FS-DOC-03Operations
Process Runbook / SOP
Contractor Management
[YourCompany.com] · Operations Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook is your day-to-day operating guide for the Contractor Management automation. It tells you exactly what the system does on its own, where your team still acts, how to handle anything that goes wrong, and who to call when you need help. FullSpec builds and maintains the automation end to end. Your role is to handle the one exception step described in Section 02, keep contact details and contractor data current, and review the process health on the schedule in Section 05.
01Process overview
The Contractor Management automation runs from the moment a new contractor submits their onboarding form right through to ongoing compliance monitoring and invoice payment. Three agents handle the work in sequence: the Contractor Onboarding Agent fires on form submission and sets up every system record; the Invoice Approval and Payment Agent routes each invoice for sign-off and creates the Xero bill once approved; and the Compliance Monitor Agent runs daily checks and sends expiry alerts before documents lapse. The only step that stays with your team is reviewing and approving an invoice when the submitted amount does not match the agreed contractor rate.
Process name
Contractor Management
Trigger
A contractor or hiring manager submits the Google Forms onboarding form, or the system detects a new invoice from a known contractor
Final output
Contractor fully onboarded in Airtable, Google Drive, and Xero; invoices approved and scheduled for payment in Xero; compliance documents monitored with 30-day expiry alerts sent automatically
Agents running
Contractor Onboarding Agent, Invoice Approval and Payment Agent, Compliance Monitor Agent
Tools involved
Google Forms, Airtable, Google Drive, Xero, Slack
Weekly volume
Approximately 6 contractor engagements per month; invoice processing runs weekly or fortnightly per contractor
Human checkpoint
Finance Manager reviews and approves invoices where the submitted amount does not match the agreed rate on file
Process owner
Operations Manager
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02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: There is one human step in this process. When a contractor submits an invoice that does not match their agreed rate, the Finance Manager receives a Slack message with the discrepancy details and a one-click link to approve or query the invoice. Everything else runs automatically. You do not need to log in to any system to complete a normal onboarding or a matching invoice.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
A contractor or hiring manager completes and submits the Google Forms onboarding form with personal details, bank information, agreed rate, and compliance documents attached.
Contractor / Hiring Manager
Human
2
The Contractor Onboarding Agent reads the form submission and creates a new contractor record in Airtable, populating contact details, engagement dates, agreed rate, and document status.
Contractor Onboarding Agent
Automated
3
The agent saves all submitted compliance documents to a named folder in Google Drive. Expiry dates extracted from the form are written back into the Airtable record for monitoring.
Contractor Onboarding Agent
Automated
4
The agent creates a supplier record in Xero using the contractor's payment details from the form, removing the need for Finance to set this up manually.
Contractor Onboarding Agent
Automated
5
A Slack notification is posted to the relevant team channel confirming the contractor is active, along with their start date, agreed rate, and the hiring manager's name.
Contractor Onboarding Agent
Automated
6
When a contractor submits an invoice, the Invoice Approval and Payment Agent detects it and sends an approval request to the hiring manager via Slack with a one-click approve or query option.
Invoice Approval and Payment Agent
Automated
7a
If the invoice amount matches the agreed rate on file in Airtable, the agent automatically creates a bill in Xero against the existing supplier record and schedules it for the next payment run. The Airtable record is updated to reflect the payment status.
Invoice Approval and Payment Agent
Automated
7b
If the invoice amount does not match the agreed rate, the Finance Manager receives a Slack alert with the discrepancy details and a direct link to review. The Finance Manager approves or queries the invoice using the link provided.
Finance Manager
Human
8
Every day, the Compliance Monitor Agent checks all expiry dates stored in Airtable. If a compliance document expires within 30 days, it sends a reminder to the contractor and the Operations Manager with a direct re-upload link and the number of days remaining.
Compliance Monitor Agent
Automated
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03Handling exceptions
Situation
What the system does
What you do
Onboarding form submitted with missing or incomplete fields
The automation creates a partial Airtable record and flags the row with a status of 'Incomplete'. A Slack alert is sent to the Operations Manager identifying which fields are missing. The Xero supplier record is not created until the required payment fields are present.
Contact the contractor directly to request the missing information. Once they resubmit or you update the Airtable record manually, the agent can be re-triggered by FullSpec support or will pick up the corrected record on its next scheduled run.
A duplicate contractor record is detected in Airtable
The agent checks for an existing record by matching contractor name and email before creating a new row. If a match is found, it skips creation and posts a Slack alert noting the potential duplicate and the existing record ID.
Open Airtable and review both records. If the existing record is correct, archive or delete the duplicate. If the contractor is genuinely re-engaging under new terms, update the existing record with the new engagement dates and rate, or contact FullSpec support to confirm the correct merge approach.
Invoice submitted by a contractor not found in Airtable or Xero
The agent cannot match the invoice to a known supplier record. It posts a Slack alert to the Operations Manager with the invoice sender details and flags the invoice as unmatched. No Xero bill is created.
Check whether the contractor was onboarded outside the automated flow. If so, add them manually to Airtable and Xero, then forward the invoice details to FullSpec support to process the bill for this instance. Ensure all future contractors use the Google Forms onboarding route.
Hiring manager does not respond to the invoice approval request
The agent sends a follow-up Slack reminder after 24 hours of no response. If there is still no action after 48 hours, a second reminder is sent and the Operations Manager is copied in.
Check with the hiring manager directly. If they are unavailable, you can approve the invoice yourself if you have the authority to do so, or contact FullSpec support to manually advance the invoice to the Finance Manager for review.
A contractor does not re-upload an expiring compliance document
The Compliance Monitor Agent sends reminders at 30 days and again at 14 days before expiry. If no new document is uploaded by the expiry date, the Airtable record status is updated to 'Compliance Expired' and a final alert is sent to the Operations Manager.
Follow up with the contractor directly. If the document is not received promptly, escalate to the hiring manager to pause or suspend the engagement until the document is renewed. Update the Airtable record status once the new document is received and filed.
Xero or another connected tool is temporarily unavailable
The automation platform retries the failed action up to three times with a five-minute gap between attempts. If all retries fail, the agent logs the error and sends a Slack alert to the Operations Manager with details of the failed step and the data it was trying to send.
Do not attempt to duplicate the action manually unless more than two business hours have passed with no recovery. Check the Slack alert for the specific step that failed. If the tool is still unavailable after two hours, contact FullSpec support at support@gofullspec.com with the error message from the alert so the team can investigate and reprocess the failed record.
04Who to contact and when
Fill in the rows marked with brackets once your team contacts are confirmed. The FullSpec rows are fixed. Use this table as your first reference point whenever something needs attention in the process.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Operations Manager (process owner)
[Your name]
[Your email or Slack handle]
Finance Manager (invoice discrepancy approver)
[Finance Manager name]
[Finance Manager email or Slack handle]
Hiring Manager (invoice approver, onboarding requester)
[Hiring Manager name]
[Hiring Manager email or Slack handle]
FullSpec builder (technical issues, agent changes, re-triggers)
FullSpec team
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (all queries, errors, and change requests)
FullSpec support
support@gofullspec.com
For anything that looks like a system error, an unexpected Slack alert from the automation, or a step that has not completed within its expected timeframe, email support@gofullspec.com first. Include the contractor name or invoice reference, the tool involved, and a screenshot of the Slack alert if you have one. The FullSpec team will investigate and respond within one business day.
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05Ongoing maintenance
Whenever a contractor rate or engagement terms change
Update the contractor's agreed rate and engagement dates in the Airtable record. The invoice matching logic reads from this record, so an outdated rate will cause invoices to be flagged as discrepancies unnecessarily.
Operations Manager
Whenever the onboarding form fields change
Notify FullSpec before changing the Google Form structure. Field names must match the Airtable column names and the Xero field mappings. An unannounced form change can break the onboarding agent until the mapping is updated.
Operations Manager, then FullSpec to update mappings
Monthly spot-check
Open Airtable and review any records with a status of 'Incomplete', 'Compliance Expired', or 'Unmatched Invoice'. Resolve or escalate each flagged row. Confirm that the most recent contractor onboarding and invoice ran through the automation correctly end to end.
Operations Manager
Monthly error-log review
FullSpec will send a brief monthly summary of any automation errors, retry events, or failed steps from the previous month. Review the summary and flag anything that recurred more than once so it can be investigated.
Operations Manager, reviewed with FullSpec support
Whenever a team member changes role or leaves
Update the contact table in this runbook. If the departing person was an invoice approver or Slack notification recipient, notify FullSpec so the routing rules can be updated to the new contact. Do not leave an inactive Slack user as an approver.
Operations Manager, then FullSpec to update routing
Quarterly volume review
If the number of active contractors has grown significantly or dropped, review whether the current Airtable structure and Xero supplier list are still clean and current. Contact FullSpec if volume has more than doubled, as this may affect rate limits or notification settings.
Operations Manager, with FullSpec if volume has shifted
The most common maintenance issue for this process is an outdated agreed rate in Airtable. When a contractor's rate is renegotiated and the Airtable record is not updated at the same time, every subsequent invoice will be flagged as a discrepancy and land in the Finance Manager's review queue unnecessarily. Make updating the rate in Airtable part of the same conversation in which the new rate is agreed.
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