The first 15 minutes.

You should have received a magic link by email or WhatsApp. Click it. Set a password — that's your login from now on, but you can also sign in via the magic link Alba sends each time. The link works on phone, laptop, anything.

From the dashboard, open Distributors. For each supplier you work with, set:

• Name + the rep's email and phone
• Delivery days they hit YOUR address (Mon-Fri, Tue + Thu, etc.)
• Cutoff type — rolling (any day before the cutoff time) or weekly (one fixed day)
• Cutoff time (e.g. 16:00 the day before delivery)
• Lead time, minimum order, your account number

Two paths: drop a CSV (one row per wine — name, producer, vintage, prices, costs, par, reorder, the distributor) or let our team set it up for you from your existing wine list. The CSV is faster if you already have one.

Two numbers per beverage: par = target shelf level. Reorder at = the level that triggers a critical alert. Rule of thumb: par ≈ 1.5× weekly sales, reorder ≈ enough to cover lead time with a buffer. You can edit these any time from the beverage detail page.

From Settings set your preferred channel (WhatsApp / SMS / email — email always goes in parallel as a safety net), language (English / Italian), and contact windows (the hours Alba can ping you in your local timezone). Outside the windows nothing is sent — proposals queue and dispatch when the next window opens.

Once the catalog and distributors are set, the engine runs daily on your schedule (default 9 AM). It walks your stock, projects forward to the next delivery, flags whatever would land at or below reorder, and builds a proposal per distributor. The first one usually appears within 24 hours.

You'll get it on your preferred channel. Three options (A = critical only, B = critical + Priority 1 top-ups, C = wider net). Each option shows total bottles, value, and a per-item breakdown with the reason ("Critical · 1 left", "Below par · 4 left"). The recommended one is marked.

One letter on WhatsApp, or one click on the email or portal. Alba immediately writes the order to your rep (email + WhatsApp if they have a phone), updates the proposal status to Waiting for distributor, and starts tracking the delivery. You can also reply naturally: “take A but drop 2 Chianti” works.

From this point on the cycle is automatic: Alba watches stock, projects forward, asks you when criticals come up, sends the order, asks you when the delivery arrives, updates inventory. Your job is to tap when it asks. The insights page builds itself in the background.