Building materials & construction supply · Hong Kong
Credit-control automation for a Hong Kong building-materials supplier
In this trade the product isn’t sand. It’s credit.
Materials leave the yard today; the money comes back in 30, 45 or 60 days — but only if somebody is chasing it. We built the chasing.
The challenge
Quotes waited while someone found the current price list. The monthly statements were retyped twelve times a year, and one extra zero became money nobody chased. Credit limits were checked after the lorry was loaded. And when a part-payment landed by FPS against a larger invoice, nobody could say which invoice it had cleared.
The solution
One record now carries the quote, the delivery note, the invoice and the monthly statement — priced off their own list, printed on their own letterhead. Payments match themselves, statements write themselves, and an account over its limit holds the next quote until a person releases it.
The screen they open
What you see: who owes what, how long it has been out, and who is over their limit — before the lorry leaves.
What we built
Quoting
Priced off their own list across six product categories, so the quote, the delivery note and the invoice can no longer disagree with one another.
Invoicing
Their own logo and letterhead. Amounts derive from the delivery lines — nothing is typed a second time.
Collections
Ageing per invoice, with a polite chase scheduled automatically and logged when it goes out.
Monthly statements
Issued on the first of the month for every account, from records that already exist. None retyped.
Credit control
Every account carries a limit. Over it, the next quote holds itself until someone decides otherwise.
Bank matching
FPS receipts matched to the invoice they clear, partial payments included.
The workflow we built
- The enquiry lands. Whatever channel it arrives on, it becomes a record — not a message somebody has to remember.
- It gets priced. Off their own list, at their own rates, with the account’s credit position on screen before the quote goes out.
- It ships and it bills. The delivery note and the invoice come from the same lines, so the two figures cannot drift apart.
- The money comes back. Receipts match themselves to invoices. What is still open ages on its own and gets chased on schedule.
- The month closes. Statements issue on the first, from the records that are already there.
The results
- Monthly statements stopped being a day of typing and became a scheduled job.
- Amount and invoice-number typos stopped entering the ledger, because nothing is keyed twice.
- An account over its limit is visible before the lorry is loaded, instead of after.
- The collection position is a screen anyone can open, rather than something one person carried in their head.
Client anonymised. Screens show sample data, not client records. Figures describe the system we built.