Distributor Trade Claims and Scheme Settlement

• Head of Sales Finance
• Trade Marketing Manager
• Claims Settlement Team Lead
• Head of Distribution

FMCG and packaged-food brands run many schemes through distributors at once: quantity slabs, free goods, retailer display payments, damage and expiry returns, rate differences, and transport or salesman reimbursements. Every month each distributor sends a claim sheet with supporting invoices and proofs, and a small team checks them before finance issues credit notes.

We build a claims platform that reads each distributor's claim sheet and supporting documents, normalises every line into a standard claim structure and matches it to secondary invoices, retailer acknowledgements and photo proofs. A scheme rule engine, configured from your circulars with validity dates, SKUs, slabs and caps, checks eligibility and recalculates the amount for each line. Duplicates are checked across months and distributors. Lines that pass go to a credit note sheet; uncertain or failed lines go to an exception queue with the reason and are never silently passed. Finance keeps final approval, and every decision is logged.

• Reads claim sheets, invoices, retailer acknowledgements and display photos in any distributor format
• Scheme rule engine built from circulars, with validity dates, SKU lists, slabs, caps and version history
• Recalculates the eligible amount for every claim line and shows it beside the claimed amount
• Detects duplicate claims across months, schemes and distributors
• Exception queue with reason codes for finance and trade marketing
• Credit note sheet for finance approval and a line-by-line settlement statement for each distributor

1. 01Receive claims and proofsDistributors upload claim sheets and supporting documents through a portal or email, tagged by month and scheme.
2. 02Normalise claim linesEach line is extracted into a standard structure of distributor, scheme, invoice, SKU, quantity and claimed amount.
3. 03Match proofsLines are matched to secondary invoices, acknowledgements and photos from the DMS and uploads.
4. 04Apply scheme rules and recalculateThe rule engine checks eligibility, recalculates the amount and looks for duplicates.
5. 05Exception reviewUncertain or failed lines go to finance or trade marketing with the reason and evidence.
6. 06Approve and settleFinance approves the credit note sheet, and distributors receive a line-by-line settlement statement.

1. Intake
   • Distributor portal and email upload
   • DMS secondary sales and invoice feed
   • Scheme circular register
2. Document understanding
   • Spreadsheet normaliser for varied claim formats
   • OCR and LLM extraction for invoices and acknowledgements
3. Rules and matching
   • Scheme rule engine with versioned circulars
   • Proof matcher
   • Recalculation and duplicate detection
4. Review
   • Exception queue with reason codes
   • Finance approval of credit note sheets
5. Settlement and audit
   • Credit note sheet export to the ERP
   • Distributor settlement statements
   • Audit trail of every line decision

Finance keeps final approval of every credit note sheet, and trade marketing rules on any scheme interpretation the rule engine cannot settle. Uncertain lines are always flagged for a person rather than passed.

• Distributor management system for secondary sales
• ERP such as SAP or Tally for credit notes
• Distributor portal or claims mailbox
• Shared drive or SharePoint for circulars
• BI tools for claims reporting

• No line approved without a matched proof
• Scheme rules versioned with a reference to the source circular
• Recalculated amount always shown beside the claimed amount
• Duplicates blocked until a reviewer clears them
• Input formats agreed and frozen before go-live

• The GST treatment of scheme discounts and credit notes depends on how schemes are agreed and documented; the system keeps the links between circular, invoice and credit note that your tax team needs.
• A complete audit trail supports statutory audit of trade spends.

• Retail, D2C & Quick Commerce

  Vendor Invoice and Credit Note Reconciliation

  Match vendor invoices, GRNs, RTVs and credit notes, recalculate what each vendor owes you from the agreements, and chase missing or short credit notes with evidence.

• Retail, D2C & Quick Commerce

  Shelf Availability and Planogram Compliance

  Turn merchandiser and store shelf photos into SKU-level facings, out-of-stock gaps, price-label checks and planogram scores, with doubtful detections sent to a reviewer.

• Manufacturing

  Dealer Lead and Reorder Automation

  Use dealer billing history to send timely WhatsApp reorder suggestions, flag dealers going quiet, and qualify new dealer enquiries before they reach the area sales manager.

• Accounting, Audit & Consulting

  GST Return Reconciliation (GSTR-2B vs Books)

  Match GSTR-2B and 2A data against the purchase register invoice by invoice, find ITC at risk before GSTR-3B is filed, and draft supplier follow-ups for approval.