This decision tree belongs to the proof-of-delivery disputes guide, which covers the records that explain how an exception was handled. Here the question is who can say yes to talking about them.
Start at the bottom: who holds the records
Read this tree from the ground up. The people closest to the records are at the base, and authority sits at the top.
| Level | Role | What they hold or know | Authority to open a licensing discussion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Delivery platform admin | Scans, photos, signatures, retention settings | None; access only |
| Base | Customer service or claims lead | Tickets, adjudication notes, credit decisions | None; confirms what exists |
| Base | Finance manager | Credits, refunds, chargeback responses | None |
| Middle | Operations director | Systems, volumes, the coming platform or carrier change | Sponsor; rarely decides |
| Middle | Account managers | Shipper agreements and delivery rules | None; flags client terms |
| Top | General counsel or privacy lead | Client contracts, personal data obligations | Advises; sets limits |
| Top | CEO | Whether the company licenses its records | Yes; authorizes and signs |
Technical access to an export is not authority to license it. The person you introduce should be able to say yes to a conversation about rights, not just to a data pull.
Fork one: whose shipments do the records describe?
A courier's dispute files describe parcels that belonged to its shipper clients and were addressed to their customers. The company generally holds its own operational records, but those client agreements can limit how they are used.
- A retailer with its own delivery fleet. The shipments are its own sales. The path is short: operations director, counsel, CEO.
- A courier or last-mile carrier serving many shippers. Each client agreement may limit reuse of shipment data. Counsel reads them; the partner records roughly how many large shipper accounts the history covers.
- A third-party logistics provider. Ownership can be contested, which 3PL data ownership explains in detail.
Carrier-provided proof is a further branch. A courier that hands some parcels to a national carrier may rely on that carrier's proof, which follows the carrier's own limits; FedEx, for example, says signed proof of delivery letters are available for up to 18 months with FedEx Express.
Fork two: the personal data in the proof
Proof of delivery is personal by design. It records a recipient's name, an address, often a signature and a photo of a doorstep. Payment processors expect exactly this detail: Stripe asks for shipment and delivery proof that shows the full delivery address for product-not-received disputes.
StripeFor EU operations, the European Commission describes personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual, with a name and surname and a home address among its examples, and says pseudonymised data that can re-identify a person remains personal data. Other jurisdictions have their own rules. None of this rules the records out at introduction, but it means a privacy lead or counsel belongs at the top of the tree, and any licensed set would need preparation that SourceX's review defines.
The questions in order
Ask the operations director these, and write down answers only.
- Are the shipments mostly the company's own sales, or clients'?
- Roughly how many shipper accounts make up most of the dispute history?
- Do any client agreements mention data use or confidentiality? (A yes or no is enough; counsel reads them.)
- Are drivers employees or independent contractors, and who controls the devices that capture photos?
- Does the company have a privacy lead or counsel who handles customer data questions?
- Who signs contracts about company data?
- Is a sale, refinancing or change of control under way that could move that authority?
Three couriers, three paths (Illustrative)
Fictional companies, written for this page.
| Question | 260-person furniture retailer with own vans | 430-person regional parcel courier | 1,100-person last-mile network in the EU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whose shipments | Its own | About 300 shipper clients | Large marketplace and retail clients |
| Drivers | Employees | Mix of employees and contractors | Mostly subcontracted delivery partners |
| Personal data review | Light; own customers | Moderate | Formal; EU personal data rules apply |
| Person introduced | CEO | CEO, operations director as sponsor | CEO, with general counsel and the COO |
| Extra sign-off | None beyond counsel | Large client agreements | Client agreements, subcontractor terms, privacy review |
The introduction is always the CEO. The number of side branches decides how long counsel's review takes before anything could be licensed.
What only SourceX's rights review can settle
The partner identifies the executive and records the branches. SourceX's rights review decides which records the company can license, how client agreements and personal data affect them, and what must be removed or de-identified; why data rights matter explains the principle. Buyer interest and any offer also stay unknown until then. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and manages the agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout.
For SourceX, an introduced company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license 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. For couriers, the contractor exclusion often decides qualification; what companies qualify has more. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions; the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application. The system map shows which records the executive would be deciding about, and the referral brief template carries the name and branches into the note.
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.
Once both forks are answered and one executive is named, register as a partner, check the company on who qualifies and read the program terms before you introduce the executive, with the operations director as sponsor.