- Before
- Owns 4,812 accounts reviewed once a year, hears about a lien or a plant closure late, and approves limit changes by email.
- Now
- Starts with the six decisions that need her, each with a cited memo and a policy verdict, asks the agents what she needs in plain words, and signs. “Tell me what changed, show me where it says so, and I'll decide.”
One customer, from four warnings to a signed limit
Tarrant Steel Fabrication of Erie, Pennsylvania, has bought plate and coil from Kestrel & Vane Metals Distribution since 2014 — about $3.1M a year on Net 45, with a $500,000 limit set at its March review. In twelve days it had a blanket lien, a going-concern note and an idled production line. Here is how Helen Ward, the credit manager, works it with the agents in one conversation, screen by screen.
- 0106:12
The morning starts with a conversation, not a report
Credit leadHelen opens Tarrant Steel's credit file. The dial shows exposure of $479,660 — 96% of the $500,000 limit, $20,340 of headroom — and a blue tick at the proposed $350,000. Six signals sit around it. Beside the dial, the credit team has already written to her: 37 signals on 35 customers overnight, 9 re-scored, 6 decisions waiting, Tarrant first.
Credit lead: “Four warnings in twelve days — a blanket lien, going-concern language in its quarterly report, a production line idled, and last night days to pay reached 67.”
- 02One click
Every signal opens the passage it came from
Filings and liens watcherHelen clicks the quarterly report signal. The 10-Q for the quarter to 31 August opens at Note 2, with the passage the agent used highlighted: a net loss of $6.8 million for the nine months and a breach of the fixed charge coverage ratio on the revolving facility. Note 7 describes a waiver from its lenders to 15 December.
“These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.”
- 0306:14
A credit memo she doesn't have to rebuild
Limit recommenderThe recommender proposes cutting the limit from $500,000 to $350,000: eight weeks of expected purchases after the line idles, under the class D cap of $390,000. Ship while past due over 30 days stays below $25,000, and re-review on 15 December when the lenders' waiver ends. The memo has six sections, every statement cited, and 11 sources quoted — the UCC-1 filing, the 10-Q notes, the aging, the bureau report, the credit group report and Credit Policy CP-7.
Each paragraph can be edited, or the recommender asked to rewrite it; every edit is a new version.
- 0406:15
A second agent tests it against the credit policy
Policy checkerThe policy checker works on its own, rule by rule, against Credit Policy CP-7 revision 2026.2. Within the approver's authority, under the class D cap, inside the going-concern cap of 8 × $45,000, a lien re-review 74 days after the lien, Rosa Delgado and the sales VP told of a cut over 25%, every signal sourced and no older than 30 days, recommender and approver not the same, and the open orders shown before approval: 8 of 8 pass.
“The recommender cannot overrule it.” A disagreement always goes to a person.
- 0509:50
She asks what sales loses
Helen Ward · Credit managerHelen types her question into the thread. The credit lead answers with its sources: at $350,000 Tarrant can keep buying about $45,000 a week, roughly $1.2M of orders over the next six months. Only the two open orders, $61,400, wait, and they release as soon as the $142,880 past due is paid. Rosa Delgado will be told why, in plain words, before it takes effect.
Other questions she can ask in the same place: “Why not hold everything?” · “Show the going-concern passage” · “Make it $300,000”.
- 06What-if
She moves the limit and watches the rules
Helen Ward · Credit managerOn the what-if screen a slider runs from $200,000 to $600,000. At $350,000 the expected loss is $19,740, SO 7781204 ($38,900) and SO 7781266 ($22,500) hold, and all eight policy rules pass. Told in the thread to “make it $300,000”, the recommender re-proposes, expected loss falls to $16,920, and the policy checker re-tests it: still 8 of 8. She keeps $350,000.
- 0709:52
She signs, with her reasons
Helen Ward · Credit managerApprove opens the decision: cut the credit limit, $500,000 → $350,000. Reason codes are required; she ticks RC-02 payment behaviour deteriorated and RC-03 public distress signals. She confirms she has read the memo and the policy check, and signs with the meaning “I approve this credit decision”.
Sign and approve stays greyed out until there is a reason code and the confirmation.
- 08One minute later
Only now does an agent touch the ERP
Hold and release agentActing on the signed decision, the hold and release agent writes $350,000 to the ERP credit master and gets it confirmed, holds the two open orders with the reason, tells Rosa Delgado and the sales vice president in plain words, schedules the re-review for 15 December with Daniel Osei, and logs evidence pack DEC-2026-10-0418 — memo v1, 11 sources, the policy test and the signature.
“Draft the letter to Tarrant's payables team — waits for you to press Send.”
- 09Same morning
Sales hears why, in plain words
Rosa Delgado · Sales account managerRosa sees her 46 customers with credit words replaced by plain ones. Tarrant: “Credit limit lowered to $350,000 today. Tarrant has been paying later each month and has new debts in its public reports.” Below it, what she can do — and a box to ask credit, answered by the credit team, which passes anything that needs a decision to Helen Ward.
“What you can do: Ask Tarrant to pay $142,880 that is more than 30 days late: SO 7781204 and SO 7781266 ($61,400) then ship at once.”
- 10Next decision
When the agents disagree, she sees it
Policy checkerRosa has asked to raise Halvorsen Building Supply from $750,000 to $1.2M for a $640,000 hospital order. The recommender proposes $1.0M, with exposure peaking near $980,000, once the owner's guarantee is renewed. The policy checker disagrees on two rules: the personal guarantee expired on 30 September and the financial statements are 14 months old. $1.2M is above Helen's authority, so it can go to Graham Whitlock, the group CFO.
Policy checker: “I disagree on two rules … §6.2 needs both for a limit above $500,000.”