Customers rarely complain about the orders that went well. They complain about the half-delivered order nobody followed up, the delivery that was never billed, or the invoice chased after it was already paid.
Three lists to run sales by
- To deliver: order lines with a pending quantity.
- To bill: deliveries that have not been invoiced.
- To collect: invoices with a balance due, by age.
Keep them accurate
These lists stay accurate only when each step is recorded against the one before: deliveries against orders, invoices against deliveries, receipts against invoices. When any step is recorded on its own, the lists drift and people go back to registers.