Order cycle time
How long a customer waits between placing an order and receiving it.
01 What it is
Why anyone looks at this number
How long a customer waits between placing an order and receiving it.
It is the promise every service metric is judged against, and every day of it is working capital plus another opportunity to disappoint someone.
02 The formula
How it is worked out
Order cycle time = delivery_date − order_date, in calendar days grain : week × lane × customer segment unit : days source : Order management joined to warehouse and transport execution
Measure calendar days, end to end, per lane. Stage-by-stage averages held in separate systems always sum to less than what the customer experienced, because the gaps between systems belong to nobody. The handovers are usually where the days are.
03 Worked example
The same number, with real inputs
| Median cycle time | 5.2 days |
| 95th percentile | 14.1 days |
| Orders affected by a line short | 11% |
| Calculation | median 5.2 vs P95 14.1 |
| Result | a 9-day tail |
Half your customers get five days and one in twenty waits a fortnight. The tail is what gets talked about, and almost all of it starts as a stock-out.
04 What moves it
Four things that actually change this number
Order release
Credit checks and approvals, before anything physical happens.
Pick and pack capacity
Cut-off times and shift patterns at the warehouse.
Transport lane
Distance, mode and consolidation policy.
Stock position
A line short converts a two-day order into a two-week one.
05 Where the number lives
The system, the record and the fields
| System of record | Key record | Fields you need |
|---|---|---|
| Order management joined to warehouse and transport execution | Order joined to Shipment and Delivery | order_id, order_date, release_date, despatch_date, delivery_date, lane, service_level |
Measure calendar days, end to end, per lane. Stage-by-stage averages held in separate systems always sum to less than what the customer experienced, because the gaps between systems belong to nobody. The handovers are usually where the days are.
06 How it goes wrong
Three ways this metric misleads people
Reporting the mean
A long tail is averaged away and the promise looks safe.
Fix: Report the median and the 95th percentile; commit to the percentile.Starting the clock at despatch
Everything before the warehouse is excluded, which is often half the elapsed time.
Fix: Start at order receipt, including the approval steps.One number across all lanes
A domestic next-day lane and an export lane are averaged into an unmanageable figure.
Fix: Report by lane and service level.08 Questions
Frequently asked
How does this differ from lead time?
Lead time is what you quote; cycle time is what you deliver. The gap between them, measured honestly, is the credibility of everything your sales team promises.
Should we measure to delivery or to receipt confirmation?
To confirmed receipt where you can capture it. Proof of delivery closes the arguments and is the same data the invoice dispute process needs anyway.
One definition, everywhere it is used
SCIKIQ stores this metric once and serves it to every dashboard, board pack and agent that asks.