Where your deal-closed-to-billing hand-off typically breaks

The same customer has two records in your billing tool, each with its own payment method, subscriptions and invoices. Payments, credits and renewals are split between them, and the CRM points at only one.

Why it happens. The hand-off creates a new billing customer each time it runs (a retry after a timeout, a second deal, a checkout link) instead of first looking for an existing one by a stored ID. In some tools two customers cannot be merged afterwards.

Usually fixed by: Finance operations, with whoever maintains the connection.
Kind of break, one of six: Condition: does a rule that should always hold, hold?
Sources: Vendor documentation · Vendor documentation

The deal carries a company name and an email but not a full billing address or tax details. The first invoice cannot be finalised, or goes out without tax, until someone fills the gap.

Why it happens. Sales tools often hold only what the rep needed to close; in some billing tools an incomplete address stops the invoice, and a missing tax registration gives no error, so a zero-tax invoice is not proof the setup is right.

Usually fixed by: Finance operations, with sales operations (which fields are required on the deal).
Kind of break, one of six: Field landed: did each field arrive with a value, in the right place? Arrival: did it show up in the next tool in time?
Sources: Vendor documentation

The contract runs 12 months, but billing holds a subscription with no end date, so it can keep going after the term, or it ends on a date that does not match the contract. The renewal conversation is never triggered, or comes at the wrong time.

Why it happens. A fixed term needs an explicit end or schedule in billing. In some tools a deal with items of different term lengths cannot become one subscription, and a schedule that finishes leaves the subscription in place.

Usually fixed by: Finance operations, with sales operations (the term field on the deal).
Kind of break, one of six: Field landed: did each field arrive with a value, in the right place? Condition: does a rule that should always hold, hold?
Sources: Vendor documentation · Integration vendor guide

The invoice total differs from the deal or contract by a few cents, or by a whole unit in a currency without cents. Occasionally the invoice is in a different currency than the contract, or an amount is out by a factor of 100. Small gaps eat time and the big one is easy to miss among them.

Why it happens. Tools round at different points (per line, per invoice, tax on its own), currencies have different smallest units, and in some tools one price can exist in several currencies with a default used when none is passed.

Usually fixed by: Finance operations.
Kind of break, one of six: Count: do the numbers at each end agree? Field landed: did each field arrive with a value, in the right place?
Sources: Vendor documentation · Vendor documentation

The status in the CRM is behind because messages from billing arrived in a different order, arrived twice, or were missed during an outage. Reps chase customers who have paid, or relax about customers who have cancelled.

Why it happens. In some tools, status messages can arrive out of order or more than once, and delivery is retried only for a limited time. A receiver that applies each message as it arrives ends up with an old status.

Usually fixed by: Whoever runs the connection (CRM admin or an engineer), with sales operations.
Kind of break, one of six: Return path: does what the next tool did get back to the first? Freshness: is the step still running, and on time?
Sources: Vendor documentation

A customer adds seats or changes plan part-way through a term. Billing works out a part-period credit and charge that no one quoted; the credit may sit as a balance, and the extra charge may wait for the next invoice. The CRM shows the new full amount while finance sees an odd invoice.

Why it happens. In some tools partial periods are calculated by the tool's own rules (for example to the second), whereas the deal records only the new annual number. Rules differ between tools.

Usually fixed by: Finance operations, with sales operations (how mid-term quotes are produced).
Kind of break, one of six: Count: do the numbers at each end agree? Field landed: did each field arrive with a value, in the right place?
Sources: Vendor documentation

A change is recorded in the CRM but not in billing, or the reverse, or a change made directly in billing is later undone by a step scheduled at signing. The customer is billed the old amount, or the CRM counts revenue that no longer exists.

Why it happens. Changes travel only when someone re-sends the deal or uses the intended path, and in some tools direct edits can be overwritten by what was scheduled earlier.

Usually fixed by: Sales operations (change process), with finance operations.
Kind of break, one of six: Return path: does what the next tool did get back to the first? Count: do the numbers at each end agree?
Sources: Integration vendor guide · Vendor documentation

The way back is missing or partial: the first payment is shown but a cancellation is not, or nothing at all. The account stays "closed won" forever, and the CRM cannot show who is active, past due or cancelled.

Why it happens. The return path is a separate setup with its own settings. In some tools the status is only set when the connection is configured for it, and a status built on one payment event misses invoices paid another way (a trial, a credit, a payment recorded outside the tool).

Usually fixed by: CRM admin or sales operations, with finance operations.
Kind of break, one of six: Return path: does what the next tool did get back to the first?
Sources: Vendor documentation · Vendor documentation