Business Process Builder

Returns Handling SOP — Draft for Owner Validation

Status: Current-state discovery draft from limited scenario facts. No company policy, jurisdictional requirement, system behavior, service target, or authorized role has been verified. Bracketed items require owner decisions before use.

Process boundary

Trigger: A customer emails support requesting a return.

Starts: request intake.

Ends: disposition and any authorized refund are recorded and the customer is updated.

Inputs: customer message, order reference, item and reason (details not supplied).

Outputs: documented decision, warehouse receipt/disposition record, refund instruction if approved, customer response.

Roles to confirm

• Support: capture request and communicate approved next steps.
• Returns decision owner: confirm eligibility under approved policy.
• Warehouse: receive and identify returned parcel; record condition using approved criteria.
• Finance/refund approver: execute or authorize any refund under delegated controls.
• Process owner: approve policy, exceptions, measures, and revisions.

Draft normal flow

1. Support logs receipt date, customer contact route, order identifier, item, and stated reason in the approved record. Do not request unnecessary sensitive information.
2. Verify order and item against the authorized order record; record the source and verification date.
3. Apply the retailer’s approved return eligibility rules: [insert rules, deadline, condition, exclusions, and evidence requirements]. If rules are unclear, hold the decision and escalate to the designated policy owner.
4. Send only approved return instructions, including address, packaging, shipping responsibility, and expected next update:

[insert approved template].
5. Warehouse records parcel arrival and item condition using

[approved inspection criteria]; flag mismatch, damage, missing item, or unidentified parcel.
6. Authorized approver decides disposition and refund amount under

[delegation and system control]. Finance records the action and reference.
7. Support confirms the outcome through the verified customer contact channel; close the case after required records are complete.

Exception paths and control questions

• No matching order, duplicate request, or item mismatch → retain case in review queue; who resolves?
• Policy unclear, late request, damaged item, missing parcel, or disputed decision → escalate to a named role and document rationale.
• Refund requested before parcel inspection → which cases permit this, and who approves? Do not assume.
• System outage or privacy concern → follow approved continuity/privacy process; no alternate record method is defined here.

Measures to define

Time to first response: elapsed business hours from recorded request to first customer reply; define business calendar and excluded cases.

• Decision cycle time: elapsed time from complete request to documented eligibility decision.

Return closure rate: cases with disposition and required customer update recorded ÷ cases due for closure in the period.

• Track exceptions and rework with consistent categories; establish targets only after owners review a baseline.

Validation checklist

Confirm legal/jurisdictional rules, return policy, eligibility window, customer templates, authorized approvers, segregation of duties, record system, refund controls, parcel inspection, exception owner, privacy requirements, service hours, metric definitions, training, and document owner/version. The process owner must approve all placeholders before rollout.