Ever wonder how productive your credit department is or how you stack up against the best? And more importantly, where should you be working to improve?

Here's a handy checklist that will help you to find the answers to those questions and determine what you're doing right and perhaps more importantly, what productivity opportunities you should be looking at.

Productivity Opportunities
PASS	FAIL	FUNCTION/TASK BEING CHECKED
		To maximize compliance, keep reporting simple for internal customers
		Common metrics and accountability for collectors and credit analysts is key to supporting successful performance
		Offering incentives tied to attainable yet challenging goals can drive performance improvement
		Motivation and team-building can benefit the collections function
		Accurate input (orders/invoicing/remittance processing) results in timely payment
		Focus on minimizing manual processing to maximize efficiency and accuracy
		Build communication protocols within the system to maximize efficiency and accuracy
		Automation with appropriate oversight should be a goal
		Encourage all employees to look for process improvement opportunities in order to outperform objectives
		Analyze credit and collection processes from the perspective of a total company/customer value stream
		Follow-up on short payments and disputes quickly to facilitate the resolution process
		Used appropriately, credit holds are effective in getting customers to address slow payment issues