Sulyn: Sparrow Advantus Responsibility Breakdown

Sparrow & Advantus

Division of Responsibilities

Sparrow Overview

Who is Sparrow: Sparrow Innovations, Inc. is a product design, development, and sourcing company in the Arts & Crafts industry. Advantus contracts Sparrow for all Sulyn product development and sourcing needs.

Sparrow team members Advantus interacts with:

Team Member	Title	Job Details
Tracia tracia@traciainc.com	VP – Product Development & Creative Director	Oversees all Creative Development: trend, new products, graphics, sourcing, quality control, Asia factory manufacturing, creates all sales presentations, attends sales meetings. Manages Sparrow US office and Total Design Hong Kong office.
Melissa melissa@sparrowii.com	Senior Business Manager	Assists Creative Director with development tasks. Directs communication with factories. Manages vendor compliance, advises factory and product compliance. Manages item set up process, internally and with retailers. Communicates with retailer merchant teams.
Amanda amanda@sparrowii.com	Office Manager	Coordinates flow of all projects, manages all sample shipments and details, provides coding and instructions for all use of Advantus FEDEX acct. #. Manages calendar and item database.
Yolanda yolanda@sparrowii.com	Product and Sourcing Supervisor	Manages all quotes with factories, sample requests, sample approvals. Provides production information to factories. Provides item set up information for Advantus. Provides new product information details to factories.
Jessica jessica@sparrowii.com	Graphic Design, Packaging Brand Manager	Creates packaging Artwork. Manager of private brand and Sulyn brand artwork. Communicates with graphics department at all retailers – provides all artwork files to factories and proofs them. Libraries all graphics. Creative Design of products.

Advantus team members Sparrow interacts with:

Department/Division	Who	Contact	Address
Sales	Laura G.	Direct	lgist@advantus.com
Product & Sourcing (P&S)	Rachel C.	Direct	rcaesar@advantus.com
Sales Op	Jill M.	Department Shared Email	CH-Marketing@advantus.com
Product Compliance	Crystal W.	Department Shared Email	productcompliance@advantus.com
SCM – Domestic Only	Lori R.	Direct	Lrowan@advantus.com
SCM – DI Only	Brittney T.	Department Shared Email	dipurchasing@advantus.com
Division	Andy W.	Direct	awoods@advantus.com
Division	Catalina V.	Direct	Cvargas@advantus.com
Business Manager	Laura R.	Direct	lrogers@advantus.com

Item/Program Stages:

Stages – Division of Responsibilities:

Before Item Presentation:
Sparrow	Work with factories to quote all items, get material breakdowns and product dimensions.
	Create costing spreadsheets and send to Division for customer price approval.
Advantus	Division	Review costing spreadsheet and approve final customer pricing.
	Product Compliance	Provide estimated testing costs for new programs.
	Product & Sourcing	Confirm Tariff and Duty rates for new domestic items.

During Item Presentation:
Sparrow	Put together information Advantus will need to complete item upload for customer portals.
	Put together: JOANN: Line Sheet Hobby Lobby: Line List Michaels: Product Line Sheet Walmart: New Item Form Upload template for QMS
	Manage ongoing communication with customer buying teams until items ship.
Advantus	Sales Op	Walmart: Upload template to QMS

Once New Program Is Confirmed:
Sparrow	Confirm with factory if a preliminary PO will be needed and inform Advantus.
	Create a spreadsheet with the item information Sales Op will need to fill out customer quote sheets. JOANN: Grovesite Import Template Hobby Lobby: Upload Form Michaels: IQS When urgent, Melissa will create/update IQS and submit to Michaels.
	Fill out New Item Form template and send to Advantus – P&S.
Advantus	Sales OP	Fill out and submit customer quote sheets via email or by uploading forms to portal. JOANN: Populate customer spreadsheet and upload it to customer portal. Hobby Lobby: Populate customer spreadsheet and upload it to customer portal. Michaels – IQS: Create sheet and email to Melissa so that she can have Michales upload to their system. Walmart: Fill out Data Sync form and submit to rep group for item creation.
	If a preliminary PO Is needed
	P&S	Upload New Item form to NetSuite.
	P&S	Create project record & communicate to team when item set up is complete.
	Division	Submit new item pricing task.
	Sales OP	Enter new item pricing in NetSuite.
	Division/Sparrow	Domestic Programs: Determine quantities for load in PO and first replenishment.
	P&S / SCM	Issue preliminary POs as needed. * Division/Sparrow will provide load in/first replen quantities*
	Product Compliance	Create and Submit TRF for item testing if needed based on time constraints.
	SCM (Domestic)	Enter preliminary forecasts in Valogix

Once Customer POs are received:
Sparrow	Request PO ship date extensions for new and replenishment POs – Michaels Only.
	Upload new artwork for factories.
	Work with factories to help resolve items testing failures due to product components/packaging issues.
	Create Factory Info Sheet and submit to factories and Product Compliance.
	Send matching samples to factory for them to use for pre-production samples.
	Review pre-production samples from the factory and confirm once product meets expectations.
	Review production samples from the factory.
	Take images of final production samples and upload to NetSuite.
	Submit images and copy: Michaels.com JOANN.com
	Send final production samples: Advantus Sales Op. Hobby Lobby Michaels
Advantus	DI Items
	Sales	Send new customer PO to DI Purchasing, Sparrow, and Division.
	If a preliminary PO was not issued
	P&S	Upload New Item form to NetSuite.
	P&S	Create project record & communicate to team when item set up is complete.
	Division	Submit new item pricing task.
	Sales OP	Enter new item pricing in NetSuite.
	SCM – DI	Review new customer order.
	SCM – DI	Enter new customer order in NS if not EDI order.
	SCM – DI	Create factory PO in NetSuite and submit to factory. If a preliminary PO has been issued – review quantities and retails and submit any pertinent changes to the factory
	SCM – DI	Review factory pro-forma invoice (PI)/sales confirmation (SC) to ensure accuracy, sign and return to factory.
	SCM – DI	Send sales confirmation to non-EDI customer: Hobby Lobby: Sales confirmation email JOANN: Century VMS PO acknowledgement
	Product Compliance	Create and Submit TRF for item testing.
	Product Compliance	If item testing failure, notify Sparrow and DI purchasing of violation, and work to resolve it.
	SCM – DI	Submit POs for PO inspections.
	SCM – DI	Monitor POs to ensure they are on track to meet customer ship dates.
	Product Compliance	Monitor item testing/retesting and ensure it is completed in time to meet PO ship dates.
	SCM – DI	Ensure PO bookings are processed.
	Direct Import	Process PO documents to ensure customer payment.
	Sales Op	Upload final product images and copy for .com for Walmart only.
	P&S	Confirm all dimensions with factory and submit to customers if needed: JOANN, Hobby Lobby & Michaels. For Michaels – PIAB dimension changes cannot be updated via a fast sheet and Sparrow will have to email buyer.
	Domestic Items
	If a preliminary PO was not issued
	P&S	Upload New Item form to NetSuite.
	P&S	Create project record & communicate to team when item set up is complete.
	Division	Submit new item pricing task.
	Sales OP	Enter new item pricing in NetSuite.
	P&S	Create load in factory PO in NetSuite.
	SCM – Domestic	Create 1^st replenishment factory PO in NetSuite. If a preliminary PO has been issued – review quantities and submit any pertinent changes to the factory
	Product Compliance	Create and Submit TRF for item testing.
	Product Compliance	If item testing failure, notify Sparrow and DI purchasing of violation, and work to resolve it.
	SCM – Domestic	Ensure PO bookings are processed.
	SCM – Domestic	Enter or adjust forecasts in NetSuite.
	P&S / SCM -Domestic	Update NetSuite with PO ETAs.
	Division	Associate Business Manager to confirm domestic item dimensions with JOANN and Michaels.

Ongoing Item Maintenance
Sparrow	Process artwork changes and submit to the factory for existing items.
	Request cost concessions from factories for customer-related initiatives only.
	Work with customer on spec, cost and retail changes for existing items and communicate final details to Advantus.
	Complete customer forms to update customer systems: Michaels: Fast Sheet JOANN: Email Sales Op to have them make update in Grovesite
	Evaluate item drops that will be presented at customer sales meetings and notify division and SCM.
Advantus	P&S	Update factory item costs in NS.
	P&S	Update item specs in NS.
	Sales Op	Update item specs: JOANN: Grovesite Walmart: Item360 and .com
	P&S	Answer cost questions for the factory and Advantus.
	P&S	Request cost/payment term concessions for Advantus-related initiatives.
	Product Compliance	Maintain annual testing and evaluate testing needs with Division if needed.
	Product Compliance	Maintain annual factory audits up to date and assess reaudit needs with Division if needed.
	Sales Op	Update customer pricing in NS.
	Sales Op	Update customer list prices in NS.
	SCM – Domestic	Monitor and update forecasts based on agreed cadence.
	SCM – DI/Domestic	Issue replenishment POs.
	Division/ P&S	Evaluate product lifecycle statuses and have P&S update.

Sulyn Division Process Documents

**This list is not exhaustive and will be updated as documents are created**

Hobby Lobby Retail Change Process
Sulyn Item Drop Process
Product Lifecycle Status Changes
Vendor Cost Changes
Customer Price Changes
Item Dimension Changes
Retails Changes
FAQ

Updated on January 30, 2024

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