Between a return and its credit, there’s a gap. We close it.
Sample case, not a real customer.
Return received to credit issued
2–4 weeks5–7 days
Illustrative manual RMA cycle.Target for well-run operations. Your own baseline gets measured in week one.
Clear your RMA backlog and see what returns really cost.
A fixed-scope Clarity Audit for small and mid-sized manufacturers and distributors: see where returns stall, what they cost, and what to fix first, without adding a full-time RMA headcount.
Starts with a free 30-minute call · Remote across Canada and the US
Work directly with me · Read-only access by default · Free write-up
RMA Expert (ex-Fortinet)ISO 9001 Internal AuditorVancouver, BC
How it works
Four steps, the same on every engagement. The first two are the Clarity Audit. The last two are optional, and only if you want them.
- Clarity Audit
1. Discover
You receive: a clean timeline of what actually happened, built from your own exports.
- Clarity Audit
2. Prioritize
You receive: the few bottlenecks costing you most, ranked, with the exceptions and failed controls behind them and a fix list.
- Optional, after the audit
3. Optimize
You receive: a redesigned process, proven by hand before anything is automated.
- Optional, after the audit
4. Automate
You receive: what is proven, running in your ERP or a platform you already own.
Most software vendors start at step 4. We start by finding out where it’s actually worth it.
Start with a Clarity Audit
In: your exports, emails, and PDFs.
Out: a clean timeline, the bottlenecks that matter, the exceptions and control checks behind them, what returns cost you, and a fix list.
Most engagements begin with a Clarity Audit: a fixed-scope review of how returns move through your operation, from authorization and receipt through inspection, warranty approval, credit, restock, refurbishment, repair, or scrap.
Fixed scope and fixed price, agreed before the work starts. Any follow-on project or ongoing support is quoted separately, and only if you want it.
RMA & reverse logistics, from someone who’s processed the cases
You get an operator who has owned the RMA queue, not another software demo or a generic advisory deck: 5.5 years at Fortinet, now applied to yours. That includes manufacturer-warranty and extended-warranty replacement flows, from entitlement checks to the replacement shipment.
Ways I can help
RMA is the specialty. Each service has its own page: what you get, what I need from you, and how to start.
RMA process audit
A fixed-scope Clarity Audit: where returns stall, what they cost, and what to fix first.
Details →Reverse logistics consulting
Fractional help across the whole returns flow, from authorization to credit, restock, repair, or scrap.
Details →Warranty returns workflow
Entitlement checks, approvals, and replacement shipments, mapped and tightened.
Details →ERP/WMS process mining
What your ERP, WMS, and spreadsheets show actually happened between a return and its credit.
Details →Returns analytics dashboard
The few numbers that matter in reverse logistics, built to be used daily.
Details →Other operations I support
Application Support
Hands-on Tier-2 ERP/SaaS support when the queue can’t wait. Inventory checks, report runs, completing POs manually, and the practical day-to-day work that keeps returns moving (Oracle EBS experience included).
Upgrade & Impact Testing
Release notes turned into a right-sized test plan, scoped for small and mid-sized teams: impact analysis, regression prioritization, and practical coverage without turning it into an enterprise-scale program.
Beyond these: Scrum project delivery (CSPO/CSM), SaaS access lifecycle (Okta/Entra ID), and knowledge-base and repeat-ticket triage (ServiceNow/Jira).
Questions before you book
Does this replace an employee?
No. Fractional means senior help for the hours the project needs: part-time or project-based, scaled up for a rollout and down when it ships. Some clients keep an internal owner for day-to-day work; I design the process and get it running.
Does your experience apply to a company my size?
A return moves through the same steps wherever it happens: authorization, receipt, inspection, a warranty or eligibility check, a disposition decision, and a credit. What changes between a large manufacturer and a mid-sized distributor is volume and systems, not the questions: where does the time go, who owns the decision, and what does it cost? I spent 5.5 years working those questions case by case. Every engagement starts with a discovery pass on your data, so the answers are yours, not borrowed from someone else’s operation.
Where does my data go?
Access is read-only by default. Your data is processed on my own machines, using local language models that run offline (air-gapped), so by default it is never sent to an outside AI or cloud service. If a job needs more capacity, the work moves onto your own premises, or onto a cloud that is owned and operated in the EU or Canada, and nowhere else.
Will you share my processes with other companies?
No. Your data, processes and documents are never shared with other clients, and never used to build or train DPS8020, my own process-mining platform, unless you agree in writing first. What carries over is my experience, not your information. Happy to sign your NDA before we look at any data.
Ready for a Clarity Audit?
I ask a few focused questions and tell you honestly whether fractional RMA support or a Clarity Audit is the right next step. If it isn’t a fit, you’ll hear that too. If there is a clear opportunity, I follow up with a free high-level write-up of what I would do and why. The first project is usually a Clarity Audit: your policies, approval rules, refund timing, ownership, system handoffs, and what happens to each unit after it comes back.
Starts with a free 30-minute call · Remote across Canada and the US