Ship Billing Controls

# SHIP Billing Controls SOP
 
Purpose: enforce billing correctness for SHIP recovered-value accounting and prevent invoicing on unconfirmed credits.
 
Scope: SHIP findings lifecycle, invoice prep, and exception handling.
 
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## Billing Gate Policy
 
Core rule:
- Only findings in `CREDITED` state with confirmed carrier evidence are billable.
 
A finding is billable only when all are true:
- Workflow state is `CREDITED`.
- Credit amount is recorded and positive.
- Confirmation payload exists:
  - `confirmation.source`
  - `confirmation.referenceId`
  - `confirmation.confirmedAt`
- Confirmation evidence is auditable (artifact URL or equivalent reference trail).
 
Not billable:
- `OPEN`, `DISPUTED`, `SUBMITTED`, `CARRIER_REVIEW`, `REJECTED`, `DISMISSED`.
- Any credited item missing confirmation payload.
 
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## Pre-Invoice Sampling Checklist
 
Before issuing invoice:
- Pull candidate billed findings for period and tenant.
- Random sample at least:
  - 10 findings, or
  - 10% of candidate findings (whichever is larger).
- For each sampled item, verify:
  - `CREDITED` status timestamp within billing period.
  - confirmation fields present and plausible.
  - amount matches supporting artifact.
  - idempotency reference is stable (no duplicate billable emission).
 
Sampling outcome:
- Pass: proceed to invoice issue.
- Fail: pause invoice and open exception review.
 
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## Audit Trail Retention Expectations
 
Minimum retained artifacts for each billed credit:
- Finding ID, tenant ID, amount, state transition timestamps.
- Confirmation payload (`source`, `referenceId`, `confirmedAt`).
- Link or pointer to supporting evidence.
- Value event record with idempotency key.
 
Retention policy:
- Keep billing-relevant audit artifacts for at least 24 months unless legal/commercial obligations require longer.
 
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## Exception Handling and Approval Path
 
### Exception Types
 
- Missing confirmation fields on credited finding.
- Confirmation/reference mismatch across systems.
- Duplicate recovered-value emission risk.
- Late-arriving credit posted after invoice cut.
 
### Approval Path
 
1. Operator flags exception and stops invoice issue for affected tenant.
2. Customer Ops Lead reviews evidence gap and proposed correction.
3. Platform/Billing owner approves one of:
   - Correct and include in current cycle
   - Defer to next cycle
   - Exclude permanently with documented reason
4. Record decision and approver in billing run notes.
 
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## Controls for Batch and Automation Paths
 
- Batch credit actions are non-compliant for confirmed-credit billing because they cannot carry per-finding confirmation payloads.
- Use per-finding credit flow only.
- Any automation must call the same per-finding confirmation domain logic as manual UI/API.
 
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## Quick Operator Checklist (Invoice Week)
 
- [ ] Candidate findings are `CREDITED` only.
- [ ] Sample validation passed.
- [ ] No unresolved exceptions.
- [ ] Invoice preview reviewed by Customer Ops Lead.
- [ ] Issue action logged with run timestamp and owner.