See it on your setup

From workbook to configured system.

Here is how Votis runs an implementation: what your consultant sets out, what your customer sees, what you sign off, and what leaves.

By systemFinancePeople
Harbourline Finance Rollout
0 of 6 decided
Discovery
5 of 6 decided · 1 waiting for you
Unit
Decision
Decided by
Because
Companies
In scope
Customer
discussed on the call
Cost centres
In scope
Customer
discussed on the call
Chart of accounts
In scope
Consultant
required for a finance system
Bank accounts
In scope
Consultant
came in with the workbook
Fixed assets
Declined
Customer
discussed on the call, none held
Approval limits
Proposed
Agent
each limit belongs to a cost centre · waiting for you to confirm
Every unit carries who decided it and why. The agent can propose; a person confirms.
Scoping
5 in scope · 3 wait on another
Order
Unit
Waits on
1
Companies
Nothing
2
Chart of accounts
Nothing
3
Cost centres
Companies
4
Approval limits
Cost centres
5
Bank accounts
Companies
What the agent says when it explains why it is waiting
We cannot set up approval limits until the cost centres exist, because each limit belongs to a cost centre.
The order is your consultant's, and so is the sentence. When the agent explains why it is waiting, it says that sentence.
Configuration
36 of 47 settled
Corrected
“Marketing EMEA” has no parent and nothing under it, so it is not a top. Which group does it sit under?
Central services.
Checked
Placed: 46 cost centres, all of them in the tree, 40 shared. Approval limits can start now, because each limit belongs to a cost centre.
Configured so far
9 companies under Harbourline Group Holdings Ltd
Base currency GBP
Cost centres: 46 placed, 40 shared
Approval limits: per company
The customer answers and sends what they have. The agent reads it, corrects what does not fit and checks every answer against what your consultant set out.
Export
Live in the finance system
3 decisions to review
Cost centres are shared across the group, six owned by one company.
Approval limits are set per company, because Scotland approves separately.
Fixed assets are out of scope, because the group holds none.
harbourline-finance.xml · ready · API
9 companies created
46 cost centres in their groups, 40 shared
24 approval limits, per company
Ruled out, with the reason the customer gave
Fixed assets: nothing to register.
A final approver in three companies: two signatures is the group rule.
Nothing goes near the system until a person signs it off. What the customer ruled out is recorded as ruled out, with the reason they gave, and that record is in front of you when you sign.
Unit
Decision
Decided by
Because
Companies
In scope
Customer
discussed on the call
Cost centres
In scope
Customer
discussed on the call
Chart of accounts
In scope
Consultant
required for a finance system
Bank accounts
In scope
Consultant
came in with the workbook
Fixed assets
Declined
Customer
discussed on the call, none held
Approval limits
Proposed
Agent
each limit belongs to a cost centre · waiting for you to confirm
Order
Unit
Waits on
1
Companies
Nothing
2
Chart of accounts
Nothing
3
Cost centres
Companies
4
Approval limits
Cost centres
5
Bank accounts
Companies
What the agent says when it explains why it is waiting
We cannot set up approval limits until the cost centres exist, because each limit belongs to a cost centre.
Configured so far
9 companies under Harbourline Group Holdings Ltd
Base currency GBP
2 configured so far
3 decisions to review
Cost centres are shared across the group, six owned by one company.
Approval limits are set per company, because Scotland approves separately.
Fixed assets are out of scope, because the group holds none.
harbourline-finance.xml · ready
Sending to the finance system
9 companies created
46 cost centres in their groups, 40 shared
24 approval limits, per company
Ruled out, with the reason the customer gave
Fixed assets: nothing to register.
A final approver in three companies: two signatures is the group rule.
Every unit carries who decided it and why. The agent can propose; a person confirms.
The order is your consultant's, and so is the sentence. When the agent explains why it is waiting, it says that sentence.
The customer answers and sends what they have. The agent reads it, corrects what does not fit and checks every answer against what your consultant set out.
Nothing goes near the system until a person signs it off. What the customer ruled out is recorded as ruled out, with the reason they gave, and that record is in front of you when you sign.

Your consultant sets it out once.

One specification for each system you implement. It holds what a good implementation of that system has to settle, in what order, and why. Every customer you put on that system runs from it, and what leaves at the end is exact to that system. Nobody writes questions: the agent composes the asking from what you set out.

Drop the workbook.

Upload the one you already use. Votis reads it and sorts what it finds into areas: 741 columns, 22 lists and 318 choices in the Harbourline example, 183 of them not yet placed. You rename, retype and drop what you don’t need.

harbourline-workbook.xlsx
Read: 741 columns · 22 lists · 318 choices · 183 to place

The reasons, drawn.

Anything that waits on something else carries a sentence you wrote. When the agent explains to your customer why it is asking, or why it is waiting, it says that sentence. Six units of the finance specification, every link between them drawn, and the four sentences behind them.

Finance system · set out by your consultant
Setting up
The system being implemented
What we found
Areas read from the workbook
How it fits together
Companies before cost centres
Cost centres before approval limits
Chart of accounts before dimensions
Companies before bank accounts
How the customer is asked
The business first, then the detail
What leaves
A file, or by API
Companies
Chart of accounts
Dimensions
Cost centres
Approval limits
Bank accounts
Cost centres
Approval limits
Companies
What the agent says when it explains this
Cost centres belong to a legal entity, so the companies are settled first and each cost centre is placed under one.
We cannot set up approval limits until the cost centres exist, because each limit belongs to a cost centre.
Department is a dimension, not part of the account code, so the chart is set before the dimensions are.
Each company has its own bank accounts, so we settle the companies first and ask about banks per company.
6 units · 4 links · no loops.

When it isn’t sure.

The first thing an implementation lead asks is what happens when the agent gets something wrong. Here is what it does instead of guessing.

A decision the agent writes is not agreed until a person confirms it. It is shown as proposed, with who proposed it and why, and it stays in that state, visibly, until someone says yes. It never quietly counts as settled.

A row it cannot place is held, and named. It says which row and what stopped it, and the row waits there until a person deals with it. Nothing is guessed into a gap.

Something with no name yet cannot be pointed at. When a table would need it, the agent says which row is missing its name and asks for it, rather than drawing a row of blanks.

A structure that loops, or goes deeper than your consultant allowed, or has a row whose parent is gone, is refused, and the refusal says which rows. “Operations sits under Logistics, which sits under Operations” is a sentence, not an error code.

A document your customer sends has an outcome, and the outcome is recorded: it was applied, it added nothing, or it could not be read. A file never just disappears.

Nothing goes near the target system until a person signs it off. What the customer ruled out is recorded as ruled out, with the reason they gave, and that record is in front of the person who signs.

Harbourline Finance Rollout · what the agent said instead of guessing
What
State
What it said
Approval limits
Proposed
Each limit belongs to a cost centre. Waiting for you to confirm.
Cost centres, row 31
Held
“Marketing EMEA” names a group that doesn’t exist. Add the group, or move the row?
Grades, row 6
Refused
This row has a code and no name, so nothing can point at it. Name it and it appears.
Cost centres
Refused
A loop was found: Operations sits under Logistics, which sits under Operations. Break the loop.
old-chart.pdf
Could not be read
The file is a scanned image. Send the chart as a spreadsheet, or type the accounts in.
cost-centres.xlsx
Applied
46 rows added to Cost centres, 40 of them shared across the group.

What leaves.

Once signed off, the configuration goes out in the format the target system expects, because the specification was written for that system in the first place. The same configuration as a file or straight in by API, byte for byte. Load it, or let Votis push it in.

By system
FinanceThe cost centre hierarchy, the group under its holding company, and the chart of accounts collapsing.
PeopleLeave entitlement, every grade against every contract type.

See it on your own setup.

A 20-minute call. Bring the workbook you use today and we’ll show you what Votis reads from it.

See it on your setup