Situation
A multi-unit testing and certification group with steady demand and a full order book. Revenue was not the problem. Work that had already been delivered was slow to become an invoice, and invoices were slow to become collections.
Constraint
Undefined stage gates between delivery close, invoice creation and receivables follow-up. No service-level discipline at any of the three handoffs, and no single view of where each project sat in the chain.
What we did
- Mapped the delivery-to-collection handoffs and named an owner for each stage.
- Installed an invoicing rhythm with stage gates and service levels.
- Separated the project backlog from receivables, so each could be worked as its own queue.
- Set a recurring review, so the chain is inspected on a cadence, not on escalation.
The wider engagement
Outcome
Overdue receivables down 75% year on year. The project backlog reduced from about 150 to about 60 open projects, and invoicing time was cut to about a third.
Anonymised by sector · Client names withheld · These results reflect combined work