FS-DOC-03Operations
Process Runbook / SOP
Accounts Payable Management
[YourCompany.com] · Finance Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook is the day-to-day operating guide for the Accounts Payable Management automation. It tells you exactly what the system does on its own, where your team steps in, how to handle exceptions when they arise, and who to call when something needs attention. FullSpec has built and configured every automated step described here. Your team's ongoing role is limited to reviewing flagged exceptions and keeping the contact and configuration details in this document current.
01Process overview
The Accounts Payable Management process runs from the moment a supplier invoice is detected in your connected inbox or Dext queue through to the remittance advice being emailed to the supplier after payment. Three automation agents handle intake, coding and approval routing, and payment posting without any manual intervention unless a flag is raised. At steady state, your bookkeeper spends roughly 30 minutes per week on exceptions only, down from seven hours of end-to-end manual processing. The process runs approximately 60 invoices per month and is designed to keep supplier relationships intact, eliminate duplicate payments, and ensure every bill is posted to Xero in near real time.
Process name
Accounts Payable Management
Trigger
A new invoice document is detected in the connected AP inbox (Gmail) or the Dext document capture queue
Final output
A posted and scheduled bill in Xero, plus a remittance advice email sent to the supplier via Gmail
Agents running
Invoice Intake Agent, Coding and Approval Agent, Payment and Remittance Agent
Tools involved
Dext, Xero, Slack, Gmail, Google Drive, automation platform (orchestration layer)
Weekly volume
Approximately 15 invoices per week (~60 per month)
Human checkpoint
Bookkeeper reviews and acts on flagged exceptions in Slack (duplicates, coding queries, approval rejections, unmatched POs)
Process owner
[Your name] — Finance Manager or designated AP owner
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02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: Your team has one active role in this process. When the Coding and Approval Agent sends an invoice approval request to Slack, the designated approver must respond with an approve or query reaction in that Slack message. Every other step in the table below is handled automatically by the agents. If you do not respond within the configured reminder window, the system will send one automated reminder before escalating to the bookkeeper as an exception.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
The automation platform monitors the connected Gmail AP inbox and the Dext document capture queue. When a new invoice document lands in either location, the Invoice Intake Agent is triggered immediately and the document is pulled into the workflow.
Automation
Automated
2
Dext parses the invoice document and extracts structured data including supplier name, invoice number, issue date, due date, line item descriptions, quantities, unit prices, and the total amount payable. The extracted fields are passed forward to the next step.
Invoice Intake Agent
Automated
3
The Invoice Intake Agent queries Xero to check whether a bill with the same invoice number and supplier combination already exists. If a duplicate is found, the flow branches and a Slack alert is sent to the bookkeeper for manual resolution. If no duplicate is found, the flow continues.
Invoice Intake Agent
Automated
4
The Coding and Approval Agent reviews the supplier name and each line item description against historical coding patterns stored in Xero transaction data. It suggests the most appropriate chart-of-accounts code for each invoice line based on this history.
Coding and Approval Agent
Automated
5
A structured approval message is posted into the correct Slack channel for the designated budget holder. The message shows the supplier name, invoice total, due date, and suggested account codes. If no response is received within the configured window, one automated reminder is sent.
Coding and Approval Agent
Automated
6
The budget holder or approver reviews the Slack message and responds with an approve or query reaction. This is the only step that requires a human action during normal processing. If the invoice is queried, it is routed to the bookkeeper as an exception.
Approver (your team)
Human
7
On receiving an approved confirmation from Slack, the Payment and Remittance Agent creates the bill in Xero with all extracted data, the confirmed account codes, and the original invoice PDF attached to the bill record.
Payment and Remittance Agent
Automated
8
The automation sets the payment date in Xero based on the invoice due date and your configured payment run schedule. Any invoice due within 48 hours is flagged for immediate attention in the bookkeeper's exception queue.
Payment and Remittance Agent
Automated
9
After the payment is recorded in Xero, the automation emails a remittance advice to the supplier's address on file via Gmail. The email confirms the amount paid and the invoice reference so the supplier can match it against their outstanding balance.
Payment and Remittance Agent
Automated
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03Handling exceptions
Situation
What the system does
What you do
Duplicate invoice detected
The Invoice Intake Agent finds a matching invoice number and supplier combination already present in Xero. The flow stops immediately for that invoice. A Slack alert is sent to the bookkeeper with the duplicate invoice details and a link to the existing Xero bill.
Review the Slack alert. If the invoice is genuinely a duplicate, archive it in Dext and dismiss the alert. If it is a legitimate re-submission with a corrected amount or date, mark it as cleared in Slack so the flow can continue from the coding step.
Invoice data incomplete or unreadable
If Dext cannot extract a required field (for example, the invoice number or total amount is missing or illegible), the Invoice Intake Agent flags the record and sends a Slack notification to the bookkeeper with the partially extracted data and the original document attached.
Open the original document from Slack, enter the missing fields directly into the Dext record or the exception form provided, then confirm in Slack. The flow will resume from the coding step once the data is complete.
New supplier with no coding history
The Coding and Approval Agent cannot find a historical coding pattern for the supplier in Xero. Rather than guessing, it flags the invoice in Slack with a prompt for the bookkeeper to assign the account code manually before the approval request is sent to the budget holder.
Review the invoice category and assign the correct chart-of-accounts code in the Slack prompt or directly in Dext. Once confirmed, the agent will send the approval request and record this code as the default for future invoices from this supplier.
Approver does not respond within the reminder window
The Coding and Approval Agent sends one automated reminder to the approver in Slack after the configured wait period (default: 24 hours). If still no response after a further 24 hours, the invoice is escalated to the bookkeeper as a pending exception and removed from the active approval queue.
Contact the approver directly to confirm whether the invoice should be approved, queried, or held. Once you have a decision, update the invoice status in the exception queue in Slack. Do not post the bill in Xero until a clear approval or a documented hold decision is recorded.
Invoice does not match a purchase order
If an invoice references a PO number that cannot be found in Google Drive, or if the amount differs from the expected PO value, the agent flags the mismatch in Slack with both documents attached. The bill is not posted until the discrepancy is resolved.
Review the PO document and the invoice. If the supplier has overbilled, contact the supplier to request a corrected invoice or a credit note. If the PO has changed and the invoice is correct, update the PO in Google Drive and confirm resolution in Slack so the flow can continue.
A connected tool is unavailable (Dext, Xero, or Slack outage)
The automation platform detects a failed API call and retries the affected step up to three times with a five-minute gap between attempts. If all retries fail, the invoice is held in a pending queue and the bookkeeper receives a Slack alert (or an email to the configured fallback address if Slack is the affected tool) describing which step failed and which invoice is affected.
Check the status page for the affected tool (Dext, Xero, or Slack). Once the tool is back online, the automation will automatically retry the pending invoice from the failed step. If the outage lasts more than two hours, process the affected invoices manually in Xero and notify FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com so the held queue can be cleared without creating duplicates.
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04Who to contact and when
Fill in the rows marked with placeholders once your team is confirmed. Keep this table updated whenever roles change so the right person is reached at the right time without delay.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Process owner (Finance Manager)
[Your name]
[Your email]
Bookkeeper / AP operator (day-to-day exception handler)
[Your name]
[Rep email] / Slack: @[handle]
Primary approver (budget holder for invoice sign-off)
[Your name]
Slack: @[handle] / [Rep email]
Secondary approver (backup if primary is unavailable)
[Your name]
Slack: @[handle] / [Rep email]
Dext account administrator
[Your name]
[Rep email]
Xero account administrator
[Your name]
[Rep email]
FullSpec builder (automation build and configuration changes)
FullSpec team
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (technical issues, errors, and urgent incidents)
FullSpec support
support@gofullspec.com
For any automation error, unexpected behaviour, or change to the workflow configuration (such as adding a new approval channel, changing payment run timing, or updating the remittance email template), contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com. Do not attempt to modify the automation platform flow directly, as changes made outside of FullSpec may break connected steps.
05Ongoing maintenance
Whenever a new supplier is added
Ensure the new supplier record in Xero includes a default account code and the correct remittance email address. If the supplier will submit invoices regularly, confirm their email domain is on the AP inbox allow-list so documents are not filtered out before Dext can capture them.
Bookkeeper
Whenever the remittance email template changes
Send the updated template text to FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com. The FullSpec team will update the Gmail template used by the Payment and Remittance Agent and confirm once it is live. Do not edit the Gmail draft template directly as it may disconnect from the automation.
Process owner + FullSpec
Monthly spot-check (first week of each month)
Pull the AP activity report from Xero and confirm that all invoices processed in the prior month have a bill record, an attached PDF, and a sent remittance. Check the Slack exception log to see whether any invoices were held or manually resolved and confirm those are fully posted.
Bookkeeper
Weekly error-log review (every Monday)
Review the automation platform error summary (sent automatically to the process owner's email each Monday morning). Confirm that no invoices are stuck in the pending queue. If any errors appear, forward the summary to support@gofullspec.com with a note on which supplier or invoice is affected.
Process owner
Whenever a team member joins or leaves
Update the contact table in Section 04 of this document. Notify FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com to update the Slack channel routing and approval recipient list in the Coding and Approval Agent configuration. Remove departing users from the Dext, Xero, and Slack workspaces promptly.
Process owner + FullSpec
Quarterly volume review (every three months)
Compare actual monthly invoice volume against the baseline of approximately 60 invoices per month used to size this build. If volume has grown by more than 50%, contact FullSpec to review whether the current automation tier and tool subscription limits remain appropriate.
Finance Manager + FullSpec
The most common maintenance issue for this process is new suppliers being added to Xero without a default account code assigned. When the Coding and Approval Agent encounters a supplier with no coding history, every invoice from that supplier generates a manual exception in Slack until a default code is set. To avoid this, make it a standard step in your supplier onboarding to enter the account code in Xero before the first invoice arrives.
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