Put the controller on ten working days of the agent's real receivables exceptions: unmatched cash, proposed account stops, disputes and limit changes. A senior controller with a current certificate decides each item independently and approves anything that changes a customer's position. The controller passes with at least 95 decisions in every 100 right and no missed red line.
What is the practicum, and who owns it?
The receivables agent chases, allocates and proposes. The controller decides what the agent could not: which invoice a part-payment belongs to, whether a customer goes on stop, whether a dispute is real. Those decisions affect cash, customer relationships and the debtor figure finance reports, so the practicum tests them on live work.
The credit control manager owns the practicum and names the senior controller who reviews. The financial controller sets the business's own limits and the red lines. The controller owns their decisions and writes a short reason.
How do you build the queue?
Receivables decisions are quick but varied. Around 20 a day gives some 200 over the fortnight. Include:
- receipts the agent could not match, with its suggested match and the evidence;
- part-payments across several invoices;
- proposed account stops, held for a person;
- proposed credit limit changes, held;
- invoices disputed by the customer, where chasing should pause;
- personal chasing emails drafted for key accounts;
- reminders the agent refused to send because an account is in dispute.
Seed anonymised past cases for anything thin. For example, a seeded receipt might arrive with a customer's emailed remittance listing three invoices, while the bank line shows a different total. The remittance is external; the bank line is sealed. The controller should allocate only what the bank line supports and query the difference, not follow the remittance.
The steps
- Person (credit control manager): brief the controller on the bar, red lines and log.
- Agent, depth 1: route exceptions to the practicum queue, tagged by type.
- Agent, depth 2: present each item with the suggested action, the deciding bound and the evidence, marked by provenance.
- Person (controller): decide, with a reason.
- Person (senior controller): decide independently, then compare.
- Person (senior controller): approve stops, limit changes and allocations above the agreed value before they post.
- Agent, depth 1: log both decisions, the match and any red-line flag.
- Person (senior controller, then assessor): review the log at the end.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unmatched cash | Suggests a match with evidence | 2 | Controller allocates; senior checks |
| Part-payment | Proposes a split | 2 | Controller decides |
| Account stop | Proposes and holds | held | Senior approves |
| Credit limit change | Drafts and holds | held | Senior approves |
| Dispute | Pauses reminders and flags | escalation | Investigating |
| Log | Records decisions | 1 | Confirming |
How do you set and apply the bar?
A decision is correct if it matches the senior's or the senior agrees it was sound. An allocation that matches the bank line and the customer's intent is correct even if the split differs slightly, provided the reason is recorded.
The red lines: putting a customer on stop, or lifting a stop, without authority; allocating cash on a remittance the bank line does not support; continuing to chase an invoice under dispute; changing a credit limit beyond authority. One miss fails the practicum.
Key accounts deserve a specific note. Many businesses require a conversation with sales before a stop. If that rule exists, a controller who approves a stop without it has missed a red line even if the stop was justified.
Disputes need one too. A customer who writes "this invoice is wrong, we never received the second delivery" has raised a dispute, even without using the word. The agent should have paused reminders; if it did not, the controller should pause them and log that the agent missed the signal. Spotting the agent's miss is itself a correct decision and a useful case for the next recertification.
Which controls matter, and what evidence do they leave?
- Senior approval on stops and limits. Evidence: the senior's name in the append-only record.
- Bank line evidence on every allocation. Evidence: the allocation linked to the bank line.
- Independent senior decisions. Evidence: logged before comparison.
- Daily debrief. Evidence: a line per mismatch.
- Full log. Evidence: the practicum log template for credit controllers.
Pryme Intelligence Academy's Certified Pryme Operator practicum uses the same bar and is signed off by a Pryme assessor, which gives the result a certificate anyone can check.
What should you measure?
Correct decisions out of the total, by type. Red-line misses (zero). Unallocated cash at the end of each practicum day against the team's normal level. And reminders sent on disputed invoices during the fortnight, which should be none.
Where does it usually go wrong?
The practicum overlaps month-end. Seniors stop debriefing and allocations get rushed. Run it mid-month.
The queue lacks disputes and key-account stops, the two hardest decisions. Seed them, including one dispute raised informally in a reply to a reminder.
Controllers trust the agent's suggested match because it is usually right. The practicum should include several suggestions that are wrong.
The senior and the controller share a ledger and fix each other's mistakes quietly. Log every correction. On where responsibility sits after sign-off, see are credit controllers accountable for an AI agent's mistakes. Finance teams run a related practicum; compare running a practicum for financial controllers, whose log follows the practicum log template for financial controllers. The wider topic is in the guide to AI literacy and certification for people who work with agents.
Questions people ask
Can the controller speak to customers during the practicum?
Yes. Calls and emails are part of the role. Commitments on payment terms are confirmed by the senior during the fortnight.
What counts as one decision on a part-payment?
One allocation decision per receipt, however many invoices it covers. Count the split as one judgement.
What if the agent drops to depth 1 during the practicum?
Reminders and allocations come to people. Log the controller's manual work as practicum decisions where they fit the queue types.