Overview/Roles/Operations and finance
Operations and finance
The middle of the business. Operations makes a new client safe to work for; finance makes sure the money is real before work begins and stays accurate afterwards. Together they are the reason production can trust its own inputs.
Two related roles, one purpose
Operations and finance are shown separately in Slate because they answer different daily questions. Operations asks “is this client ready, and what is missing?” Finance asks “what is invoiced, approved, and actually collected?” They meet at one point, and that point is the most important rule in the business.
Part 1 — Operations: activating a client
When a deal is won, an Activation Case is created. It is a checklist with owners, due dates, required evidence, and completion conditions — not a reminder to “sort the paperwork”.
The six activation steps
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Proposal sent
Scope, deliverables, pricing, and payment terms confirmed with the client. This is the record operations works from, so the client is set up the way they were sold to.
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Contract and documents
Signed service agreement, Trade License, and TRN/VAT certificate collected. Missing items are listed explicitly so chasing is specific rather than vague.
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Invoice and payment
The 50% invoice is prepared, the Sales Chief approves it, it is sent, payment is received, and a receipt is issued. Every one of those is a separate recorded step.
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Onboarding information
Brand assets, social accounts, and credentials. Credentials go into the vault — never WhatsApp, never a chat message, never a note.
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Upload to Slate
The full client profile must be on Slate within 24 hours of payment. Until it is, the client is not a single source of truth and production is working blind.
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Handover
Payment recorded plus a complete profile equals handover to Content Operations. Content Operations accepts or returns it with a missing item.
Watch the readiness banner
The client record shows one banner rather than making you inspect six things. It reads as one of four states:
| Banner | Meaning | Your action |
|---|---|---|
| Blocked by payment | The gate has not opened. No work may be scheduled. | Chase the invoice. Do not proceed on promise. |
| 6 items missing | Payment is in, but the checklist is incomplete. | Work the list. Each item names its owner. |
| Ready for Content Ops | Everything required is present. | Hand over. |
| Handover accepted | Content Operations owns it now. | Nothing. Move to the next activation. |
The document chaser
Missing documents generate a single consolidated, polite request rather than repeated nagging, and the system will not send more than one chase within the configured interval. This protects the client relationship as much as it protects your time.
The chasing is automatic. Once payment is confirmed and the checklist is still incomplete, Slate raises one consolidated request naming the outstanding items — not one message per document — and will not repeat it inside the interval. You do not have to remember to chase; you only have to act on what is listed.
The credentials vault
Client logins are the most abused data in an agency. Slate stores them properly and makes the alternative unnecessary.
| Property | How it behaves |
|---|---|
| Storage | Encrypted, with the value never visible in lists, exports, or file names. |
| What is recorded | The service or account, the client, the access scope, and any expiry or rotation date. |
| Reveal | Restricted by role, and every reveal is logged with who viewed it and when. |
| Rotation | Slate watches rotation dates and reminds the team before a credential expires rather than after access fails — one consolidated reminder, not one per credential. |
| Export | Values never leave in an export. Only the record metadata travels. |
Part 2 — Finance: invoices, payments, and VAT
Finance in Slate follows the invoice's real life rather than a single status field. Understanding this sequence is the key to everything else on the finance screens.
The invoice lifecycle
Sending and marking paid are separate permissions with separate audit events. That separation is deliberate: it means no single person can both authorise a payment claim and confirm it.
Confirming a payment — the two-step reality
Your real-world flow involves two people, and Slate mirrors it exactly rather than pretending it is one action.
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The bank-access holder supplies proof
Whoever can see the bank account attaches the inbound transfer evidence — a screenshot, a file, or the bank reference — against the invoice. This identifies evidence providers separately from accountants.
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The accountant marks the invoice paid
Restricted to the Accountant role, and it requires the payment proof to already be attached. The system will not let you mark an invoice paid without evidence on the record — the button is unavailable, and the server refuses it regardless.
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The receipt is issued automatically
Marking paid generates the receipt record, which can be sent to the client as a proper document.
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The work-unlock gate fires
The gate opens on the accountant's action — not on the screenshot upload. Seeing money arrive is not the same as confirming it has been reconciled.
What the finance screens cover
| Screen | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Invoices | Raise, approve, send, and settle invoices, with VAT breakdown and partial-payment state visible. |
| Payments | Record incoming payments, allocate them to one or more invoices, and handle partial and multi-invoice cases. |
| Receipts | Issue, view, and send receipts, each numbered sequentially and downloadable as a document. |
| Expenses | Record and categorise spend, mark bills paid, and void with a reason. |
| Credit notes | Issue credits and apply them against balances, with VAT handled correctly. |
| VAT | See the live VAT position, validate it, file the period, and lock it. |
| Reports | Profit and loss, cash position, receivables and payables ageing, and client balances — exportable. |
Rules that protect the books
Money freezes after payment
Once an invoice has been paid against, its totals are frozen. You cannot quietly edit a settled invoice and leave the ledger disagreeing with itself.
Totals must reconcile
The server rejects any invoice whose totals do not add up from the shared money rules. Arithmetic errors are refused rather than saved.
Receipts are gap-free
Receipt numbers run in an unbroken sequence, so a missing number is evidence of a problem rather than an accident.
Voiding reverses everything
Voiding a payment reverses its allocations and restores the invoice state. Nothing is deleted, so history remains explainable.
Overpayment is refused
Allocating more than an invoice's outstanding balance is rejected. Surplus should be a credit note, not a loose allocation.
Filed periods are locked
Once a VAT period is filed, transactions in that period are blocked from change. Unlocking requires Owner or Admin and a recorded reason.
Filing VAT
- Check the live position
The VAT screen shows output tax, input tax, and the net position for the current period as it stands.
- Validate
Validation checks the period's records and links to anything that looks wrong, so errors are found before filing rather than after.
- File and lock
Filing captures a snapshot and locks the period. The snapshot is what the return was based on, preserved even if later records change.
- Unlock only if genuinely required
Unlocking is audited and restricted. It is a correction mechanism, not a convenience.
Your daily rhythm
Operations
- Work activation cases to their 24-hour deadline.
- Chase missing documents through the consolidated chaser rather than individually.
- Confirm client profiles are complete before Content Operations is asked to accept them.
- Verify no credential has been sent outside the vault.
Finance
- Clear invoices awaiting approval.
- Process payment proofs and mark paid against evidence.
- Review overdue receivables and escalate deliberately.
- Keep expenses current so the profit picture stays honest.