One version of the numbers, across sales, operations, and finance.
Order-to-cash, trade and margin reporting, and the data flows between you and your retail partners, built so the three functions stop arguing about whose figure is right.
Margin you cannot see until the quarter is already written.
Order-to-cash friction
Orders arriving in several formats, entered by hand, and chased through fulfillment and invoicing by people rather than by status. Every manual touch is a place the order and the invoice can stop agreeing.
Trade spend and deduction management
Deductions taken against invoices that have to be matched to promotions, validated, and disputed inside a window. The volume is high, the value per item is low, and the ones that go unworked are written off by default.
Retail partner data reconciled by hand
EDI documents and portal downloads pulled, reformatted, and matched to internal records on a weekly rhythm. The work is repetitive, the formats change without notice, and a partner discrepancy surfaces long after the shipment.
Margin visibility lagging weeks behind
True margin by product, customer, and channel available only after close, once trade, freight, and deductions have landed. Decisions get made on gross figures because the net ones are not ready yet.
Three practices, applied from order to net margin.
Automation and workflow engineering
Order intake normalized across formats and posted without rekeying. Deduction workflows that match, categorize, and route items for validation or dispute, with aging visible and nothing expiring unworked.
Data intelligence and analytics
A governed store joining orders, shipments, invoices, trade spend, and deductions into net margin by product, customer, and channel, refreshed on schedule. The same numbers in front of sales, operations, and finance, with lineage back to source.
Systems integration and API connectivity
EDI and partner portals connected to ERP and accounting so retail data lands as records rather than as downloads. Synchronization that holds when a partner changes a specification.
Where this usually starts.
One process, scoped and built, chosen because it de-risks the rest. Not a program.
Order intake normalized
Across formats and posted without rekeying, starting with the partner that sends the most volume and the most exceptions.
A deduction workflow that ages
Matches, categorizes, and routes items for validation or dispute, so nothing expires unworked because nobody had time to reach it.
Net margin on a schedule
By product, customer, and channel, refreshed on a timetable rather than assembled after close when the decisions have already been made.
Four gates, and a fixed scope before any build starts.
Every engagement moves through discovery and assessment, solution architecture, build and implementation, and optional managed operations. Scope and cost are fixed before any build starts, and delivery is measured against the process it replaces.
The first gate stands on its own. Discovery ranks the opportunities in front of you by effort and impact, so you can see what the work is worth before committing to it. The full method is set out on the services page.
Start with the deductions you are writing off.
A conversation first. A structured assessment when it earns one.