The typing behind the programs
Whatever programs an office runs, the same back-office work comes back every week: entering invoices, matching payments, keying timesheets and filling in grant reports. None of it needs a decision until the numbers are in, and all of it takes time a small staff does not have.
These are the shape of a typical small office, not a named client. The hours are what an office of a few staff usually gets back.
1. Entering vendor invoices
Vendor invoices
About 5 hours a week back
Before
Invoices arrive by email and mail. Someone types each one into the finance system, codes it to an account, prints or forwards it for approval, and follows up when it sits on a desk.
After
Invoices are read as they arrive and entered with the vendor, amount and usual account coding filled in. Each goes to the right approver, and the finance clerk reviews and posts instead of typing.
2. Reconciling payments
Online and card payment reconciliation
About 4 hours a week back
Before
Tax, permit and utility payments come through a third-party payment processor. Each month, staff match the processor's report line by line to the finance system and the bank deposit.
After
The processor's report, the finance system and the bank are matched automatically every day. Staff see only the payments that do not line up, with the reason.
3. Loading timesheets into payroll
Field crew timesheets
About 4 hours a week back
Before
Road and field crews fill in paper or spreadsheet timesheets. Someone keys each person's hours into payroll and codes them to the right project or grant.
After
Timesheets are read and loaded into payroll with the project and grant coding filled in. The payroll clerk checks a summary with overtime and missing entries flagged.
4. Building grant expense reports
Grant expense reports
About 3 hours a week back
Before
For each grant, staff pull the spending from the finance system, sort it into the funder's categories and copy it into the funder's form, every month or quarter.
After
Spending is pulled by grant code and laid out in each funder's format on schedule, with the backup attached. Staff review and submit.
What it adds up to
Together that is about 16 hours a week. At an illustrative fully loaded cost of $45,000 a year for one person, it is roughly $18,000 a year of staff time, spent on residents and programs instead. Each one works with the finance system, payroll and spreadsheets you already use, records stay in your systems, and a fixed quote fits a purchase order or a board approval.
Fixed price, running in days
Most of these land in the single-task band, $7,500 to $25,000, with the first deliverable running in your operation within 14 days. A simpler version can be a quick task, from $2,500, running within 7 days. Either way the price is fixed before work starts, and the clock starts when we have access and sample data.
You do not need to automate all four. Pick the one that takes your team the most hours. The evaluation is free, and if a task is not worth automating, we say so.