Invoice chasing workflow
Chase overdue invoices consistently — without sending the wrong reminder
Direct answer
Send routine reminders from trusted paid or unpaid information, stop when an invoice is paid or disputed, and leave payment plans and sensitive escalation to a person. Those unusual cases are not routine reminders and should never be swept into the automatic path.
Define the normal reminder path.
A controlled routine path starts from a trustworthy due/paid state, applies an approved cadence, sends approved wording and records what happened. Payment immediately stops further reminders.
DETERMINE overdue + unpaid from the authoritative system.
Check explicit stop flags: dispute, payment plan, data issue, relationship hold.
DETERMINE whether a reminder is due under the cadence.
ACT once, idempotently, using approved wording.
Record the send and next due state.
Stop conditions are the product boundary.
- Invoice is disputed or believed wrong.
- A payment plan or promise changes the expected date.
- The customer has paid but the source system has not reconciled.
- The message would contain a legal threat or debt-recovery escalation.
- The account is relationship-sensitive or manually held.
- Required contact/due-state data is missing.
These are not “edge cases to solve later”. They define where routine automation must hand back to a person.
Built-in reminders come before a new platform.
Use the Least-New-System Ladder. First inspect the accounting system’s reminder, exclusion and payment-state capabilities. If its built-in feature can meet the MUST requirements, it wins even if a separate automation would look more sophisticated.
Measure operational effect honestly.
- Routine reminders due per month.
- Manual handling minutes before.
- Exception/rescue minutes after.
- Duplicate or inappropriate reminder incidents.
- Overdue-state accuracy and time to resolve exceptions.
Do not call reminders “recovered cash” by default.
A payment received after a reminder has multiple possible causes. Capacity released can be measured directly; cash-recovery attribution needs stronger causal evidence. Keep cash, capacity, risk/error exposure and opportunity value separate.
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