This decision tree belongs to the usage billing corrections guide. It is written for billing implementation partners who have configured or migrated a client's billing stack and now need to know whom to introduce. It is general information, not legal advice.
Sponsor, owner and signer are usually three people
Usage billing corrections cross departments. Product engineering emits meter events, revenue operations owns the CRM where amendments are signed, customer support owns the desk where disputes arrive, and finance operations approves the credit. That spread is why the history is valuable, and also why nobody below the executive team usually holds authority over all of it.
| Role in the decision | Who it usually is | What they contribute |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsor | Finance operations head or billing operations lead | Explains how corrections work, sizes the history, forwards the brief |
| System owners | Revenue operations (CRM), support lead (desk), engineering (metering) | Confirm what each system holds and for how long |
| Adviser | General counsel or a contracts manager | Reads customer, reseller and vendor agreements |
| Signer | CEO, or the owner-CEO | Decides whether a licensing discussion happens |
An implementation partner often knows the sponsor and the system owners best, because they worked alongside them. The work of this tree is to get from those relationships to the signer without skipping the adviser.
The tree, gate by gate
- Does one entity own every system in the chain?
- Yes: go to gate 2.
- No, a parent company or a sister business runs the billing engine or CRM: note which entity owns which system. The CFO confirms whose records they are. Then go to gate 2.
- Is any part of billing run by a third party?
- Yes, a billing agency, reseller or marketplace bills the end customer: that agreement may govern the records. Flag it for counsel, then go to gate 3.
- No: go to gate 3.
- What do customer agreements say?
- Standard online terms only: note the version history exists. SaaS terms of service and AI training restrictions explains what to look for, without interpreting it for the client.
- Negotiated enterprise contracts too: note that some may carry data-use clauses. Customer data and AI training rights in SaaS covers why that matters.
- Either way, go to gate 4.
- Do the records name people?
- Billing contacts, approvers and support agents are named in cases and emails. In the EU, personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, and where the company acts as a processor for a customer, it may process that customer's personal data only on the customer's documented instructions. Counsel decides what is excluded or de-identified. Go to gate 5.
- Will the CEO take a short call?
- Yes: introduce them, with the finance operations head as sponsor.
- Not yet: do not submit. Ask the sponsor to raise it with the CEO.
What the records themselves say about authority
Billing systems often record who approved what, which helps the conversation. Where amendments and discounts run through Salesforce CPQ's Advanced Approvals, for example, an approval record is created for each approver who received a request, with status fields on the submitted record and on each approval. In Stripe, a credit note carries a reason code, a customer-facing memo and optional internal metadata. Those records show who approved a past correction. They do not show who may approve licensing the history. Partners should resist the shortcut of treating "the person who approves credits" as "the person who approves licensing".
Salesforce
StripeThree company shapes and their signer
| Company shape | Signer | Extra step |
|---|---|---|
| Founder-led software company | The founder, as CEO | None; a CFO, if there is one, may prepare the case |
| Private equity-backed company | CEO | Ask whether the sponsor's governance requires board approval for data agreements |
| Subsidiary in a larger group | Subsidiary CEO, with group counsel advising | Confirm which entity owns the billing engine and CRM |
Signals you are still talking to the sponsor
- They offer to export "a few anonymized credit notes" before the CEO has agreed.
- They know every field in the billing engine but not who signs customer contracts.
- They suggest you run the twenty-case count yourself. The count is theirs to run and report; the system map describes it.
Qualification at a glance
- Records that exist: meter events, CRM amendments, dispute cases, credit approvals and credit notes, over several years.
- Who owns them: the company, subject to customer, reseller and group agreements.
- Who can authorize: the CEO, or the owner-CEO in an owner-run company.
- Company criteria: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), 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.
- Unknown until SourceX reviews it: buyer interest in billing correction workflows, how customer names and amounts are de-identified, the data rights result and any offer.
Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions, and the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application. The referral brief template has a field for the signer this tree identifies. Implementation partners can see how introductions fit their work on the software implementation partners page, and B2B churn analysis shows where billing disputes appear in retention work.
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.
When the tree ends at a CEO willing to discuss the company's billing correction history, register as a partner, confirm the company on who qualifies and read the program terms before you introduce them.