Raw

**To:** Robert Salton  
**From:** John Jackson  
**Subject:** Approval of Big Chief’s monthly electronic settlement request  

**Situation** – Our finance team currently settles each Big Chief delivery ticket individually, a labor‑intensive process that ties every ticket to a separate payment.  

**Complication** – Big Chief proposes to replace this with a single prepaid monthly payment accompanied by an electronic file containing all ticket data. Accepting this change requires us to ensure the file contains all necessary identifiers and that the transaction can be reconciled under our existing procedures.  

**Question** – Should we approve Big Chief’s proposed monthly electronic settlement?  

**Answer** – Yes, we can approve the proposal provided the following conditions are met:  

1. **Data requirements** – Each monthly file must include the parent number, outlet number, ticket number, ticket amount, and delivery date. If Big Chief cannot supply the parent or outlet numbers, Finance will add them from the customer master file.  

2. **File format and transmission** – Big Chief will develop an extraction program that outputs the file in the format accepted by our national‑accounts cash‑receipt system. The file will be sent to Data Processing, and the accompanying prepaid cheque (with a detailed listing) will be mailed to the lockbox.  

3. **Balancing and billing** – Finance will balance the file using the prescribed procedure, ensuring the cheque total and file detail net to zero. Once balanced, the national‑accounts system will match ticket numbers against statement history and generate the appropriate billing records.  

**Next step** – Confirm Big Chief’s ability to meet the data‑field requirement and schedule a brief coordination call with Data Processing to finalize the file‑transfer workflow.