Strategic Foundation
Intervention as Investment Strategy
The moment an invoice is raised, it enters the portfolio. If left alone, it ages, absorbs time, and may ultimately trigger escalation. The better alternative is deliberate intervention: a structure that treats each receivable as a position with recoverable value, addressable effort, and defined risk.
Targeted Intervention offers this structure. It scores accounts using a rules-based model, routes them based on historic effectiveness, and deploys one of several proven plays. This pillar is not a queue. It is a capital allocation mechanism for collections.
Every receivable gets a next best action. Every action is matched to the operator most likely to deliver the result.
Collection Yield (CY)
Resolution time
PTP Keep Rate
Kept Promises <60 DBT
A Repeatable Operating Loop
A Repeatable Operating Loop
A six-step loop governs all pre-60 DBT activity
Each action in this pillar flows through a six-step cycle:
Segment → Score → Select → Execute → Update → Evaluate
Segmentation defines the field of play. Inputs include value bands, risk posture, expected behaviour, relationship weight, and dispute status.
Scoring uses the Priority Controls formula. Cases are ranked based on the expected return for each hour of effort, with weightings applied for risk, DBT severity, and strategic significance.
Selection identifies the intervention that meets the moment. Execution follows a predefined play. Updates change the ledger, adjust promises, or escalate disputes. Evaluation compares outcome to predicted yield and feeds the next cycle.
This loop gives structure to collections, replacing improvisation with managed iteration.
Four Plays
Targeted Intervention is not a script. It is a catalogue of structured decisions. Each play below meets a different account state.
Each play is deployed by Priority Controls. Operator capacity, channel success rates, and return history influence routing. The result is not just tailored action. It is prioritised effort.
Use the sliders to see how different priorities change the routing score for this sample segment.
“ROI weight” controls how strongly cash per hour drives priority.
“Risk weight” controls how much the risk band from your segmentation influences the score.
“Relationship weight” rewards strategic importance.
“DBT weight” pushes older items up the list.
“Late-payment urgency (λ)” is the urgency factor – higher values push ageing items faster
“Rmax” caps extreme scores so outliers do not dominate the queue.
Time Boundaries and Transition
Three rules govern pace within this pillar:
Risk segments receive first contact within seven days of due date.
All promises are confirmed inside 24 hours.
Disputes enter triage within three business days.
At 30, 60 and 90 DBT, defined thresholds increase the priority weight. At 60 DBT, accounts enter the Critical Event Response range and control passes to a new set of roles.Control passes to a new set of roles, and the nature of the contact changes
The structure makes intervention timely. It prevents effort from accumulating on low-return accounts while high-impact opportunities pass unworked.
Metrics That Link to Outcomes
The performance of this pillar is visible in the measures that matter.
Collection Yield (CY) shows return on operator time.
Resolution time (Cure Time) tracks speed from first action to payment.
Promises To Pay (PTP) keep rate measures the strength of contact.
Kept promises before 60 DBT serves as the handoff threshold into escalation.
External benchmarks
Whilst our recommended KPIs are defined and measured internally, it helps to ground them against public benchmarks. The UK’s Payment Practices & Performance (PPP) dataset requires large companies to disclose how quickly and reliably they pay suppliers.
These disclosures don’t map one-for-one with our KPIs, but they provide useful proxies:
On-time payments ≈ proxy for PTP kept
Paid ≤60 days ≈ proxy for kept before 60 DBT
Median time to pay = market benchmark for invoice-to-payment speed (not our Resolution Time, which measures action-to-payment)
Taken together, they show where individual companies – and the dataset as a whole – sit relative to the discipline we model internally.
These KPIs are not simply internal diagnostics. They influence how Expected Loss overlays shift under IFRS 9 and how the wider business understands the performance of AR operations
Managed Governance
The pillar is run by routine.
Weekly reviews adjust scoring weights and evaluate segment yield.
Monthly sessions review Resolution Time and Collection Yield by operator and segment.
Quarterly checkpoints validate scoring inputs and align intervention with policy.
Click the rings below to learn more.
Quarterly Checkpoint
This is the strategic checkpoint. We validate that the entire collections engine is aligned with the firm’s financial objectives. The goal is to ensure our operational model is driving the desired balance sheet outcomes.
Monthly Review
This is the performance management loop. We analyze yield and speed to pinpoint what's working and where coaching or process refinement will deliver the greatest uplift in efficiency.
Weekly Review
This is the tactical tuning session. We make real-time adjustments to scoring and priorities, ensuring our operational resources are always deployed against the highest-value opportunities as market conditions change.
Control resides with the Credit Director. KPI ownership sits with collections, risk, and account leadership in line with model definition
Impact
Targeted Intervention is where the Peak Payment Model moves from policy to performance. Scoring becomes sequence. Sequence becomes action. Action becomes measurable return.
Every receivable is worked with intent. Operator time is routed toward outcomes, not activity. Resolution Times compress. Promises are kept before they escalate. Collection Yield improves in ways that show up in financial reporting, not just internal dashboards.
A governed operating model, linking segmentation, prioritisation and intervention into one controlled framework for value recovery.
Control resides with the Credit Director. KPI ownership sits with collections, risk, and account leadership in line with model definition
Toolkit
Explore supporting tools and templates from the PPM Toolkit that bring this pillar to life in your organisation.
Priority Controls Scorecard
SCORING & ROUTING
Tune weights, calculate scores, and export routing notes to direct the next best action.
ScorecardPlaybook Library
NUDGE • ENGAGE • SECURE • PRESERVE
Scripts, letters, settlement language, and examples for each play category.
PlaybooksCapacity Model
WIP & OPERATOR LOAD
Little’s Law calculator to size work in progress and balance operator throughput.
CapacityA/B Test Board
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
Designs for subject lines, call openers, nudges, and plan defaults with holdouts.
ExperimentsRouting & Operator Performance
POOL STATISTICS
Channel hit rates, segment fit, and historic Collection Yield to guide routing.
RoutingKPI Dashboard Widgets
CY • RESOLUTION TIME • PTP KEEP
Tiles and definitions for Collection Yield, Resolution Time, PTP keep, and promises before 60 DBT.
MetricsExplore AR Maturity Assessment and Toolkit
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