Define a ticket that is ready to bill
The record should identify the customer, site, service date, agreed work, pricing basis and customer authorization. Include the purchase-order or work-order reference required by the contract. If extra work was requested, preserve the instruction and approval instead of relying on a crew member’s memory several weeks later.
The office can maintain four statuses: awaiting field documents, ready to invoice, submitted to the customer and awaiting a specific correction. A general unbilled total is less useful because it does not tell the operations manager what to do next. Each blocked ticket should have a named person and an expected resolution date.
Worked example: measure the actual billing blockage
Illustrative example: a Regina-based service business completes 18 rural jobs worth $54,600 before tax. Four tickets worth $11,200 lack signatures, and two worth $5,700 need purchase-order corrections. The six distinct blocked jobs total $16,900, leaving $37,700 ready for billing.
If three signature issues worth $8,100 are resolved, the ready-to-bill total rises to $45,800 and the blocked total falls to $8,800. This is a document-control improvement, not cash already collected. The cash forecast still needs an invoice submission date, customer approval status and realistic payment assumption.
Connect costs and classification before submission
Match crew time, parts and subcontractor invoices to the job reference. Missing costs should remain visible in the margin report even if billing can proceed. The invoice description also needs enough detail to support its Saskatchewan tax assessment; a broad oilfield services label can conceal materially different activities.
Once the invoice is submitted, retain the submission reference or portal acknowledgment. A customer rejection should return to a correction queue with its specific reason. Reissuing invoices without linking versions can create duplicate receivables and make a later remittance difficult to apply.
Use a short weekly office review
Review exceptions while field staff still remember the work. The most useful measures are the amount blocked, the oldest unresolved ticket and the next action, rather than a count of emails sent.
- Check site, date, work description and customer authorization.
- Confirm purchase-order references and any approved extras.
- Separate ready, blocked, submitted and disputed amounts.
- Keep invoice versions, submission evidence and remittance references connected.
Put this into practice
Sources and current guidance
A practical next step
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