Case study · Agency back office · 2024 – ongoing

Payroll took an agency 2–3 hours by hand. Now it takes about 5 minutes

An agency tracked time in a project tool and then retyped it into payroll, client invoices and reports. Since 2024 we have been building one internal platform, which now covers 11 of its processes. It copies tracked time from the project tool, and from that one copy it prepares payroll documents, client invoices, and each client’s cost and margin, calculated from the hours actually worked. Rules classify bank transactions from known vendors. Transactions the system does not recognize go to a review queue. A person still approves payroll, decides which tasks to bill and adds rules for new vendors

tracked time
4 sources · 11 modulesSee the full diagram
11company processes in one system
5 minper payroll run
< 1 hfor a year’s P&L
1source of tracked time
Before

Tracked hours were retyped into payroll, invoices and reports

The agency tracked time per task in a project tool. Every place that used those facts needed them typed in again

The retyping cost hours every month.

We have been building the platform in stages since 2024 and are still adding to it. Each stage takes the process that is causing the most trouble at the time. Payroll and people came first. Then meeting transcripts, then the P&L, then the org chart and hiring, then daily task management. Billing and project cost are the latest so far.

What was done by hand
  • Time reports put together
  • Tracked time copied into payroll
  • Tasks retyped into client invoices
  • Bank statements sorted for the accountant
  • Meeting notes kept and résumés read
What we built

Eleven processes in one system, fed by one copy of tracked time

The platform copies every time entry from the project tool into its own database. Time reports, payroll, client invoices and project cost all read that one copy. That is why their numbers cannot disagree. The four processes with the most retyping are described below

Project cost and margin per client

Each client has a card with revenue, cost, margin, unpaid invoices and work not yet billed, broken down by milestone and task. Cost is calculated from the hours actually worked.

Revenue in one list

Every client invoice and every card payment is in one list, and each payment is matched to the invoice it paid. Revenue can be read by client and by month in one place.

People and the org chart

Employee profiles and the company’s org chart are kept in the same system as payroll and projects.

Company documents and hiring

Policies, job descriptions and decisions are kept in the system in two languages, with versions. Hiring runs as a pipeline of vacancies and candidates: AI screens résumés and analyzes interviews, and every hiring decision is made by a person.

Daily task management

Projects, task lists, tasks, comments, time tracking, dependencies and dashboards now live in the platform, next to payroll and invoices. Time tracked there is already in the place where it becomes a payroll line or an invoice line.

AI usage and its cost

The agency uses AI in its own work. The platform records how much is used and what it costs, and flags a sudden spike. A person decides what to do about it.

Notifications and the employee panel

The platform installs on a phone like an app. It sends push notifications, for example when payroll is ready. In the panel, each employee sees their own payroll documents, company documents and tasks.

The system

Four sources in, eleven modules, four things out

One internal platformOne copy of tracked timeStatisticsPayrollClient invoicesProject costRevenue historyP&LMeetingsWork managementPeople and orgAI usageNotificationsProject tooltime and tasksBank statementsa CSV per bankCard paymentspaid invoicesMeeting audiocalls and recordingsPayroll documentsgenerated and pushedClient invoicesone printed pageAccountant’s exportby month and categoryThe team’s phonesweb push from the PWA
Automatic and manual

What the system does, and what still goes to a person

These four processes had the most retyping in them. For each one: what goes in, what the system does, and what a person still decides

01

Tracked time → payroll run

A person picks the pay period. The system reads each employee’s tracked time and calculates the pay. AI turns the task list into a short work description in two languages. The system fills in the payroll document and sends the employee a push notification.

Automatic
The calculation, the work description, the document, the notification
Human
A person reviews each document before it goes out and makes the payment. The whole run takes about five minutes. It took two to three hours before
02

Tracked time → client invoices

Each month’s work is laid out by task. A person picks what to bill, and the selected tasks go into a draft invoice in one step. The system prints the invoice on one page. The amounts are calculated from the hours actually worked.

Automatic
Totals, the PDF, the link from each task to its invoice
Human
What to bill. That is a judgment, not arithmetic
03

Bank statements → P&L

Each bank exports a different CSV. The system keeps a profile per bank that knows its columns. On upload it shows a preview and drops rows it has already seen. Rules classify transactions from known vendors into a type and a category. There are more than a hundred rules, and new ones are added as new vendors appear. Transactions the system does not recognize go to a review queue. Suspected duplicates go to a separate queue. A wrong upload can be rolled back as one batch. The result is a P&L by month and category, and the spreadsheet export the accountant asked for.

Automatic
Reading the CSV, matching the columns, dropping repeated rows, classifying known vendors, the report, the export
Human
Clearing the review queue, and adding a rule when a new vendor or client appears. A year’s P&L now takes under an hour. It took about ten hours before
04

Meeting audio → transcripts → tasks

Someone uploads a call recording. The system transcribes it with speakers and timestamps. It splits the transcript into topics, writes a summary of each and lists the action items. The whole archive is searchable. A person can ask the assistant to turn a decision into a task.

Automatic
The transcript, speakers, timestamps, topics, summaries, the list of action items
Human
Deciding which action items are real, and which of them become tasks
What changed

Process by process

Payroll
By hand: two to three hoursOne run of about five minutes: document and notification
Client invoice
Tasks retyped by handTasks selected, a draft created, one printed page
Taxes and P&L
By hand: about ten hoursUpload, rules classify, a person clears the queue, export for the accountant: under an hour
Meetings
Notes by handTranscript, topics, summaries, action items
Hiring
Résumés read by handA pipeline with AI screening; a person decides
Results

A payroll run went from 2–3 hours to about 5 minutes, and a year’s P&L from about 10 hours to under 1. The rest is what the system does today

  • A month closes inside the platform: tracked time becomes payroll documents and client invoices
  • Each client’s card shows revenue, cost, margin and unbilled work, priced from the hours actually worked
  • Bank statements become a P&L by month and category and an export for the accountant. What the rules do not recognize waits for a person
  • Every process still has a person’s decision in it: which task to bill, which candidate to hire, which action item is real

Payroll, invoices or the P&L still done by hand?

30 minutes on your own processes. We look at which of them belong in one system, which are better left alone, and what the first one would take. No slides, and you keep the notes

Zen Software builds software that takes manual work off small and mid-size businesses. We map how the work runs, automate the steps that follow clear rules, and add AI only where something has to be understood, weighed and chosen

© Zen Software LLC2 Buck Ln, Suite 8, Marlboro, NJ 07746, USAsales@zen.software