Finding 01
1,507 missing tickets, $77,691 per year
Observation
Reconstructing the ticket population found 1,507 tickets missing, an annualized $77,691.
Recommendation
Bring ticket scanning live in the lanes.
Exposure
$77,691 a year
Case study
An urban garage operation in Chicago: a revenue control audit found, fixed, and verified in 8 weeks
$77,691
A year in missing tickets
$300K
A year in open-exit exposure
8 weeks
From findings report to verified fixes
Asset
Urban garage operation in Chicago
Scope
Revenue control audit: reconstruct the ticket population, review cash handling on camera, test the lane hardware and the deals attached to the asset
Duration
8 weeks to verified correction
JDE role
Revenue control auditor
The assignment
An urban garage operation in Chicago retained JDE to audit revenue control at its garage and test whether reported revenue matched the facility's actual traffic. The scope: reconstruct the ticket population, review cash handling on camera, and test the lane hardware and the deals attached to the asset.
The findings
Finding 02
Severity immediateCash abuse on camera
Observation
CCTV review documented an employee mishandling cash at the point of collection.
Finding 03
Severity criticalNo gate arms, $300K per year exposure
Observation
The facility operated without gate arms. JDE put the open-exit exposure at $300K a year. Every control downstream depends on the gate.
Recommendation
Install gate arms, and enable anti-passback on access credentials.
Exposure
$300K a year
Finding 04
An unlimited hotel deal at $5,000 a month
Observation
A flat arrangement with no volume cap and no reconciliation trail.
Recommendation
Cancel the unlimited arrangement.
Exposure
$5,000 a month
What changed
Ownership moved fast, and the speed is the story. Within 8 weeks of the report: gate arms installed, ticket scanning live in the lanes, anti-passback enabled on access credentials, and the $5,000 a month unlimited hotel arrangement cancelled.
Verified
JDE returned and issued a supplemental report documenting each fix operating in the field rather than promised in a memo. Gates up. Scanning live. Anti-passback on. The hotel deal off the books. Management reported less shrinkage. The supplemental report closed the loop the first report opened, on the same numbers.
- Gate armsInstalled, operating in the field rather than promised in a memo
- Ticket scanningLive in the lanes
- Anti-passbackEnabled on access credentials
- Unlimited hotel dealCancelled, off the books
- ShrinkageManagement reported less shrinkage
- Time to verification8 weeks from the findings report to the supplemental report, on the same numbers
Eight weeks separated the findings report from the supplemental report verifying the fixes in the field. $77,691 a year in missing tickets and a $300K a year open-exit exposure were closed while the audit file was still warm.
Findings age badly. If an audit is sitting unactioned, or a garage is running controls nobody has tested from the lane, the next step is short: contact JDE and scope a revenue control audit.