FS-DOC-01Operations
Launch Plan
Receivables & Invoice Chasing
01What you're launching
This build automates the full receivables chase cycle for [YourCompany.com]. Today a bookkeeper spends 9 hours every week pulling aged reports, deciding who to chase, writing individual reminder emails, logging them in a spreadsheet, and matching payments by hand. Three of those seven steps are confirmed bottlenecks that slip first when the team is busy. After this build, the system watches every open invoice, stages and sends reminders with pay links on schedule, and reconciles incoming payments automatically. A person only steps in when a client replies or an account needs a real conversation.
Process name
Receivables & Invoice Chasing
Trigger
An invoice passes its due date with a balance owing
Volume
~120 invoices/month (318 automation runs this month)
Time currently lost
9 hours/week (manual)
Time after build
2 hours/week (human review only)
Steps automated
5 of 7 process steps
Steps kept with a person
2 (client replies, escalations)
Build option
Standard: balanced custom build
Estimated build time
3 to 4 weeks
Build cost
$3,800 one-time
Tooling cost
$145/month (FullSpec Automation orchestration)
Step
What happens today
After build
Owner after build
1. Pull aged receivables
Bookkeeper runs report manually (20 min)
Chase Scheduler Agent pulls automatically
Automation
2. Decide who to chase
Manual judgement call (25 min, bottleneck)
Agent stages reminders by days overdue
Automation
3. Write reminder emails
Drafted by hand per client (60 min, bottleneck)
Reminder Sender Agent sends on schedule
Automation
4. Send and log reminders
Emailed and logged in spreadsheet (30 min)
Sent with pay link, logged automatically
Automation
5. Watch for replies
Inbox monitored manually (35 min)
Replies routed to bookkeeper for handling
Bookkeeper
6. Match incoming payments
Bank deposits matched by hand (45 min, bottleneck)
Payment Reconciliation Agent matches and notifies
Automation
7. Escalate stubborn accounts
Practice manager flags manually (30 min)
Flagged for personal call as before
Practice Manager
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FS-DOC-01Operations
02Before build starts
The items below must be confirmed before the builder starts work. Delays in access, approvals, or content decisions are the most common reasons a build runs late. Work through this list in the first few days after scoping is confirmed.
Confirm Xero account access : The builder needs API credentials with read access to invoices and write access to mark payments reconciled. Confirm which Xero organisation is the live one.
Confirm Stripe account access : Provide API keys (or arrange a handoff) so the builder can generate pay links. Confirm whether Stripe is already connected to Xero or needs a separate link.
Confirm the sending Gmail account : Decide which email address reminders will come from. The builder will need OAuth access granted to that account. Confirm whether it is a shared inbox or a named address.
Agree reminder tone and copy : Partners should sign off on the reminder wording before build starts. The automation will use a template per overdue stage (e.g. 1 day, 7 days, 14 days). Avoid back-and-forth after build.
Agree the reminder cadence and escalation thresholds : Decide how many days overdue triggers the first, second, and third reminder. Decide at what point an invoice is flagged to the practice manager rather than sent another automated nudge.
Identify any accounts to exclude : List any clients who should never receive an automated reminder (disputed accounts, sensitive relationships, payment plan agreements). These will be added to an exclusion list before go-live.
Confirm FullSpec Automation subscription : The Standard build runs on FullSpec Automation at $145/month. Confirm the subscription is active or arrange billing before the builder provisions the environment.
Nominate a single point of contact for the build : One person at [YourCompany.com] should be available to answer questions and approve test results during the build. Delays in feedback add days to the timeline.
Pull a sample of 20 to 40 recent overdue invoices : The builder will use historical invoice data to test the chase scheduler and payment matching. Export a sample from Xero covering at least 30 days of overdue activity.
Confirm the team notification channel : Decide where the Payment Reconciliation Agent sends its team notification when an invoice is marked paid. Options include email, Slack, or a shared inbox. Confirm before build starts.
Reminder tone and copy is the item most often delayed. If partners need to approve the wording, start that conversation now. The builder cannot finalise the Reminder Sender Agent until copy is confirmed.
03Build phases
The build runs across four weeks. Each phase below has a plain-English description of what gets built and what you should see completed at the end of it. Your point of contact will confirm progress at each phase boundary.
1Foundation and integrations
Week 1: environment provisioned, all tool connections live and tested
The builder provisions the FullSpec Automation environment and connects Xero, Stripe, and Gmail using secure authentication. Every connection is tested with a live call before the next phase begins. At the end of this phase: the automation environment is live, credentials are stored securely, and a test invoice can be read from Xero successfully. No reminders are sent yet.
- FullSpec Automation workspace created and configured
- Xero OAuth connection established and invoice read confirmed
- Stripe API connected and a test pay link generated
- Gmail OAuth connected and a test send confirmed
- Exclusion list seeded with any accounts identified in pre-build
2Chase Scheduler and Reminder Sender agents
Weeks 2 to 3: overdue detection, reminder scheduling, and sending with pay links live
The Chase Scheduler Agent is built first: it watches every open invoice in Xero, identifies overdue balances, and stages a reminder sequence based on how many days late each invoice is. The Reminder Sender Agent is then built on top: it sends each staged reminder on schedule, attaches the invoice and a Stripe pay link, and logs every send automatically. At the end of this phase: overdue invoices trigger a staged reminder sequence, reminders go out with pay links, and the activity log is populated. The builder tests against the historical invoice sample provided in pre-build.
- Chase Scheduler Agent live: detects overdue invoices and stages reminders by age
- Reminder cadence configured to the agreed thresholds (day 1, day 7, day 14)
- Reminder copy loaded and confirmed against approved wording
- Reminder Sender Agent live: sends on schedule with invoice and pay link attached
- Activity log confirmed: every send recorded with timestamp and invoice reference
- Client replies routed to the designated inbox for human handling
3Payment Reconciliation Agent, QA, and go-live
Week 4: payment matching live, full end-to-end test passed, and automation switched on
The Payment Reconciliation Agent is built and tested: it detects incoming payments, matches them to open invoices in Xero (including partial amounts), marks invoices reconciled, and sends a team notification. A full end-to-end regression is then run against 40 historical invoices. Any issues found are fixed before sign-off. At the end of this phase: the complete automation is live, monitoring is active, and the bookkeeper has been walked through the daily review routine.
- Payment Reconciliation Agent live: full and partial payments matched automatically
- Team notification confirmed on the agreed channel
- End-to-end test passed against 40 historical invoices
- Escalation threshold tested: stubborn accounts flagged to practice manager correctly
- Exclusion list verified: excluded accounts receive no automated reminders
- Monitoring and alerting active: builder confirms on-call coverage for first 48 hours
- Bookkeeper walkthrough complete: daily review routine understood and confirmed
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04Go-live checklist
Complete every item on this list before switching the automation to live. The builder and the process owner should both confirm each item. Do not go live with any item outstanding.
All three agents tested end-to-end against historical invoices : Chase Scheduler, Reminder Sender, and Payment Reconciliation Agent all passed against the 40-invoice sample with no unresolved errors.
Reminder copy signed off by a partner : Final wording for all reminder stages (day 1, day 7, day 14, escalation) approved and loaded into the automation.
Exclusion list confirmed and loaded : All accounts flagged as disputed, sensitive, or on a payment plan are in the exclusion list. Verify with the bookkeeper and practice manager.
Xero, Stripe, and Gmail connections confirmed live : Each integration returns a successful live test call. No expired tokens or permission errors.
Pay links tested end-to-end : A test Stripe pay link was generated, opened, and confirmed to display the correct invoice amount and reference.
Team notification confirmed : A test payment reconciliation triggered the correct team notification on the agreed channel with the correct invoice reference.
Escalation threshold confirmed : Invoices that exceed the agreed overdue threshold are flagged to the practice manager and not sent a further automated reminder.
Activity log confirmed accessible : The bookkeeper can view the full send log showing who was chased, when, and what was sent.
Monitoring and alerting active : The builder has confirmed that failure alerts are configured and will notify the nominated contact if an agent errors out.
Bookkeeper walkthrough complete : The bookkeeper has been shown the daily review routine: where to check the activity log, how to handle routed replies, and how to add accounts to the exclusion list.
Go-live date and time agreed : Both the builder and process owner have confirmed the exact date and time the automation switches to live. Avoid end-of-month periods for the first go-live.
Go live on a Tuesday or Wednesday mid-morning if possible. This gives the team a full working day to observe the first batch of reminders go out and catch any issues before the end of the week.
05Your role vs your builder's role
A clean build depends on both sides knowing what they are responsible for. The table below sets out who owns what at each stage of the project.
Stage
Your role (process owner)
Builder's role
Pre-build
Provide tool access, confirm reminder copy, agree cadence and exclusions, nominate a point of contact
Confirm requirements, raise any blockers, prepare the build environment
Foundation (Week 1)
Grant OAuth access for Xero, Stripe, and Gmail promptly when requested
Provision environment, connect all integrations, confirm test calls succeed
Agent build (Weeks 2 to 3)
Review and approve test reminders, confirm activity log output looks correct
Build Chase Scheduler and Reminder Sender agents, test against invoice sample
Reconciliation and QA (Week 4)
Provide 40-invoice historical sample, review QA results, confirm sign-off
Build Payment Reconciliation Agent, run end-to-end regression, fix issues, prepare go-live
Go-live
Confirm exclusion list is final, be available for the first 48 hours to flag any issues
Switch automation live, monitor for errors, provide on-call cover for first 48 hours
Post-launch
Review week-1 metrics, flag any reminder copy changes, escalate if volumes look wrong
Monitor logs, tune partial payment matching if needed, apply any agreed copy updates
Ongoing
Maintain exclusion list, update cadence thresholds when needed, flag unusual accounts
Keep integrations healthy, apply updates, respond to support requests
Disputed or sensitive accounts stay with a person by design. The automation will never override a manual exclusion. If an account changes status, update the exclusion list directly rather than waiting for the next build cycle.
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06What success looks like
The targets below are based on the projected outcomes from the template ROI model. Use these as your benchmark when reviewing performance at week 1, month 1, and month 3. The partial payment matching figure may need a short tuning period to reach its target.
Metric
Before automation
Week 1 target
Month 1 target
Month 3 target
Time spent chasing per week
9 hours/week
4 to 5 hours (settling in)
2 to 3 hours
2 hours
Reminders sent on time
62% (missed when team busy)
90%+ as automation stabilises
100%
100%
Average days to payment
47 days
42 to 45 days (early movement)
35 to 38 days
31 days
Payments auto-matched
0% (all manual)
80%+ (tuning in progress)
93 to 95%
96%
Annual staff cost for chasing
$17,800/year
Tracking only
On track for $4,000/year
$4,000/year
Hours saved (cumulative)
0
7 hours saved in first week
~30 hours saved
87 hours saved (90 days)
The 3-month payback target assumes the $3,800 build cost against $13,800 in annual savings ($1,150/month). If reminders are going out on time and average days to payment is trending down by end of month 1, the build is on track.
Next step: complete the pre-build checklist in section 02, confirm tool access with the builder, and agree a start date. The sooner reminder copy and cadence thresholds are signed off, the sooner the build can reach phase 2 without a delay.
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