Deadline clocks
How a Service's deadline counts only the Startup's time, when an Order is at risk, and how rate terms judge a standing Service over a month.
A deadline is a term of the Outcome Contract, counted only while the Startup holds the next move. A miss is checkable from the clock alone, so its remedy runs without the buyer asking.
When the clock runs
The clock starts when Order.start finds every input the brief promised, never at the order. It stops while the Order waits on the buyer and runs while it waits on the Startup's own people.
| The Order is | Reason | The clock |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting for an answer from the buyer | awaitingInput | Stops; dueAt moves later by the wait |
| Waiting on an outside system the buyer controls | awaitingSource | Stops, when the contract lists it in clockExcludes |
| Waiting for a free Supplier or reviewer | awaitingWorker | Runs |
| Being redone after a failed check | retrying | Runs |
clockExcludes lists the pending reasons that stop the clock. A reason the Startup controls never belongs there, because the clock exists to charge the Startup's own delays to the Startup.
At risk, then missed
atRisk is the share of the deadline after which an Order shows as at risk, 0.8 by default. Catalogmend's 48-hour deadline marks an Order at risk after 38 hours and 24 minutes, while there is still time to add a reviewer.
A missed dueAt is a miss, judged from the clock. Its remedy, such as a credit on the next Order, runs with no claim from the buyer, and the buyer reads it in its Portal.
Rate terms for standing work
A standing Service is judged over a period, not per item. Its rate terms each hold a metric to a target over a week, a month or a quarter, with a credit for each band below.
| Rate term | Target | Below target |
|---|---|---|
| New listings checked within 24 hours | At least 95% each month | 10% of the month's fee back below 95%, 25% below 90% |
creditCap bounds what a period's credits return, half the period's fee by default. Rate terms hold only on a standing Service; a once audit is judged by its deadline.