The work and the outcome
Warehouse findings and finance records disagree; credits wait for missing condition evidence.
Approved settlement packet links RMA, inspection and credit-note draft; finance posting ID closes the workflow.
- Business function
- Returns settlement
- Typical sponsor
- Finance and operations director
- Working role
- Returns settlement analyst
- Unit of work
- received RMA settlement
How this work typically happens today
- Read received quantities and inspection
- Check original invoice and RMA terms
- Calculate credit/restocking proposal
- Approve disposition and post credit
How the workflow could run
AI helps prepare and coordinate the work. The review rules define what can proceed and where an accountable person decides.
- 01
Receive the trigger
Warehouse confirms receipt and inspection of an authorized return.
- 02
Bring the right context together
Return-to-credit lineage with inspector authorship and immutable price/tax evidence.
- 03
Prepare the work with AI
Reconcile authorized/received quantities; summarize inspector findings; calculate policy-based proposed credit; flag restocking exceptions.
- 04
Review and authorize
Inspector decides physical condition and safe disposition; finance approves credit and any ledger posting.
- 05
Confirm the outcome
Approved settlement packet links RMA, inspection and credit-note draft; finance posting ID closes the workflow.
The review experience
Settlement worksheet with quantity reconciliation and credit breakdown.
Information and systems
Systems to connect
- WMS return receipts
- ERP RMA/AR
- inspection app
Context the workflow needs
RMA lines, received quantity, inspector condition code, invoice unit price/tax, restocking rule, disposition, finance approval.
What needs to be in place
Trusted receipt/inspection records, tax rules maintained by finance and restricted credit API.
Human decisions and exceptions
Where people decide
Inspector decides physical condition and safe disposition; finance approves credit and any ledger posting.
The approval boundary
Qualified person decides condition; finance approval precedes credit posting or refund; no payment execution.
If something is missing or fails
Missing inspection, disputed condition or tax ambiguity retains settlement in manual review.
What to measure
- Reconciled settlements / received RMAs
- credit rework / posted credits
- hours from inspection to finance-ready packet
What to check during evaluation
Regression-test tax/rounding and partial returns; reconcile posted credits to approvals.
Establish today’s baseline and agree acceptance criteria for representative cases, including exceptions. Count review, rework and operating costs alongside the benefit. Time released creates capacity; a financial saving needs a separate mechanism.
Explore it in your business
Where do returns stall after inspection? Review uncredited RMAs, credit corrections and finance approval thresholds.
Bring the people who own the process, permitted examples and a clear finish line. Together, we can establish the scope, connections and evidence needed for a useful first deployment.