Vendor Management & Payment Automation
Driving 90%+ adminstrative workload reduction through strategic process automation and integraiton.
Overview
A multi-year strategic engagement focused on eliminating systemic system and process inefficiencies and establishing a reliable, secure vendor lifecycle management process.
CLIENT CONTEXT
As a fiscal sponsor, the client must manage unique accounting codes, compliance requirements, and payment schedules for a diverse portfolio of entities. This complex, high-volume environment made manual processes unsustainable and high-risk.
The Problem
The initial system was characterized by high-friction processes that prevented scalable growth. Key challenges included:
ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN
Forms captured raw, unstructured invoice attachments inputs
DISCONNECTED DATA
Forms captured raw, unstructured invoice attachments inputs
ACCOUNTING DELAYS
Forms captured raw, unstructured invoice attachments inputs
ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN
Forms captured raw, unstructured invoice attachments inputs
Impact
Operational Efficiency & Scalability
The initial system was characterized by high-friction processes that prevented scalable growth. Key challenges included:
REDUCED MANUAL TOUCHPOINTS
Eliminated manual data entry between expense logging, Ramp bill creation, and QuickBooks setup.
ACCELERATED CYCLE TIMES
Reduced the vendor onboarding cycle time by an estimated 60%, and reduced payment processing times by an estimated 90%.
INCREASE CAPACITY
Several hours that were previously taken up by adminstrative activity could be re-directed back to strategic-client facing work.
Financial Auditability & Accuracy
COMPLIANCE
Provided a clear audit from expense entry through final payment, supporting non-profit financial transparency.
REDUCED TIME EXPENSE CODING
Automated mapping validation drastically reduced the time administrative staff spent coding expenses and reconciling vendor/account mismatches.
IMPROVED ISSUE RESOLUTION
Advanced error-handling capabilities and integrated troubleshooting guides significantly reduced the time required to resolve system faults and payment issues.
Enhanced Reporting & Operational Intel
SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Centralized data in Airtable enables instant querying for grant-making, budget tracking, and financial review
CUSTOM REPORT GENERATION
Simplified the process of pulling custom reports and data visualizations required by grant-makers and auditors
DATA DRIVEN CAPACITY FORECASTING
With a clear view of all transactions, inquiries, and bills being processed by the organization a more accurate picture of current organizational can be created.
Team Empowerment & Sustainability
HIGH USER ADOPTION
Ensured a high adoption rate by proactively collaborating with and involving key stakeholders throughout the entire build and protoyping phase.
EMPOWERED SELF-SERVICE
Specialized training and knowledge transfer uplifted user capabilities, enabling the team to execute smaller system enhancements independently.
HIGH SENSE OF OWNERSHIP
Delivered training focused on product management, system design, and Airtable technical capabilities - shifting the team's mindset to proactive system maintenance and optimization
Strategic Solutions & Intervention
"Right now too much of our time is spent processing invoices and tracking down information, when that's not our core work. We want to get back to our acutal jobs. "
NORTH STAR 001
Client Portal & Process Optimization
Designed and launched a client portal using Airtable to empower project managers to initiate onboarding and input expenses into a format ready for Ramp's ingestion through API.
Internal Process &
UX Re-Design
Migrating all workflows inside of Airtable's "data" view to interfaces tailored to support updated bill approval processes, automated creation, etc.
Sustainability, Education & Upskilling
Conducted interactive Beyond the Build training and workshop to collectively discuss company's processes, teach essential Airtable, system design, and software project management skills.
Automated Financial & Vendor Lifecycle
Architected integration using Google Cloud to connect Airtable to accounting systems in order to create bills, vendor profiles, and accounts/subacounts automatically
Advanced Data Validation & Error Handling
Enforced strict form inputs and created automations format expense data, ensuring alignment with Ramp's payload requirements. Created centralized logs and created step-by-step error-handling guides / notfications.
CORE TECHNOLOGY
AIRTABLE
Used for creating internal interfaces and temporary client portal
JOTFORM
Used for securely capturing PII and other sensitive data
GOOGLE CLOUD
Interacting with Google Cloud to get bill and account and sub account information from Airtable
RAMP API
Interacting with Google Cloud to get bill and vendor information from Airtable
QUICKBOOKS API
Interacting with Google Cloud to get bill and vendor information from Airtable