Our initial engagement with a Client takes the form of a diagnostic review. We deploy a team of Practitioners to the Client’s site(s). The Practitioners gather information and data through interviews and observations with/of key stakeholders, accumulation of procedural documentation and performance reports and amassing of extracted data for analysis. Typically the team is onsite for 3 to 4 weeks during the diagnostic review; however, our approach minimizes distraction and disruption of existing workflow through prudent time management.
The onsite portion of the diagnostic review is followed with an offsite period of data analysis and benchmarking and the creation of a review report detailing improvement potential and steps critical to the optimization of working capital. Review reports are typically presented between 6 to 8 weeks from kickoff.
Of importance to most Clients, the review focuses considerably on the people and resources currently engaged in the reviewed processes. The emphasis is on developing new, best practice, skills where needed and to provide an enriched work experience and accordingly performance level.
Frequently the review report identifies the potential for some or all of the critical improvement steps to be self-implemented by the Client – in such circumstances identification of qualified personnel is made.
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By Michael Van Luven
President and Managing Director
While metrics such as WACD, or even DSO, are useful gauges of receivables performance trends, they only present one aspect of a complex environment. Knowing how long, on average, customers are taking to settle their invoices is quite useful. However, this statistic is most relevant when it is compared with the average amount of time that they have been granted to pay. Clearly, for a comparison of credit period taken to credit period granted to be relevant identical data sources or samples must be compared.
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