Case study Operational Stabilisation

Dispute Recovery Operations Stabilisation

Operational redesign of dispute recovery workflows to stabilise representment performance, enforce evidence consistency, and introduce deadline‑controlled execution under volume pressure.

Executive overview

Case study type: Operational execution stabilisation

This engagement addressed execution instability — not structural governance redesign.

A digital goods platform operating in a high card‑not‑present risk environment was experiencing recovery volatility driven by analyst inconsistency, deadline compression, and fragmented workflows.

The mandate was operational stabilisation: impose structured process control, enforce evidence consistency, introduce buffered deadline discipline, and restore recovery predictability under volume pressure.

Context

  • Elevated dispute ratio across fraud and non-receipt reason codes
  • Manual evidence assembly with inconsistent artefacts
  • Limited QA controls prior to representment
  • Cycle-time variability across analysts
  • No consolidated performance visibility at leadership level

Operational risk exposure

  • Inconsistent recovery predictability
  • Execution dependency on individual analysts
  • Deadline compression risk
  • Volume-spike fragility

Operational redesign

1. Evidence Standardisation

  • Introduced reason-code aligned evidence templates
  • Defined mandatory artefacts by dispute category
  • Structured narrative formatting for representment clarity
  • Removed discretionary submission variance

2. Workflow Redesign

  • Introduced intake triage checkpoints
  • Defined internal submission deadlines (buffered before scheme deadlines)
  • Implemented QA gate prior to final submission
  • Introduced case ownership clarity

3. Performance Oversight

  • Weekly KPI cadence
  • Win-rate segmentation by reason code
  • Cycle-time measurement from intake to submission
  • Visibility pack for management reporting

Outcomes

  • Improved representment coverage consistency
  • Reduced missed submission deadlines
  • Stabilised win-rate performance
  • Lower operational backlog volatility
  • Improved predictability for finance and leadership

Key takeaways

  • Evidence quality must be systematised, not analyst-dependent.
  • Internal deadlines should precede scheme deadlines by design.
  • QA gates materially reduce preventable loss.
  • Chargeback operations require structured control loops, not reactive handling.