How to Look at Customer Escalation Audits (Read This Carefully)

When escalation audits happen, partners tend to come in with their guards up. The discussion becomes defensive, emotional, and sometimes even hostile. That is exactly what we want to avoid.

Let’s be very clear about one thing first.

Why We Are Here

We are not here to downgrade you. We are here to help you fix what’s broken, so that the same issue does not repeat with the next customer. If we only think short-term and react defensively, nobody wins — not you, not us, and definitely not the customer.

So please take these audits in the right spirit.

Some Non-Negotiables During Escalation Audits

1. This Is Not a Debate or a Power Play

Please do not bring arguments like:

“We are a very old partner”
“We have delivered hundreds of projects”
“You can’t judge us based on one customer”

Past success is respected but it does not give partner the right to skip any steps. If there is a process miss, it is still a miss — regardless of how many things were done right before that. Audit findings are based on facts and evidence, not reputation or history.

Whatever implications come out of an audit will have to be honoured.

2. Do Not Threaten or Intimidate the Customer

Under no circumstances should the customer be threatened, pressured, scared into silence or made to feel they will be abandoned or punished.

This always makes the situation worse and escalates things further. It also reflects very poorly on the partner and the ecosystem as a whole. If we see this happening, it will be taken very seriously and may lead to strict consequences.

3. Do Not Tamper With Evidence

This is extremely important. Please do not manipulate, hide, recreate, or fabricate evidence to make things look better than they were.

If evidence tampering is found, the implications will be severe and it can directly lead to termination of the partnership. It is far better to accept a miss honestly than to try and cover it up.

4. Stay Focused on the Escalated Project

During an escalation audit, the discussion should stay strictly limited to the project being escalated.

Please do not divert the conversation to unrelated projects, past wins, or other customers. This helps us reach clarity faster and resolve the issue properly.

5. Everyone Involved Must Be Present with Relevant Documents

For the escalated project, everyone involved must be on the call, including sales, implementation support, and project management (if applicable).

We do not want second-hand answers or “I’ll check and get back”. The goal is to get the full picture in one place.

Please come prepared with: - Project plans
- Emails
- Tickets
- Meeting notes
- Reports
- Any other relevant documentation

Statements like:

“Yes, we have this data but I can’t find it right now”

…are not acceptable during an escalation audit.

Preparation shows ownership. Lack of preparation signals deeper issues.

Final Note

Escalation audits are uncomfortable by nature — we understand that. But discomfort is often where real improvement starts.

If we approach this with honesty, clarity, and maturity:

You get better as an organization
Customers get better outcomes
The ecosystem becomes stronger

Let’s do this the right way.

Source of Escalation

Frappe can receive customer escalations via:

Email
Feedback form on partner listing page
Customer portal (WIP)

An escalation is when a customer reaches out to Frappe to intervene because of dissatisfaction, frustration, or unmet expectations while working with a partner.

Frappe will take customer escalations seriously. Any escalation will be followed by a procedure that can lead to lowering of the PMM level for the partner, leading to a temporary downgrade in their tier.

Escalation Procedure

1. Email Warning

When Frappe receives an escalation, Frappe will initiate an email warning sharing the customer’s point of views.

2. Call With Customer

Frappe will initiate a call with the customer to understand what went wrong and reasons of dissatisfaction.

All the points shared by customers will be logged and made visible to partners via the PRM portal.

During the customer call, if Frappe observes delays and misses from the customer end leading to the halt/failure in the project, the same will be communicated to the customer, and the escalation will be closed.

3. Re-Audit With Partner

If valid process misses are noted during the call with the customer, Frappe will initiate a re-audit with the partner for the specific project.

Pre-requisites

Frappe will share an audit checklist prior to the re-audit call
The partner is expected to keep the required documents/evidence ready before the audit, to save time
The delivery head, sales head, and project manager of the specific escalated project are expected to be present for the re-audit call

4. Audit Scope

An escalation can happen at any stage of the customer journey — sales, implementation, or support.

Depending on the stage of the escalation, specific parts of the audit will become more important than the rest.

Audit Areas

Sales

Metrics Check - Were sales metrics (demo feedback, conversion %, sales feedback) reported in the weekly all-hands metrics review - In case of poor metrics, were any correction actions / preventive actions taken?

Project Audit - Was the sales person trained on the sales process? - Was the qualification (e.g. BANT) done by the sales person? - Was the scope/requirements clearly captured during sales? - Was the quotation calculated using Frappe’s price estimator? - Was the project handover completed within 1 week of invoicing?

Implementation – Part 1 (Happy Case)

Metrics Check - Were implementation metrics (% overdue tasks, monthly satisfaction score) reported in the weekly all-hands metrics review? - In case of poor metrics, were any correction actions / preventive actions taken?

Project Audit - Was the project manager and developer trained on ERPNext and Frappe Framework? - Was the project kick-off conducted within 1 week of invoicing? - Was the Frappe project template and tasks followed by the partner? - Are all the sign-offs properly maintained in the project management system? - BRD sign-off
- UAT sign-off
- Training sign-off
- Go-live sign-off
- Was weekly project status and risks emailed to the customer using the Frappe template? - Was the monthly steering committee meeting conducted by the partner with the customer? - Were hypercare CRs properly logged and completed using support tickets?

Scope / Timeline Changes - If scope changed, was a sign-off recorded against: - New scope
- New invoice schedule
- If project delayed, was a fresh sign-off recorded against: - New scope
- New timeline
- New invoice schedule

Customer Dependency Issues - If customer project champion was unavailable / delaying / changed: - Inform project sponsor via email
- Inform customer about need for proper handover

Support / AMC

Metrics Check - Were support metrics (SLA fulfilled, feedback score) reported in the weekly all-hands metrics review? - In case of poor metrics, were any correction actions / preventive actions taken?

Project Audit - What was the feedback rating on the last few tickets or change requests raised by the customer?

Consequences

If the partner is found to have missed any of the processes listed above, it would have consequences affecting the PMM level of the partner, and in some cases leading to temporary downgrading of the partner.

A Non-Conformance (NC) will be raised against the partner via the PRM portal.
The NCs are expected to be closed by the partner within 1 month.

If NCs are not closed within 1 month:

Case 1:
If existing PMM5 partners haven’t met the PMM5 criteria but have met the PMM4 criteria, they will be downgraded to PMM4.
(This can reduce the partner tier from Gold to Silver till the NC is closed)
Case 2:
If any partner hasn’t met even the PMM3 criteria, they will be downgraded to PMM2.
(This can reduce the partner tier from Gold to Emerging till the NC is closed)