In FMCG, distributors fund trade promotions first and get paid back later. A discount at the outlet, a free case, a volume slab: the distributor gives it, then files a claim with the brand. Until that claim is settled, the distributor is lending the brand money.
Claims often take weeks to settle. When you map the journey with the people who run it, very little of that time goes on actual decisions.
Where the days go
- The promotion is shared as a document or an email, so the distributor, the sales team and finance each read it slightly differently.
- The claim is built after the sale, by hand, from invoices and paper proof.
- Sales checks every line, then finance checks it again, whether the claim is routine or not.
- Disputed lines go back and forth and hold up the whole claim.
- The credit note is raised last, after every approval is done.
None of these steps is unreasonable on its own. Together they add up to weeks.
What actually fixes it
- Set the promotion up once, in the system.Promotion type, eligibility, value, budget and dates live in one place, so the system decides what qualifies instead of people.
- Build claims from invoices.If the discount was applied on the invoice, the claim can be generated from that data. The evidence is already there.
- Check proof with AI.For off-invoice schemes like display incentives, AI can check each proof photo for the right display, shop and date, and flag the doubtful ones.
- Check by rule, review by exception.Rules check eligibility, budget, dates and duplicates on every line. People only see the lines that break a rule.
- Connect the approval to the ERP.An approved claim should create its credit note without anyone re-keying it.
Agree the rules before you build
Review by exception only works if finance and sales trust the rules. That agreement has to happen in the workshops, before build. Which checks are automatic? What makes a line an exception? Who owns the exception queue? If those answers are vague, people go back to checking everything by hand.
Where the real gain is
The biggest gain does not come from approving faster. It comes from getting the promotion set-up right, so fewer claims need a person at all. I have written up a fuller design in my claim settlement case study.