From a recurring spreadsheet task to a workflow your team can run

1. Initial conversation

You describe one recurring workflow: what goes in, what comes out, how often it runs and how long it takes. No files, access or preparation are needed. Sometimes the honest answer is that the workflow is fine as it is, and we will say so.

2. Mapping and scope

We map the workflow step by step: the source exports, the cleanup, the matching, the checks and the points where someone makes a judgment call. That map becomes a written scope with acceptance criteria and a fixed price, so both sides know what done means.

3. Build in your environment

The workflow is built in the tools your team already uses wherever practical. Often that means formulas, tables and Power Query, which your team can open and inspect. A script or macro is used only where it clearly helps, never by default. By default your files stay in an environment you approve, access is limited to what the work needs and revocable by you, and local copies are made only by agreement.

4. Checks and reconciliation

Every run checks its own inputs and outputs: required columns are present, amounts are readable, duplicates are counted once and reported, and totals agree to their control source. Missing columns, unreadable amounts or conflicting records stop the run, because no reliable result is possible. A reconciliation difference does not stop it: the difference is shown for investigation and the run is clearly marked as needing review. A blocked or failed run is never presented as a clean result.

5. Exceptions with reasons

Anything that does not satisfy a written rule is listed separately with the source rows, the rule that was tried, the reason it stopped and a suggested next step. Ambiguous items are never forced into a match.

6. Documentation and handover

The logic, checks and known limitations are written down, with a change log and a short user guide for the people who run it each month. A handover walkthrough makes sure the workflow does not depend on us.

7. Your review and acceptance

You test the workflow against the agreed criteria, using your own data and your own judgment. The engagement is complete when it meets them. For an agreed period after acceptance, defects in the agreed implementation are corrected. A pilot ends differently: with the evidence and a recommendation on whether to prepare the workflow for operational use.

What a good candidate looks like

• It runs on a regular cadence, such as weekly, monthly or every close.
• The same exports or files arrive each time, in roughly the same shape.
• Most of the work follows rules that could be written down.
• It takes meaningful time, or depends on one person who knows how it works.

When automation is not worth it

A one-off cleanup, a task that takes a few minutes a month, or a process where nearly every item needs fresh judgment is usually better left as it is. If your existing software already produces a clean result, keep it. The Workflow Payback Check gives you an honest estimate in about two minutes.

Specialist work in e-commerce reconciliation

For payout and clearing-account reconciliation across Shopify, payment processors, marketplaces, wholesale and the bank, the same steps apply with multi-pass matching rules and rollups for bundled settlements. See the e-commerce reconciliation reference build, the page for accounting firms and the E-commerce Fit Score.