Operations
How Do You Evaluate Vendor Performance with a Simple Scorecard?
A simple scorecard for judging vendors on quality, delivery, cost and responsiveness, plus review cadence and when to switch.
· 6 min read
Blog
The FulcrumGrid blog
Practical guides on operations, receivables, and people operations — from the team building FulcrumGrid.
HR
How Do You Build an Employee Referral Program That Works?
Eligibility, bonus size and timing, fairness, process, quality-of-hire metrics and the pitfalls that make referral programs fail.
· 6 min read
Collection
Can You Charge Late Payment Fees on Overdue Invoices?
Whether you can charge late payment fees, how to choose between a flat fee and interest, and how to stay fair with your customers.
· 6 min read
Collection
What Is a Statement of Account and When Should You Send One?
What a statement of account is, how it differs from an invoice, what to include, when to send it, how customers reconcile it, and practical tips.
· 5 min read
Operations
How Do You Write a Business Continuity Plan for a Small Business?
Identify critical functions, assess risks, set recovery times, assign roles and contacts, plan backups, and test and review the plan.
· 6 min read
HR
How Do You Run a Probation Period for New Hires? A Guide
The purpose of probation, why length varies by country, how to set goals, run check-ins, extend or end it, and keep clear records.
· 5 min read
HR
What Should an Employee Onboarding Checklist Include?
The phases from pre-boarding to 90 days, what goes in each, who owns what across HR, manager and IT, and the mistakes to avoid.
· 6 min read
HR
How Do You Write a Job Offer Letter?
What an offer letter is for, what it should contain, and how to keep it conditional, clear and compliant without making promises that bind you.
· 6 min read
Operations
How Do You Set OKRs for a Small Team?
What OKRs are, how many a small team should set, how to write measurable key results, and the cadence that keeps them alive.
· 6 min read
Collection
How Do You Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)?
What DSO is, how to calculate it, what counts as good, and the practical levers that get invoices paid faster without straining customers.
· 6 min read
Operations
How Do You Prioritize Work When Everything Feels Urgent?
Why everything feels urgent, how to tell urgent from important, rank tasks by impact and effort, cap work in progress and run a weekly triage.
· 6 min read
HR
How Do You Spot and Handle Employee Burnout as a Manager?
How to recognise burnout early, talk to the person without making it worse, and adjust workload so your small team recovers and stays.
· 6 min read
Collection
How Do You Chase a Late Payer Without Losing the Customer?
A practical Q&A on collecting overdue invoices politely: what to say, when to say it, and how to escalate without burning the relationship.
· 6 min read
Collection
How Do You Build a Dunning Schedule?
How to turn ad-hoc chasing into a planned reminder sequence: a sample cadence, the right tone per stage, and clear pause and escalate rules.
· 6 min read
Collection
How to Write a Collections Call Script That Gets Invoices Paid
What to put in a collections call script, a simple template, answers to common objections and how to follow up so invoices actually get paid.
· 6 min read
HR
How Do You Handle a Flexible Work Request from an Employee?
How to respond to a flexible work request: policy, decision criteria, trial periods, fairness and the records worth keeping.
· 6 min read
Operations
How Do You Build a KPI Scorecard Your Team Will Actually Use?
How to choose a handful of metrics, name owners, set targets and red-amber-green thresholds, and run a review rhythm that sticks.
· 6 min read
Collection
What Is a Credit Memo and When Should You Issue One?
What a credit memo is, when to issue one, how it differs from a refund or a debit memo, and the mistakes that cause confusion.
· 5 min read
Collection
Accounts Receivable vs Accounts Payable: What's the Difference?
What AR and AP mean, how they sit on your balance sheet, how they affect cash flow, and how to keep both under control.
· 6 min read
HR
Gross Pay vs Net Pay: What's the Difference?
What gross pay and net pay mean, the deductions that separate them, and how to work out take-home pay for salaried and hourly staff.
· 5 min read
HR
What Is an Employee Handbook? (And What to Put in It)
What an employee handbook is, why it matters, and a section-by-section list of what belongs in it — from policies and pay to culture and conduct.
· 6 min read
Operations
KPIs vs OKRs: What's the Difference and When to Use Each
What KPIs and OKRs are, how they differ, and when to use ongoing metrics versus goal-setting to run and grow your operation.
· 6 min read
Collection
What Is Dunning? How the Dunning Process Works
What dunning means, how the dunning process works, and how to build a reminder sequence that collects overdue invoices without damaging relationships.
· 6 min read
HR
How to Calculate PTO Accrual: Formulas, Rates & Examples
The PTO accrual formula, rates by pay period, hourly vs salaried, and worked examples you can copy — plus a quick FAQ.
· 6 min read
HR
Performance Review Questions: A Manager's Template
Ready-to-use self-review, manager, and 1:1 growth questions — plus how to run a review that's fair, specific, and actually useful.
· 7 min read
HR
Employee Time Tracking: A Practical Guide
How to track employee time without micromanaging — methods, what to log, overtime rules, and how it ties into payroll and PTO.
· 6 min read
Operations
How to Write SOPs Your Team Actually Follows
Format, ownership, review cadence, and the mistakes that turn a standard operating procedure into a document nobody opens.
· 6 min read
Collection
Invoice Payment Terms Explained (Net 30, 2/10 Net 30 & More)
What Net 30, due on receipt, EOM, and 2/10 Net 30 actually mean — and how to pick terms that keep your cash flowing.
· 7 min read
Operations
How to Run a Weekly Operations Review (Agenda + Template)
A repeatable agenda, the metrics to open with, and the rules that keep the weekly ops review short and decision-focused.
· 6 min read
HR
How to Build a PTO Policy That's Fair and Simple to Run
Accrual vs. lump sum, carryover, approvals — the decisions behind a paid time off policy people trust and you can actually run.
· 7 min read
Collection
How to Write a Payment Reminder Email (with 5 Templates)
Tone, timing, and 5 copy-paste templates for polite reminders that actually get invoices paid — before, on, and after the due date.
· 7 min read
Operations
Spreadsheets vs. Business Software: When to Make the Switch
Every business starts in a spreadsheet. Here's how to tell when you've outgrown it — and how to switch without the disruption.
· 6 min read
HR
Employee Onboarding Checklist: The First 30 Days
From before day one to the first 30 days — the steps that get new hires productive faster and keep them.
· 6 min read
Collection
Accounts Receivable Best Practices: A Checklist for Getting Paid on Time
Invoicing, follow-up, reconciliation, reporting — the habits that keep cash flowing and receivables under control.
· 6 min read
Collection
How to Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): 7 Practical Steps
DSO is the clearest signal of how fast you turn invoices into cash. Here's how to bring it down — without hiring a bigger team.
· 6 min read
Operations
What to Track in an Operations Dashboard (and What to Ignore)
A dashboard full of numbers isn't the goal. Here are the operational metrics that actually drive decisions.
· 5 min read
HR
HR Software for Small Businesses: A Practical Buyer's Guide
The features that actually matter when you're choosing your first HR system — and the ones you can safely skip.
· 7 min read