What should be inventoried before an SLA policy redesign affects service credit adjudication history?
The SLA versions themselves first, then everything that was judged against them. A redesign usually replaces the policy page, the order form template and the credit rules in one go, and every past credit was decided under the old terms. If the old versions are overwritten, the credit history loses its rulebook.
| Inventory item | What to note | Why it matters after the redesign |
|---|---|---|
| SLA versions | Each version, effective dates, tiers covered | Past decisions are explained only against the version in force |
| Customer mapping | Which customers signed which version | Grandfathered terms can outlive the redesign by years |
| Status history | Years of incidents and component names | Renamed components break the incident-to-tier join |
| Claims and approvals | Where claims arrived and who approved | Often email or tickets, outside both core systems |
| Credit notes | Years held in billing; any earlier billing system | A billing migration can predate the redesign |
| Real deadline | The date old policy pages or templates will be replaced | The only urgency that counts is a documented change date |
A partner collects answers, not files: no incident exports, claim emails or billing reports. If the finance team already archives superseded contract terms for its own reasons, the inventory simply records where.
Why does a redesign cut credit decisions off from their rules?
Because the three systems involved each hold only part of the decision, and a redesign changes the part none of them owns: the terms.
- The status platform records impact by component, not by customer. Atlassian's Statuspage documentation defines a partial outage as a component completely broken for a subset of customers, a major outage as completely unavailable, and degraded performance as working but slow or impaired; any component in partial outage makes the incident impact read Minor. Which customers and tiers were affected, and whether that breached their SLA, is decided outside the status page. If component names change in the redesign, the join from old incidents to old tiers needs a mapping someone writes down.
- The billing record holds the amount, not the reason. Stripe's credit note API adjusts a finalized invoice without voiding it, and its reason field accepts duplicate, fraudulent, order_change or product_unsatisfactory. None of those says "SLA breach under version 2, Enterprise tier", so that reasoning lives in a memo field, a ticket or an email.
- The terms set the procedure as well as the amount. Published SLAs show how much procedure the terms carry. AWS's compute SLA, for example, requires a credit request by the end of the second billing cycle after the incident and applies credits only against future payments, not as refunds. A claim rejected as late in 2023 can only be understood against the claim window in the version that applied in 2023.
Atlassian
Stripe
AWSAn illustrative inventory sheet
Illustrative only; the company and dates are fictional. A 230-person B2B software company is replacing its three-tier SLA with a new credit policy next quarter. The commercial operations head fills in the sheet from the project plan and contract files, without opening any records.
| Record class | System | Years held | Owner | Affected by the redesign? | Reachable until |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLA versions 1 to 3 | Website and contract repository | 2019 to now | Legal operations | Policy page overwritten | Policy page change date |
| Customer-to-version mapping | CRM contract fields | 2020 to now | Revenue operations | Fields reused for new policy | CRM change date |
| Status incidents | Status platform | 2019 to now | Site reliability lead | Components renamed | Status platform retention |
| Claims and approvals | Support tickets and email | 2019 to now | Commercial operations head | No | Ticket and mailbox retention |
| Credit notes | Billing system | 2021 to now; earlier in prior billing tool | Finance | No | Billing retention; prior tool access |
| Credit policy memo | Shared drive | 2020 to now | CFO office | Superseded | Company retention policy |
Reading the sheet: the classes at risk are the policy pages and the customer-to-version mapping, because both are edited in place. Status history is at risk only through renaming, which a dated component map can fix. Ticket export formats matter for the claims; the Jira Service Management export guide shows the kind of question to ask. The data scope worksheet gives the company a format for its own counts.
Which dates set the real access deadline?
The date the old policy page and order form templates are replaced, the date CRM contract fields are reused, and any billing or status platform migration scheduled nearby. If none is written down, there is no deadline yet; the next step is for the company to fix one, not for a partner to create urgency.
Do not recommend keeping data the company has no authority or reason to keep, and do not ask for exports or samples for a licensing conversation.
Ask the commercial operations head about coverage and rights
The commercial operations head knows coverage: how many claims a year, roughly how many were approved, how far back approvals go and which SLA versions exist. Rights sit higher. Customer contracts often carry confidentiality terms, and claim emails name customers, so counsel decides what could ever be licensed and what would need de-identifying first. The person who can authorize a licensing discussion is the CEO, often with the CFO preparing the case; a fractional CFO for SaaS companies is often close to that conversation.
Before introducing the company, check these points:
- 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records and an authorized contact.
- Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English.
- Unknown until SourceX reviews it: buyer interest, the rights review result and any terms.
- Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions; attribution goes to the first valid introduction within the 90-day window, credited when the company submits a verified application.
For related records, see the incident and on-call records field guide and procurement approvals and exception workflows. The industries hub and software and SaaS page cover the wider fit.
Go deeper on service credit adjudication
- Service credit adjudication exception examples: a worked case of a partial outage that affected only one service tier.
- Service credit adjudication records across systems: a map of the IDs that join status incidents, SLA tiers, claims and credit notes.
- Who can license service credit adjudication records: a short answer on which executive to introduce and why.
- Service credit adjudication referral brief template: a fill-in brief for writing the company introduction.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
If your client has years of credit decisions and an SLA redesign on the calendar, register as a partner, confirm the company against who qualifies, and read the program terms before the commercial operations head sends the note.