Operations ·
Close the gap between completed work and an invoice
Delivery and finance need a shared account of what was completed and what can be billed. A handoff built from scattered messages makes both jobs harder.
By Norwind
Agree what makes work billable
Start with the contract and the actual operating process. Finance may need a customer approval, a signed record or confirmation of a milestone before preparing an invoice. Make the required evidence explicit. A status called complete is not enough if different teams attach different meanings to it. Keep operational completion and readiness for billing distinct when they represent different events.
Capture evidence where the work happens
Ask delivery staff which information they already record and which details finance later asks them to reconstruct. Reuse reliable records rather than requiring the same facts to be entered again. Link the record to the correct customer, job and approved scope. Corrections should preserve enough history to explain why an amount or billing decision changed.
Give waiting work a visible owner
Create a view of completed jobs that cannot yet be invoiced, with the missing item and the person responsible for resolving it. That view can begin in an existing system before any custom development. If disconnected applications are the recurring obstacle, an integration or internal workflow may help. Measure the handoff itself so a cleaner interface does not hide the same unresolved approvals.
A practical check
- Define the evidence needed to prepare an invoice.
- Link completion records to the agreed scope.
- Show missing information and the person who can resolve it.