Quick Start: Your portfolio at a glance

• How many active license agreements does your team manage today? Options: Under 30, 30–100, 101–300, 301–1,000, Over 1,000
• Tell me the typical monthly volume of licensee reports you receive. Options: Fewer than 50, 50–200, 201–1,000, 1,001–5,000, Over 5,000
• In a typical reporting month, how many licensees miss their deadline or submit incomplete reports? Options: None, 1–5, 6–20, 21–100, More than 100
• Which contract types are most common in your portfolio, select all that apply. Options: Manufacturing/royalty based, Distribution/wholesale, Retail licensing, Co-branded partnerships, Fixed-fee or flat license
• Describe a recent audit finding that surprised your finance team.

Where money slips through the cracks

• When your last audit closed, what one recurring error would you say cost you the most revenue?
• Walk me through the last time a licensee underpaid, what sequence of steps did your team follow to detect and resolve it?
• Who on your team first notices report discrepancies, and what happens after they flag them?
• Estimate the annual revenue percentage you suspect is uncollected due to reporting or reconciliation issues. Options: Under 1%, 1–2.5%, 2.6–5%, 5.1–10%, Over 10%
• If fixing that leakage could be proven, what would stop you from prioritizing a platform project this quarter?

What are you comparing this to?

• Identify the one outcome that, if delivered by your current approach, would make you cancel vendor evaluations immediately.
• Name the alternatives you are actively evaluating right now, including internal build efforts and any incumbent vendors.
• Could you describe the threshold your leadership requires to justify switching away from the current approach?
• Has anyone on your team proposed building this capability internally instead of buying? Options: Yes, currently proposed, Yes, discussed previously, No, not proposed, Unsure
• Tell us who you consider the incumbent and why that solution has persisted.
• Outline the approvals required internally to sign a multi-year contract if the pilot proves a 5% reduction in leakage. Options: Finance signoff, Legal signoff, Procurement, Business unit leader, CFO/CEO approval

Why contracts throw you off

• What clause or contract pattern causes the most confusion when you try to encode terms into a system?
• List three examples of rate structures you currently have that are hard to capture in a standard table. Options: Tiered % by SKU, Royalty on net vs gross, Minimum guarantee schedules, Retroactive reconciliations, Combo fees or blended rates
• Who currently owns contract interpretation when terms are ambiguous, legal or finance? Options: Legal, Finance, Commercial manager, Operations, Shared ownership
• How often do you find minimum guarantees or escalators missing from your migrated contract set? Options: Rarely, Occasionally, Often, Most of the time
• If more than 10% of contracts need manual parsing, would that change the scope or timeline for a pilot? Options: Yes, expand timeline, Yes, reduce pilot scope, No change, Unsure

How licensee data actually arrives

• When a sample file fails to ingest, which failure mode do you see most often: field mismatch, bad totals, or missing attachments? Options: Field or column mismatch, Incorrect totals or math, Missing fields or attachments, Incorrect file type, Encoding problems
• Provide the typical file formats you receive from licensees, select all that apply. Options: XLS/XLSX, CSV, PDF reports, Flat text/EDI, API/JSON export
• Which systems do licensees use to produce reports that we would need to parse or map? Options: Your primary storefront platform, Your marketplace channels, Licensee ERP/export, Custom reporting tools, Unknown until sample received
• Describe the worst data quality example you've received recently, and how long it took to reconcile.
• Would an inability of your top 10 licensees to export sample data within two weeks block a pilot? Options: Yes, block pilot, No, we can work around it, Depends on which licensees, Unsure

Who's holding the keys

• Consider the last time a reporting problem caused material missed revenue, whose role took responsibility and why?
• Name the person or role that would sign off on pilot acceptance and the owner of the budget.
• Outline the escalation path for disputes with a licensee and typical resolution time.
• Is there an internal data steward responsible for contract data quality, and do they have allocated time for migration work? Options: Yes, full time, Yes, part time, No dedicated steward, Role exists but no bandwidth
• Would you be willing to assign a contractor or outsource that effort if the data steward cannot dedicate time? Options: Yes, Maybe, No

Can you meet integration and data gates?

• Assuming your ERP or contract repository lacks usable APIs, what alternative access can you provide for data extraction? Options: SFTP/secure file drop, Database read replica, CSV exports from UI, Manual exports from contract system, We cannot provide alternatives
• List the systems you require integrations with, for example your accounting ledger, contract management, and licensee portal.
• Identify the technical owner for integrations and their typical availability during implementations. Options: Internal integration team, Third-party integrator, Dedicated engineer, Shared developer resources, No owner assigned yet
• Do you have sample, production, and sandbox environments to validate end-to-end runs? Options: Yes, all three available, Only production and sample, Only production, No separate environments
• What regulatory or compliance approvals could delay access to licensee data, and how long do approvals typically take? Options: Data privacy review (2–8 weeks), Legal NDAs (1–4 weeks), Vendor security review (2–6 weeks), None expected, Other

Acceptance criteria and next steps

• Share the single pilot metric that would make your CFO sign off within one week. Options: Reconciliation accuracy %, Reduction in leakage %, Time to close reporting, Full contract coverage, Other
• Confirm the target reporting cadence you require during a pilot, monthly, quarterly, or another cadence. Options: Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, Per-licensee cadence, Other
• Rate how critical parallel reconciliation for one full reporting cycle is to your acceptance, on a 1 to 5 scale. Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Estimate the earliest date your leadership would commit to a pilot if sample data and stakeholders are available. Options: Immediately, Within 2 weeks, Within 1 month, 2–3 months, More than 3 months
• Select the internal approvals we should plan for, pick all that apply. Options: Finance/controller signoff, Legal/contract review, IT/security, Procurement, Business owner approval
• Give the best and worst case timelines you would accept between pilot completion and contract signature.

• Solution Experience — Ingestion, Validation, Disputes

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated ingestion and mapping flow eliminates the manual mapping rework you described.
• Provide three representative licensee sales reports in their native formats showing different reporting styles and periods
• You confirm the discrepancy detection and contract enforcement would have flagged the underpayments found in recent audits.
• Proof — Ingest your sample files and show mapping results
• Provide contract excerpts for the five largest licensees including rates and minimum guarantees for encoding
• You agree on the remaining evidence and parity steps required before a deployment decision, including sample coverage and contract encoding completeness.
• Proof — Apply contract rules and surface discrepancies
• Run ingestion on the provided sample files and deliver a discrepancy and mapping report before the follow-up session
• Identify the key stakeholders who should participate in the parity run and their availability windows
• Proof — Demonstrate dispute workflow and audit trail
• Share a list of your current ERP and contract management systems for integration planning
• Validate the future state and agree next evidence

• Solution Experience — Ingestion, Validation, Disputes
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief — Licensee Report Ingestion & Dispute Workflow

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Map and Ingest Licensee Sales Files
• Configure Royalty Rate and Fee Tables
• Migrate Contract Terms and Payment Schedules
• Set Up Licensee Reporting Portal
• Validate Reports and Flag Discrepancies
• Automate Invoice Generation and Delivery
• Track Minimum Guarantees and Shortfalls
• Reconcile Historical Payments and Shortfalls
• Integrate with ERP and Accounting Systems
• Enable Dispute Management and Communication Workflows
• Produce Audit-Ready Financial Summaries
• Licensee Onboarding and Training

Map and Ingest Licensee Sales Files

• Which file formats do your licensees currently submit (select all that apply)? Options: CSV / comma-delimited, XLSX / Excel workbook, Fixed-width or TXT, XML, JSON, PDF tables, EDI or proprietary export, Other
• How frequently do individual licensees deliver sales reports that must be ingested (use the most common cadence for each top-10 licensee)? Options: Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annually, Annually, Ad hoc / irregular
• Do your licensee reports include line-level SKU or product identifiers versus aggregated totals? Options: Line-level SKU / product detail, Only aggregated SKU groups, Mixture of both across licensees
• Are there standard fields across most reports we should map automatically (examples: partner SKU, our SKU, units sold, gross sales, discounts, returns)? Options: Yes, No
• When a licensee provides corrected sales reports, how long after the original submission are revisions typically submitted? Options: Within 7 days, 7 to 30 days, More than 30 days, Varies by licensee
• Provide the acceptance criteria that will confirm successful ingestion accuracy for sample files (example: parsed rows percent, allowed field-mapping exceptions per 1,000 rows).

Configure Royalty Rate and Fee Tables

• List the types of royalty rules you need encoded (select all that apply). Options: Percentage of net sales, Per-unit royalty, Tiered/step rates by volume, Minimum guarantee schedules, Flat fees / fixed amounts, Running royalty with offsets
• Specify how currency and exchange-rate handling should work for multi-currency sales reports. Options: Store original currency + convert to reporting currency, Convert at reported daily rate, Use monthly average conversion, Buyer will supply converted amounts
• Identify which contract clauses drive royalty adjustments (examples: returns allowance, promotional deductions, customer allowances).
• Confirm whether escalation rules for step rates apply by SKU, by territory, or by consolidated brand line. Options: By SKU / product code, By territory / country, By brand or product family, No step rates used
• Describe the owner for future rate changes and who approves updates to the rate table in your organization.
• Estimate how many distinct rate combinations we must support at go-live (approximate count of unique [rate x royalty base x territory] tuples). Options: Less than 50, 50-250, 251-1,000, More than 1,000

Migrate Contract Terms and Payment Schedules

• Indicate the primary source format for contract terms we will ingest (examples: clause-extracted CSV, PDF contract originals, contract management export). Options: Contract management system export, Scanned PDF originals, Structured clause spreadsheet (CSV/XLSX), Other
• Select which contract elements must be encoded for each agreement (select all that apply). Options: Royalty rates and bases, Minimum guarantees and schedule, Reporting cadence and due dates, Sales channels and territories, Allowed deductions and exclusions
• Name the party in your org responsible for clause interpretation and final sign-off on encoded contract logic.
• Measure the migration completeness threshold you require for encoded contract terms (examples: 98% of active clauses encoded, 100% of MG schedules migrated). Options: 95%+, 98%+, 100% required, Other (describe)
• State which archival artifacts need to be retained with each migrated contract (examples: original PDF, clause extraction spreadsheet, migration change log). Options: Original contract PDF, Clause-extraction CSV, Migration mapping file, Signed amendment records, All of the above
• Share any contracts with non-standard billing calendars (examples: 4-4-5 retail calendar or fiscal-month offsets) that will require custom schedule logic.

Set Up Licensee Reporting Portal

• Outline the authentication methods licensees should use to submit reports (examples: single sign-on SAML, email/password, API key uploads). Options: SAML SSO, OAuth SSO, Portal username/password, API key submission, FTP/SFTP dropbox
• Upload requirements: which file transfer methods must the portal accept for go-live (select all that apply)? Options: Portal web upload, SFTP drop, Secure API endpoint, Email-to-ingest with attachments, Other
• Attach your portal branding and language needs: do licensees require multi-language UI or custom-branded portal views? Options: Single language (English), Multi-language (specify), Custom branding per brand line, Standard portal branding
• Map who will manage portal user accounts and support licensees for first-line issues (examples: partner operations team, finance contact).
• Count the number of licensee contacts you expect to onboard at go-live and how many will have upload permissions versus view-only. Options: Less than 50, 50-150, 151-500, More than 500
• Classify portal workflows needed for report resubmission, error feedback, and automated reminders (examples: reminder after 7 days, auto-reject with error list).

Validate Reports and Flag Discrepancies

• Flag the top validation rules you require for incoming reports (examples: missing SKU, negative net sales, unrecognized partner SKU). Options: Missing SKU or product code, Negative or zero net sales, Mismatch to expected reporting period, Unmapped partner SKU, Totals mismatch
• Detail the tolerance thresholds for discrepancy alerts (examples: percentage variance trigger between reported and expected sales, absolute USD threshold).
• Choose whether discrepancy alerts should generate an automated portal message, email to your finance team, or create a dispute record automatically. Options: Portal alert only, Portal + email, Create dispute record automatically, Notify named owner only
• Clarify whether you want automatic rule-based adjustments applied (examples: auto-apply returns allowance) or only flagging for manual review. Options: Auto-apply permitted adjustments, Flag only for manual review, Hybrid per rule
• Supply examples of prior reconciliation exceptions from audits that we should encode as validation checks (attach representative rows if possible).
• Record who on your team is the decision owner for closing discrepancy tickets and approving manual adjustments.

Automate Invoice Generation and Delivery

• Validate the invoice templates required at go-live (examples: invoice showing royalty base calculation, MG shortfall line items, taxes).
• Approve required delivery channels for invoices (select all that apply). Options: Email PDF to licensee, Portal invoice download, EDI invoice transmission, Push to accounting system API
• Prioritize which invoiceable items need payment terms encoded (examples: net 30, net 60, due on receipt, staged MG payments).
• Schedule automated invoice runs cadence (examples: monthly based on reporting close, quarterly finalization after audit window). Options: Run after each reporting period close, Monthly run on fixed date, Quarterly run, On-demand only
• Allocate who will approve invoices before they are sent (examples: finance approver, contract owner).
• Route invoices into your accounting workflow: do you require AP aging push, AR ledger posting, or both? Options: Push to AR ledger only, Push to AR + aging report, Export for manual posting, Other

Track Minimum Guarantees and Shortfalls

• Identify how minimum guarantee (MG) schedules are expressed in your contracts (examples: annual fixed MG, stepped MG by year, rolling MG). Options: Annual fixed MG, Stepped MG by year, Rolling / cumulative MG, No MGs in scope
• Select the reporting cadence you require for MG performance statements (examples: quarterly MG statement, annual true-up). Options: Monthly statement, Quarterly MG review, Annual true-up only, Custom cadence
• Describe how you want shortfalls handled in invoicing and ledger posting (examples: invoice shortfall as payable, carry forward to next period).
• Detail any offsets or credits that should reduce MG shortfalls (examples: pre-paid advances, product return reserves).
• Estimate the number of MG-bearing agreements we must track at go-live. Options: None, 1-25, 26-100, More than 100
• Confirm whether MG reporting requires separate PDF statements sent to licensees in addition to portal visibility. Options: Yes, separate PDF statements, Portal visibility only, Both PDF and portal

Reconcile Historical Payments and Shortfalls

• Outline the historical window you expect reconciled during implementation (examples: 2 years, 5 years, since contract start). Options: No historical reconciliation, Last 12 months, Last 24 months, All available history
• Upload formats: do you have historical payment records in electronic ledger exports, bank statements, or scanned receipts? Options: AR ledger export (CSV/XLSX), Bank statements, Scanned receipts / PDFs, Other
• Choose how you want unapplied historical shortfalls to be treated at go-live (examples: invoice backlog, write-off after approval, create adjustment journal entries). Options: Create invoices for shortfalls, Record as historical adjustments, Create a separate remediation project, Write-off after review
• Clarify whether you require audit trail entries for each historical reconciliation decision (example: who approved an adjustment and why). Options: Yes, full audit trail required, No, summary-level is sufficient
• Supply examples of prior reconciliation spreadsheets or audit findings that we should use to validate historical reconciliation logic.
• Record the financial thresholds that trigger a manual review during historical reconciliation (examples: >$5,000 variance, >10% variance). Options: >$1,000, >$5,000, >$10,000, >10% variance, Other

Integrate with ERP and Accounting Systems

• Which ERP or accounting endpoints must be integrated at go-live (examples: general ledger posting API, AR invoice import, payment receipt import)? Options: GL posting interface, AR invoice import, Payment receipt import, Customer master sync, Other
• Specify the chart of accounts mapping approach you require for royalty and MG postings (examples: single royalty GL per brand, split by territory).
• Identify the technical integration method your ERP supports for data ingestion (examples: REST API, SFTP CSV drop, middleware connector). Options: REST API / webhooks, SFTP CSV / batch, Middleware / ESB, Flat-file import, Other
• Confirm the business acceptance test to validate ERP integration (example: number of invoices successfully posted and reconciled in test environment).
• Measure the success threshold you require for end-to-end ERP posting during UAT (example: 100% of test invoices posted without manual correction, or 95% acceptable). Options: 100% without manual correction, 95% without manual correction, 90% acceptable with remediation plan
• Share the contact information for your ERP technical lead and typical SLA expectations for connector support.

Enable Dispute Management and Communication Workflows

• Identify the dispute lifecycle you require (examples: open ticket, evidence upload, resolution within X days, automatic escalation).
• Select how disputes should be initiated (select all that apply). Options: Licensee portal submission, Email to dispute inbox, Manual creation by your team, Auto-created from validation rule
• Describe the evidence types you want attached to a dispute record (examples: original licensee report, corrected report, invoice snapshot).
• Confirm escalation timing rules for unresolved disputes (examples: escalate after 7 days to senior finance, after 30 days to legal). Options: Escalate after 7 days, Escalate after 14 days, Escalate after 30 days, Custom escalation
• Detail the notification channels for dispute updates (examples: portal notifications, emails to named contacts, webhook to your ticketing system). Options: Portal notification, Email to contacts, Webhook to ticketing system, None
• Record the retention policy for dispute correspondence and attachments needed for audits. Options: 1 year, 3 years, 7 years, Retention per corporate policy

• Subscription Agreement & Order Form
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Integration Responsibilities Addendum
• Implementation Timeline & Cutover Plan
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Change Order Agreement

• Go-live health check (week 1-4)
• First measurement review (week 4-10)
• Acceptance gate decision (around day 90)
• Quarterly success review (ongoing operational cadence)

• Schedule a data detailed review for any metric trending off-target and circulate required data extracts before that session.
• Open remediation tasks for the top 3 root causes with target completion dates before the acceptance gate.
• Schedule the acceptance gate evidence runs and confirm the responsible data owner for each extract.
• Restate acceptance criteria and targets
• Each acceptance criterion from Solution Scope has a recorded pass or fail outcome.
• A formal acceptance decision is documented and retained in the shared workspace, including the named signatory if required.
• Incumbent system decommissioning or retention-as-read-only is confirmed and data archive status is validated.
• Publish the acceptance record and the evidence files used for each criterion into the shared workspace.
• Execute the incumbent decommission or retention plan and publish archival confirmation.
• Create remediation tickets for any failed criteria with re-test dates and acceptance conditions.
• Metric trend review versus Solution Scope targets
• Confirm whether reconciliation accuracy rate (%) and average dispute resolution time (days) remain within acceptable ranges compared to Solution Scope targets.
• Top backlog items prioritized, with acceptance criteria and target completion dates assigned.
• Any persistent operational gaps have a documented remediation path and timeline.
• Update the shared backlog with priorities, acceptance criteria, and target dates for the selected items.
• Deliver the quarterly reconciliation accuracy and dispute resolution report to the finance team.
• Re-confirm success criteria and owners
• All deployment environments and integrations confirmed operational or documented with remediation plans.
• Top 5 open issues captured with owners and target resolution dates.
• User onboarding status and initial ingestion counts validated for baseline reporting.
• Publish the deployment validation checklist with environment snapshots and job run logs.
• Create tickets for each open issue with expected resolution dates and required inputs.
• Deliver a list of active users and licensee portal invitations sent as of the meeting date.
• Present first measurement data
• Determine whether reconciliation accuracy rate (%) and on-time report submission rate (%) are trending toward the targets in Solution Scope.
• Identify the top 3 root causes for any metric gaps and agree remediation steps with dates.
• Confirm the dataset and run schedule that will be used for the acceptance gate measurement.
• Publish the measurement report including raw data extracts, calculation worksheets, and deviation annotations.
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Backlog and enhancement requests review
• Deployment and migration validation
• Root-cause diagnosis for gaps
• Document pass/fail per criterion and record acceptance decision
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Operational issues and escalation items
• Disputes and variance inventory
• Prioritize and assign top backlog items
• Incumbent system decommissioning and data archive verification
• Blockers and open issues
• Agree corrective actions and timeline
• Confirm data and report cadence for acceptance gate
• Agree remediation plan for any failed criteria
• Confirm upcoming reporting and audit schedule
• Agree immediate remediation actions