IDEA: Track unbilled open sales orders for potential problems.

Run and watch the list of all open customer orders that have not been shipped. How old are these open unfilled orders? If the customer is late picking up their ordered product, that is ok.  That is different than lying to a customer. If a large new order from a new customer is now three days past due, that may ruin your future chances with that customer. He may regard you as untrustworthy and to be avoided in the future.  Ask if production is behind, are materials ordered and running late for delivery?   Have the items been shipped but they have not been billed (billing clerk is on two weeks of vacation and no one else was trained)? Analyze this side of your business closely every day and keep your customers informed. Have the billings people report every day any orders more than one or two days old (you define the cutoff).  Ask that they indicate why they cannot bill the item and who is responsible.   Watch for patterns of lousy management, haphazard production schedules, poor sales follow-through. Once you see these problems and they are not improving, you have some management changes to make.