War-game a credit memo policy before approval bands, reason codes, and exception talk tracks harden into how every nonstandard adjustment gets cleared.
Credit memo policies fail when the matrix invents speed the queue never had, when exceptions dual-count the same credit as approved and as "one-time," when reps still issue adjustments in private Slack, and when finance cannot reconcile approved credits to the invoice. A neat RACI chart is not evidence.
Freeze the package
State the proposed approval bands, which reason classes require secondary review, who owns SLA and audit, what success looks like after two quarters of cycle time and credit leakage, and the kill criteria if shadow credits or approval lag past a named threshold. Attach the current credit log, sample invoices, SLA design, and the measured lag from request to posted credit. If sales, finance, and support disagree on whether the policy buys margin or just slower refunds, reconcile before seating.
Name the decision you will make if the war game finds nothing new, and the hold criteria if any reason class still lacks a named approver or a measured audit path.
Seats
- Account manager. Fear that the desk still sits on a credit while a competitor issues one without the same gate.
- Finance. Credit math that looks clean while the ledger cannot show the same reason code.
- Support. Customer promises that invent capacity the queue will not clear.
- Revenue ops. SLA claims that dual-count the same ticket as closed and as pending.
- Skeptic. The claim that looks strongest and is least sourced.
Optional legal seat if contract language binds credit rights. Same pack for every seat.
Run the loop
Feed Pingpong the credit memo policy and exhibits. First pass steelmans the bands. Later passes attack from the seats above. Final pass turns surviving objections into clearer floors, a published approval SLA, or a hold. Delete invented "reps already follow this" claims and dual-counted credit rates.
Force a day-after narrative: what happens if a board slide quotes credit leakage the desk never enforced, if Slack credits never log, or if a customer screenshots uneven treatment. If those stories are stronger than your mitigation plan, fix the package before you enforce it. Separate a credit memo policy from a refund policy or a discount policy so each decision stays testable.
Ask every seat to mark which steps are optional in practice. Optional post-credit audits become skipped within a month if nobody names the owner and the time box. Related: war-game a deal desk rule, stress-test a billing change, pretend you are the finance controller, and the war-game decisions hub. Process: how to run a Pingpong.