What Is Priority Scoring?
Priority scoring refers to the weighted rating that determines the order in which submissions should be worked.
In MCA and small business lending, this often combines signals such as document completeness, average daily balance, overdraft frequency, and appetite fit against funder criteria.
This scoring usually occurs after scrubbing and validation. Operators and underwriters use it to manage queues efficiently by letting automation decide which deals rise to the top for faster attention.
How Does Priority Scoring Work?
Priority scoring uses a mix of field validation and business rules to rank items.
- Criteria identification: Factors such as completeness, risk signals, and appetite fit are defined.
- Weight assignment: Each factor is weighted based on its importance to decision-making.
- Score calculation: Submissions are evaluated, and a composite score is generated.
- Queue placement: Items with higher scores rise in work queues, while lower scores may trigger follow-ups or kickouts.
In Heron, priority scoring is automated as part of the scrubbing process.
- Automated parsing: Data is pulled from bank statements, decision emails, and IDs.
- Scoring logic: Heron calculates priority based on completeness scores, appetite fit, and risk signals.
- Structured outputs: Scores are written back into CRM fields for visibility.
- Next action: High-priority deals surface in work queues, while low-priority ones are routed to exceptions or follow-ups.
This ensures teams clear the most impactful work first.
Why Is Priority Scoring Important?
For brokers and funders, priority scoring is important because not all submissions are equal.
High-quality deals should move quickly, while incomplete or risky ones can be deprioritized. Without scoring, teams risk spending equal time on weak opportunities, slowing down overall throughput.
Heron makes priority scoring more valuable by embedding it directly into workflow automation. This guarantees fairness, consistency, and efficiency across high-volume intake pipelines.
Common Use Cases
Priority scoring is applied in intake and underwriting pipelines.
- Ranking submissions by completeness and appetite fit for faster underwriting.
- Surfacing clean, high-value deals to underwriters ahead of lower-quality packets.
- Lowering the visibility of incomplete packets until missing information is collected.
- Balancing workloads by routing high-priority deals first.
- Driving dashboards that show deal readiness in order of impact.
FAQs About Priority Scoring
How does Heron calculate priority scores?
Heron applies weighted logic to scrubbed outputs like completeness, eligibility, and appetite fit, generating a composite score for each submission.
Why is priority scoring useful for MCA brokers and funders?
It reduces wasted time, improves queue management, and makes sure high-quality deals get attention before low-quality ones.
What outputs should teams expect from priority scoring?
Teams receive CRM fields showing priority scores, along with queue ordering that reflects these scores for immediate workflow alignment.