Step 1 (days 1–3): record the baseline before anything runs
Before the Finance Controller Digital FTE proposes a single match, record what reconciliation costs today for the entity you will pilot: hours per week spent matching, by whom; exceptions open on day one of the last two closes; days to close; and adjustments made after sign-off. Two weeks of honest time recording is ideal; if the pilot cannot wait, the last two closes' records are the minimum.
This baseline is the denominator for every later comparison. Without it the pilot produces impressions; with it, the second close produces a decision.
Step 2 (days 3–5): connect the ledger and bank feeds with scoped credentials
Connect the accounting system and the bank feeds in the FTE's Setup tab using a dedicated token rather than a person's login, with read access and the ability to propose entries but not to post them. The connection is scoped to this entity as a property, encrypted before storage, and revocable from the workspace in one action.
Have security confirm the scope at the tool, not just in the workspace: the strongest control is the permission the tool grants, and it takes a few minutes to check.
Step 3 (days 5–7): write the remit and confirm the Brand Brain
In the first-run wizard, write the three lists. Owns: daily reconciliation of the entity's bank lines against invoices, exception surfacing with documents, and close preparation. Escalates: anything above the threshold you set, partial matches, write-offs, adjustments, and unfamiliar counterparties. Never: posting on its own, which the platform gates until a class earns promotion, and any judgement call, which stays with the accountant.
Then read the Brand Brain the wizard pre-filled: the entity's fee schedules, the recurring counterparties, the settlement patterns. Correct anything wrong now, because a wrong fee schedule in memory produces confidently wrong matches until fixed.
Step 4 (week 2): approve matches with their evidence, read every exception
From the first morning, the brief lists proposed matches with the bank line, the invoice, and the fee schedule that explains any difference, and exceptions with the reason and documents. Approve what is right in seconds; send back what is wrong with a reason in a sentence; decide exceptions from the documents. Keep every class at Level 0.
Read closely this week. The point is not speed but the record: every approval and every reason is what week three and week four are built on.
- Matched: exact correspondence, logged
- Proposed: likely match, evidence attached, your approval
- Exception: cannot match confidently, reason and documents, your decision
- Anomaly: duplicate, unusual amount, timing shift, flagged
Step 5 (week 3): tune the remit from the send-back reasons
At the end of week two and again at the end of week three, read the send-back reasons grouped by type. A recurring fee pattern the FTE keeps treating as an exception becomes a memory item. A counterparty the FTE keeps proposing matches for above your comfort becomes a threshold rule. A category of exception you always decide the same way becomes a remit rule or, if it truly needs judgement, stays gated and is simply expected.
The send-back rate should visibly fall between week two and week three. If it does not, the remit is still too loose or a connection is missing data, and the reasons say which.
Step 6 (week 4): the first monthly review and the promotion decision
In week four, read the FTE's first-person report against its targets, check each target against the evidence in Targets, read the month's send-back reasons, and look at usage for the role. Decide three things: are the targets right, does the remit need changing, and has any class earned promotion. The only class that should be a candidate at day 30 is the exact match, and only if its record is long and clean.
If you promote it, promote within bounds, log the decision, and expect to step it back on the first send-back. Everything with judgement in it stays gated, and the always-escalate list does not change.
What does done look like at day 30?
Done at day 30 is not a faster close yet; the first close on this pattern includes setup and is not representative. Done is: a ledger reconciled daily with every match evidenced; an exception list that is short on the morning of the close because exceptions were raised the day they appeared; a remit that has absorbed the month's send-back reasons; one class promoted from a clean record or deliberately not; and a written review note with the three decisions and their reasons.
The honest comparison against the baseline comes at the second close. What day 30 delivers is the record that makes that comparison possible, and a finance lead who has spent five minutes a day on the brief and thirty on the review has done all the management the pilot needed.