FS-DOC-03Operations
Process Runbook / SOP
Compliance & Certification Tracking
[YourCompany.com] · Operations Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook is your day-to-day reference for how the Compliance and Certification Tracking automation works, what it does on your behalf, and what you need to do yourself. It covers the end-to-end process flow, exception handling, key contacts, and maintenance responsibilities. FullSpec has built, tested, and connected all the automated steps. Your role is limited to the single human review checkpoint described in Section 02, and to keeping the compliance register accurate so the system always has good data to work from.
01Process overview
The Compliance and Certification Tracking automation monitors every licence, certificate, insurance policy, and regulatory filing recorded in your Google Sheets register. Each day, the system scans the register, identifies items approaching expiry, and sends personalised reminder emails and Slack alerts to the responsible owner without any manual prompting. If no renewal action is logged within five business days, the escalation agent automatically follows up with the owner and their manager. When a renewal is confirmed and a new document is received, the automation updates the register, files the document in Notion, routes any associated invoice to Xero, and generates a weekly compliance status report. The only step that stays with you is reviewing the received renewal document to confirm its validity before the record is marked complete.
Process name
Compliance & Certification Tracking
Trigger
Daily scheduled scan at 07:00, plus event-triggered renewal processing when an owner submits a document or marks an item complete
Final output
Updated Google Sheets register with current expiry dates, renewed documents filed in Notion, invoices routed to Xero, and a weekly compliance status report distributed via Gmail
Agents running
Compliance Monitoring Agent, Escalation Agent, Renewal Processing Agent
Tools involved
Google Sheets, Gmail, Slack, Notion, Xero
Weekly volume
30 to 80 active items tracked at any time; approximately 240 automated runs per month
Human checkpoint
Operations Manager reviews each received renewal document to confirm validity and issuing authority before the register is marked complete (approximately 10 minutes per item)
Process owner
Operations Manager
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02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: Your only required action in this process is Step 6, reviewing the renewed certificate or document when it arrives. Open the document, confirm the issuing authority looks correct, check the new expiry date matches what was expected, and approve it in the register. Every other step runs automatically without you needing to do anything.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
Every morning at 07:00, the automation platform triggers a full scan of the Google Sheets compliance register. Every active item is checked against today's date and its expiry date is compared against the 90-day, 60-day, and 30-day notice thresholds. Items that fall within any threshold window are flagged and passed to the next step.
Compliance Monitoring Agent
Automated
2
For each flagged item, the Compliance Monitoring Agent reads the responsible owner from the register, determines the correct urgency tier based on days remaining, and prepares a personalised reminder. Items at 90 days receive an early-notice email; items at 60 and 30 days receive progressively more urgent messages.
Compliance Monitoring Agent
Automated
3
A personalised reminder email is sent via Gmail to the responsible owner. The email includes the item name, the current expiry date, the urgency level, renewal instructions, and a deadline by which a response or document upload is expected. Emails are generated from a fixed template and require no manual writing.
Compliance Monitoring Agent via Gmail
Automated
4
Simultaneously, a structured alert is posted to the designated Slack compliance channel. The message tags the responsible owner and summarises the items due, giving team leads visibility of upcoming deadlines without needing to open the register.
Compliance Monitoring Agent via Slack
Automated
5
The Escalation Agent monitors every open reminder. If five business days pass without the owner logging a renewal update in the register, the agent automatically sends a follow-up email to the owner and a direct Slack message to both the owner and their manager. The escalation timestamp is recorded in the register row.
Escalation Agent via Gmail and Slack
Automated
6
When a renewed certificate or policy document is received, you open it and check that the issuing authority is correct, the new expiry date is as expected, and the document appears valid. This is a deliberate human judgement step. Once satisfied, you approve it in the register or upload the document to the agreed location to trigger the next step.
Operations Manager
Human
7
Once approval is registered, the Renewal Processing Agent automatically updates the Google Sheets register with the new expiry date, certificate reference number, and a renewed status. The existing row is updated in place so the next daily scan picks up the correct date.
Renewal Processing Agent via Google Sheets
Automated
8
The renewed document is filed in the correct Notion database page using the agreed naming convention. The Google Sheets register entry is updated with a direct link to the filed document so it is always one click away from the register.
Renewal Processing Agent via Notion
Automated
9
If a renewal invoice is attached or referenced in the renewal confirmation, the Renewal Processing Agent flags it and forwards it to Xero for payment processing by the finance team. A note is added to the register row confirming the invoice was routed.
Renewal Processing Agent via Xero
Automated
10
Every week, the automation compiles a current compliance status report from the register, listing all active items, their status, urgency tier, and any recent renewals. The report is distributed automatically via Gmail to the Operations Manager and any designated stakeholders. No manual assembly is required.
Reporting logic via Gmail
Automated
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03Handling exceptions
Situation
What the system does
What you do
A register row is missing the owner email address or the owner field is blank
The Compliance Monitoring Agent flags the row as incomplete and skips sending a reminder for that item. It logs the gap in a dedicated error tab in Google Sheets and posts a warning to the Slack compliance channel identifying the item by name.
Check the error tab in Google Sheets, locate the item, and add the correct owner email. The next day's scan will pick it up and send the reminder automatically. If the owner is unknown, contact HR to confirm responsibility before updating the register.
The same certification item appears more than once in the register with different expiry dates
The agent processes both rows independently and sends reminders for each. It flags duplicate item names in the error tab so the conflict is visible. It does not attempt to merge rows automatically.
Review the two rows, confirm which expiry date is correct, and delete or archive the outdated row. Update the remaining row with the correct data. If you are unsure which date is right, contact the certificate holder or issuing authority before editing.
An owner receives a reminder but the renewal cannot be completed because the item is held by an external provider who has not yet issued new documents
After five business days with no status update, the Escalation Agent sends its standard follow-up to the owner and manager. The system continues to re-escalate on the same five-day cycle until a renewal is logged or the item is manually marked as pending-external.
Update the register row with a status of pending-external and add a note with the expected document date. This pauses escalation for that item. When the document arrives, remove the pending-external status and proceed with your standard document review.
The Operations Manager does not approve a received document within a reasonable time and the review checkpoint stalls
The system holds the Renewal Processing Agent at the review step. The register row remains in a submitted status and the item continues to appear as outstanding in the weekly report.
Complete your document review as soon as possible. If you are away, designate a backup reviewer in the contacts table in Section 04 and ensure they have access to the register and the incoming document location. Inform FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com if a cover arrangement needs to be built into the workflow.
Google Sheets is temporarily unavailable when the daily scan is due to run
The automation platform detects the connection failure and retries the scan up to three times over a 30-minute window. If the tool remains unavailable after all retries, the scan is skipped for that day and an error notification is sent to the Operations Manager via Slack and Gmail.
No action is needed for a brief outage. If Google Sheets is unavailable for more than one full day, log in manually to check for items at immediate risk of expiry and send reminders directly. Contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com if the connection error persists beyond 24 hours.
Notion is unavailable when the Renewal Processing Agent attempts to file a renewed document
The agent retries document filing up to three times. If Notion remains unreachable, the register update in Google Sheets is completed and the new expiry date is saved, but the document filing step is flagged as failed. An alert is sent to the Operations Manager.
Save the renewed document to a temporary holding folder you have agreed in advance with the FullSpec team. When Notion comes back online, the system will attempt to file it again if the document link is present in the register. If it does not file automatically within 24 hours, contact support@gofullspec.com to trigger a manual retry.
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04Who to contact and when
Fill in the rows marked with placeholders once your team is confirmed. These contacts are used by the automation for escalation routing and by your team when exceptions need to be resolved manually. Keep this table current whenever roles change, as stale contact details are one of the most common causes of missed escalations.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Process owner (Operations Manager)
Rachel Ooms
[Rep email]
Finance contact (invoice queries)
Daniel Frost
[Rep email]
HR Coordinator (owner assignment queries)
Priya Mehta
[Rep email]
Backup document reviewer (cover for Operations Manager)
[Your name]
[Rep email]
FullSpec builder (technical changes, workflow updates)
FullSpec team
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (errors, outages, unexpected behaviour)
FullSpec support
support@gofullspec.com
05Ongoing maintenance
Whenever a new item is added to the register
Add the item to Google Sheets using the agreed fixed schema: item name, owner email, expiry date, renewal status, urgency tier, and Notion document link. Do not add extra columns without confirming with FullSpec first, as the agent reads fixed column positions. An incomplete row will be flagged and skipped.
Operations Manager
Whenever a reminder email template needs updating
Contact FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com with the revised wording. Do not edit template text directly in the automation platform. Template changes need to be tested to confirm personalisation fields and urgency-tier routing still work correctly after any edit.
Operations Manager requests, FullSpec implements
Monthly spot-check (first week of each month)
Open the Google Sheets register and scan for rows with a blank status, missing owner, or an expiry date that has already passed without a renewal logged. Cross-check the Notion database to confirm the five most recently filed documents are linked correctly in the register. Log any gaps and correct them.
Operations Manager
Weekly error-log review (every Monday)
Open the error tab in Google Sheets and review any items flagged since the last check. Items flagged for missing owner data, duplicate rows, or failed Notion filing should be resolved within two business days. Clear resolved flags by marking them actioned in the error tab.
Operations Manager
Whenever a team member changes role, leaves, or a new owner takes over a certification
Update the owner email in every register row that person was responsible for. Notify FullSpec if the change also affects escalation routing, for example if a manager who receives escalation emails has left. Stale owner records cause reminders and escalations to reach the wrong person or bounce.
Operations Manager, with FullSpec for escalation routing updates
Quarterly volume review (every three months)
Check whether the number of active tracked items has grown significantly beyond the 30 to 80 item range the system was sized for. If your register has grown above 120 items, or if new item types with different notice-window requirements have been added, contact FullSpec to review whether urgency-tier thresholds or scan frequency need adjusting.
Operations Manager, with FullSpec for configuration changes
The most common maintenance issue for this process is stale or missing owner data in the Google Sheets register. When an owner email is blank, out of date, or points to someone who has left, reminders and escalations either bounce or reach the wrong person, and the item silently falls through. Make updating owner assignments part of your standard offboarding checklist so the register stays accurate without relying on memory.
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