This template belongs to the usage billing corrections guide. The covering note can borrow wording from the warm introduction brief; for other record types, the client opportunity brief generator builds a similar page.
What the brief is for, and what it never carries
The brief has one reader: an executive who has never thought about billing corrections as a record set. It must let them decide, in two minutes, whether a call is worth having. That means describing the history at metadata level (what exists, how much, how long, which system, who owns it) and nothing more.
Never include: customer or account names, invoice or credit note numbers, amounts, screenshots of the billing engine, sample exports, or support case text. If the sponsor offers any of these "to make it concrete", decline. SourceX looks at records only after the company applies and agrees.
The template: nine fields in three blocks
Block 1: the company
- Company and model. What it sells and how usage is priced: per request, per seat plus usage, prepaid credits.
- Headcount. Full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded, with the source.
- Business task. One sentence on what a correction is in this company, such as fixing usage charges when a plan change, metering fault or contract term makes an invoice wrong.
Block 2: the records
- Record classes and systems. Meter events, CRM amendments, dispute cases, credit approvals, credit notes; for each, the system and the first year it covers.
- Volume. Corrections per month or year, roughly, and the share caused by plan changes.
- Trace result. The outcome of the twenty-case count from the system map: how many credit notes trace back to meter events by ID, how many need a match, how many break.
- Access deadline. A documented date the old billing configuration, legacy instance or desk account will be switched off. The retention timeline lists what tends to expire first.
Block 3: the people
- Authority. The CEO, who can approve a licensing discussion, with the sponsor named separately. The decision tree on who can license these records shows who else should be named.
- Open question. The one thing nobody has checked across the full history.
Completed brief for a fictional API platform (Illustrative)
Every value is invented. It shows the level of detail to aim for, not a real company or opportunity.
| Field | Illustrative entry |
|---|---|
| Company and model | API platform; monthly plans with metered requests above an allowance |
| Headcount | About 260 full-time employees at peak (finance) |
| Business task | Correcting usage charges when a plan change, metering fault or contract term makes the invoice wrong, and recording the approved fix |
| Record classes and systems | Meter events and credit notes in the billing engine since 2019; amendments in the CRM since 2017; dispute cases in the support desk since 2020; credit approvals in email before 2022, in a workflow tool after |
| Volume | Roughly 30 to 50 corrections a month, about half after plan changes (billing operations, estimate) |
| Trace result | Of twenty random credit notes, most trace by ID; the approval link breaks most often before 2022 |
| Access deadline | Legacy billing configuration retired when the credits model goes live, on the date in the project plan |
| Authority | CEO; finance operations head as sponsor |
| Open question | Do raw meter events older than the current retention setting still exist anywhere? |
How to word the open question
The open question is the most useful line in the brief, because it shows the sponsor understands the history and is honest about its limits. Good questions are specific and checkable. They usually arise where a plan change overlaps a billing period, since that is where billing engines generate the most automatic adjustments. Stripe, for example, creates prorations by default when a subscription's price or quantity changes mid-period, and a correction that disputes a proration points back to one specific change.
Stripe| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| "Is our billing data any good?" | "Before 2022, can each credit approval in email be matched to its dispute case?" |
| "We have lots of history." | "Do raw meter events exist for corrections older than the current 35-day re-send window?" |
| "Corrections are complicated." | "Do credit notes record the case number in metadata, or only one of the four reason codes?" |
The second and third strong examples rest on documented behavior: Stripe accepts meter event timestamps only within the past 35 calendar days, and its credit notes carry one of four reason codes plus a memo and optional metadata.
If the sponsor asks how the referral reward works
Explain it once, plainly. The reward is calculated on the Actual Supplier Payout, meaning what SourceX actually pays the company, and is funded separately, so it never reduces the company's payment. Illustrative only: a $40,000 Actual Supplier Payout would mean a $10,000 reward, and a $400,000 payout would reach the $100,000 cap. These are arithmetic examples, not a forecast or a quote. A reward becomes payable after SourceX has paid the referred company under its signed agreement and the payout conditions in the program terms are met, including finance approval and your tax and payment details. See how rewards work for the full conditions.
Before you press send
- The company has 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.
- You have signed the Channel Partner Agreement; the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application.
- The sponsor has corrected the draft, and the named executive has agreed to a short call.
Unknown until SourceX reviews it: buyer interest in billing correction histories, what customer contracts allow, how customer names and amounts are de-identified, and any offer. Implementation partners will find role-specific advice on the software implementation partners page, and B2B churn analysis shows where corrections surface as a retention signal.
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 finance operations head has signed off on every field and the CEO agrees to a call, register as a partner, confirm the company on who qualifies and keep the program terms open as you submit the brief.