD portals sometimes default to "delivered within predicted 1-hour window" SLA. The card uses the contracted service-tier cutoff. | | **Refund-eligible vs all-late** | Ours higher | Interlink's account team often quotes service-failure count excluding customer-fault. The card's count is all consignments delivered after promised cutoff. | | **In-transit consignments** | Ours rolling | Consignments without final POD not counted yet. | | **Time zone** | Boundary | UK local time on both sides. DST-transition Sundays cause minor noise. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | [`shopify.fulfillment_lead_time`](/nerve-centre/shopify/fulfillment_lead_time) | Upstream. Late fulfilment misses Interlink collection cutoff. | App-install events, manual overrides. | | [`apc.apc_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/apc/late-shipments) | Peer UK premium. | Different consignments. | | [`parcelforce.par_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/parcelforce/late-shipments) | Peer UK premium, different network. | Different consignments, different SLA cutoffs. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why does Interlink have a 14-day filing window when Parcelforce has 30?** Different parent groups, different ops cadence. Interlink (DPD-group) operates a tighter claim-resolution loop: faster decisions in exchange for tighter merchant filing discipline. Most merchants transitioning from Parcelforce or running both alongside under-file Interlink because the Parcelforce 30-day muscle memory is wrong. Set up a weekly review tied to this card and `int_open_claims` to file inside the window. **Pre10:30 misses cost more than Next-Day misses; how do we surface that?** The card is a count, not a value. Use `interlink_pre10_30_sla` for the dedicated Pre10:30 view, `int_open_claims` for the financial-recovery view (B2B contract penalties dominate), and `interlink_xc_otd_by_channel` for the channel split. A 5-shipment B2B Pre10:30 miss may carry more business risk than a 50-shipment Next-Day consumer miss. **Why does Interlink show "delivered on time" but the customer says it was late?** Three usual reasons. (1) **End-of-day vs customer-expectation**: Next-Day's promise is "by end of working day"; a 19:30 delivery is contractual on-time and customer-late. (2) **Predicted-window vs actual-cutoff confusion**: customers receive a 1-hour-window SMS but Interlink's contractual SLA is the cutoff (10:30, 12:00, end-of-day). (3) **Out-for-delivery scan loops**: drivers may scan "out for delivery" multiple times if the route is long; the actual handoff datetime is what scores. **During Q4 peak, the count triples; do we widen the alert?** No. Widen the seasonal context in your weekly review instead. The alert is a fixed threshold so the system does not "learn to ignore" Q4 degradation. Pre-position dispatch capacity in October and update checkout copy. The count card is intentionally honest during peak. **Saturday-uplift consignments: how are they counted?** Saturday-uplifted Next-Day consignments are scored against the Saturday-cutoff promise (still end-of-day Saturday). They are pooled into the headline; if Saturday-uplift is a meaningful share, watch `interlink_pre10_30_sla` and `int_route_otd` separately for Saturday-cohort drift. **Multi-account merchants (Interlink + DPD on the same network): how does the count work?** Each account has its own credentials. The card surfaces consignments under the connected Interlink credentials only. DPD-account consignments live on the DPD connector. A merchant running both needs both connectors connected and reads two cards in parallel. **B2B clinic contract penalties: how do we calculate exposure?** Per-clinic contract terms vary. A reasonable rough estimate is £25 to £100 per missed pre-shift delivery on care-home and clinic accounts; lower (£0 to £30) on B2B reseller accounts. Multiply Pre10:30 miss count by your average penalty rate; track on a finance-team spreadsheet alongside this card. If the merchant's exposure trends above £500 weekly, the issue is structural and an account-team conversation is overdue. **The headline 4% is below alert but our customer-service queue is buried; why?** Weekly load. 4% on 1,000 weekly consignments is 40 misses; that drives \~80 customer-service contacts (initial complaint plus follow-up plus refund processing). The CS-team workload scales with absolute count, not rate. Use this card for capacity-planning the response. **How does this card reconcile against `int_otd_rate`?** Mathematical mirrors. If late count is 45 and total shipments is 1,155, OTD rate = (1,155-45)/1,155 = 96.1%. The two cards differ in time window (this card 7D, OTD card 30D) and response. Counts trigger CS-team capacity decisions; rates trigger account-team conversations. **Compared to APC and Parcelforce, where does Interlink land?** Roughly: Pre10:30 SLA Interlink = APC = Parcelforce ExpressAM at 97 to 98% target. Next-Day Interlink benefits from DPD-group automation (tighter customer-experience predicted-window comms); Parcelforce wins on rural coverage; APC wins on regional B2B in pockets. Multi-carrier merchants pick by destination cohort, not headline performance. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Late Shipments* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Interlink Express and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.