CS-01 · Case study · Distributor Management System · FMCG

Cutting distributor claim settlement from ~30 days to ~10

Global FMCG multinational · Cambodia & Laos · 2025–26 · Role: Functional delivery lead (Senior Business Analyst)

Aditya BankarAditya BankarSenior Business Analyst / Product Owner · 3 min read
~30 → ~10 daysAverage distributor claim settlement
80+Distributors on the system
50,000+Retail outlets covered
800+Salesmen using the mobility app

The context

In FMCG route-to-market, distributors pass trade promotions on to retail outlets (price discounts, free goods, volume slabs) and then claim the cost back from the manufacturer. Until the claim is settled, the distributor is funding the promotion with its own cash. Slow settlement strains distributor finances and the relationship with the brand.

The client, a global FMCG multinational, was rolling out a new Distributor Management System (DMS) in Cambodia and Laos. Promotions and claims were among the areas I owned as functional delivery lead.

The problem

The average claim took about 30 days to settle. Mapping the journey with market teams showed where the time went:

  • Promotion set-up varied, so distributors, sales teams and finance could read the same promotion differently.
  • Claims were compiled after the fact from invoices and supporting documents, not from transaction data.
  • Every claim went through manual checks, whether it was routine or unusual.
  • Several hand-offs between sales, finance and systems, with data re-keyed along the way.
  • Credit notes were raised late in the back-end ERP.

My role

  • Led requirement and market-alignment workshops with business, product, technical and market stakeholders in both countries.
  • Owned requirements for promotions, claims, pricing and localisation.
  • Wrote user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows and field mappings, and prioritised the backlog with stakeholders using MoSCoW.
  • Coordinated UAT, change requests, go-live and hypercare.

The process, before and after

Each column is a team or system. Numbered badges point to where time was lost, or saved.

Scroll sideways to see the whole diagram →

Claims process before: manual, sequential checksDistributorSales teamFinanceERPPromotionstartsGive discountat the outletCompile claimwith documents1Check everyline by hand2Check againand approve3Raise creditnote4Paid in~30 days
  1. 1Claims are built by hand after the sale, from invoices and paper proof.
  2. 2Sales checks every claim, routine or not. Disputed lines go back and forth.
  3. 3Finance repeats the checks before approving.
  4. 4The credit note is raised late, after every approval.
Start Step Decision End Each column is one team or system. Arrows show hand-offs.

What changed, step by step

StepBeforeAfter
Promotion set-upShared manually with distributorsConfigured once in the system
Discount at the outletApplied by the distributorApplied automatically on the invoice
Creating the claimCompiled by hand with documentsGenerated from invoice data
CheckingEvery line checked by sales, then financeRules check every line; people see only exceptions
Credit noteRaised late in the ERPCreated in SAP once approved
Time to settle~30 days~10 days

The approach

  1. 1
    Map the as-is journeyWalked through the claim lifecycle end to end with market teams to find delays, rework and disputes.
  2. 2
    Standardise promotion set-upDefined one structure for promotion types, eligibility and value, so the system (not people) decides what qualifies.
  3. 3
    Build claims from transactionsClaims are generated from invoiced sales in the DMS, so the evidence is already in the system.
  4. 4
    Validate by rule, review by exceptionDefined rules for eligibility, budget limits, validity dates and duplicates. Only exceptions go to a person.
  5. 5
    Connect the systemsSpecified data flows across the DMS, trade promotion management (TPM), workflow (PEGA) and SAP (U2K2), so approved claims move to credit notes without re-keying.
  6. 6
    Localise for each marketCovered tax treatment and invoice and credit-note numbering for each country.
  7. 7
    Prove it in UATBuilt test scenarios from real promotions and claims, then supported go-live and hypercare.

Sample work: user story

Story · CS-01-US-014

Auto-generate distributor claims from invoiced promotions

As a distributor finance user, I want claims to be generated automatically from invoices that applied an active promotion, so that I don't have to compile claims by hand and I get paid faster.

Acceptance criteria

  • Given an invoice applied an active promotion, when the claim period closes, then a claim line is created with the promotion ID, outlet, quantity and claim value.
  • Given a claim line exceeds the promotion budget or falls outside its validity dates, when validation runs, then the line is flagged as an exception with the reason shown.
  • Given every line of a claim passes validation, when the claim is submitted, then it goes for approval without manual review.
  • Given an invoice is cancelled or goods are returned, when claims are generated, then the related claim value is reversed.

Results

  • Average distributor claim settlement cut from ~30 days to ~10.
  • Full compliance with the client's promotional governance maintained.
  • Routine claims move without line-by-line checks, so people focus on exceptions.
  • Real-time visibility of sales, promotions and inventory for 80+ distributors, 50,000+ outlets and 800+ salesmen.

What I learned

  • Most claim delays start at promotion set-up, not at approval. Fix the configuration and the rest gets easier.
  • Review by exception only works if finance and sales agree the rules before build.
  • Localisation belongs in the first workshops, not in the weeks before go-live.

Client and system details are anonymised. Diagrams are redrawn and all figures are approximate.