The coding calls that need judgment
A payment described as "supplies" is a question, not a value. The system collects those into one queue instead of scattering them through a spreadsheet. It does not answer them.
Not customer results. This is the process itself, before and after.
Year end document collection
The work is the accounts. The year is the chasing.
Dropie handles the steps between collecting details and filing the signed copy. Your client gets one link.
Illustrative process example. Adapt the steps and approvals to your team.
Before
How the process runs today
The year end passes in March. In April someone sends the client the standard list, the same list every client gets. Bank statements arrive, payroll does not. The receipts come as photographs, some of them sideways, one of them a picture of a screen. Somebody codes them, and about thirty of them raise a question nobody can answer without asking the client. The queries go out in an email. Some come back. The accounts get drafted in December against a deadline in January, and the partner reviews them in the same week as eleven other sets.
The anatomy
Every handoff, and what sends it backwards
Read the last column first. That is where the chasing starts.
| # | Who | What happens | Where it waits | What sends it back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Practice | Sends the standard document list in April | The client's inbox | The list is generic, so half of it does not apply |
| 2 | Client | Sends bank statements, forgets payroll | Nobody is watching | The client cannot see what is still missing |
| 3 | Practice | Notices the gap and chases | Until someone notices | Exists only because step 2 failed |
| 4 | Client | Sends receipts as photographs, some sideways | The junior's queue | Unreadable, or a duplicate of one already sent |
| 5 | Junior | Sorts, reads and codes each one by hand | Until the junior has time | A coding call nobody can make without the client |
| 6 | Junior | Writes the query list into an email | The client's inbox, again | The client answers some and misses the rest |
| 7 | Practice | Chases the unanswered queries | Until someone notices | Exists only because step 6 failed |
| 8 | Senior | Drafts the accounts | The drafting queue | A figure traces back to a receipt nobody can find |
| 9 | Partner | Reviews, alongside eleven other sets | The partner's week | A value looks wrong and nobody can say where it came from |
| 10 | Client | Approves, close to the deadline | The client's inbox, a third time | Approval arrives after the filing date |
What was built
The same process, with the chasing taken out
The highlighted rows still need a person. That is the point.
| # | What runs | What a human does | What the client sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The year end date is watched. The request goes out on its own, and again if nothing arrives | Nothing | Nothing yet |
| 2 | One link, with the list built from what this client actually filed last year | Nothing | Their list, and what is still outstanding |
| 3 | The form refuses an incomplete submission | Nothing | Which document is missing, before they send |
| 4 | Receipts are read off the image, each value stamped with a confidence score and the page it came from | Nothing | Nothing |
| 5 | Anything the system is not confident about is collected into one queue | Codes the ambiguous ones | Nothing |
| 6 | Queries go back on the same thread, not a new email, and the client sees which are still open | Nothing | The open queries, in one place |
| 7 | The accounts are drafted from those values, each traceable to its source | Nothing | Nothing |
| 8 | The file reaches the partner with every figure traceable | Reviews and approves | The signed accounts in their room |
Eight steps. Two of them are a person.
Functions used
Read the workflow as JSONThe run
Year end document collection
A diagram of these steps. Your approval points remain visible.
Year end document collectionCompleted
- The year end date is watched. The request goes out on its own, and again if nothing arrivesCompleted
- One link, with the list built from what this client actually filed last yearCompleted
- The form refuses an incomplete submissionCompleted
- Receipts are read off the image, each value stamped with a confidence score and the page it came fromCompleted
- Anything the system is not confident about is collected into one queueHuman approvalCodes the ambiguous ones
- Queries go back on the same thread, not a new email, and the client sees which are still openCompleted
- The accounts are drafted from those values, each traceable to its sourceCompleted
- The file reaches the partner with every figure traceableHuman approvalReviews and approves
Human approval
The highlighted rows still need a person. That is the point.
Not customer results. This is the process itself, before and after.
What it refuses to do
What we would check before turning it on
The client who brings a carrier bag
Some clients will always arrive with paper in a bag. That still gets scanned by a person. What changes is that everything after the scan is the same process as everyone else's.
Related processes
In the same industry, or using the same functions.
Accounting
Receipt collection
The receipt, its source and the question about it stay together.
See the process
Every business
Collecting client data
One link instead of the spreadsheet nobody understands.
See the process
Every business
Approving and signing
The right draft, the right approver, then the signature.
See the process
One process is a good place to start
Choose one task you would like to stop chasing. Build it with your documents, on your terms.