Vendor CRM and Accounts Payable System
International NGO
Timeline: 1 month
Tools: Airtable
The goal: Develop a process and tracking system for outgoing stipend and invoice payments
The Problem
This NGO was using emails to communicate the need for payments to vendors and participants, as well as to track where and when payments were made. Payments were getting dropped and lost, duplicated, and getting stuck for months. They needed a system to help facilitate payments, as their budget and the number of payments were growing.
The Solution
An Airtable Payments hub. It collected vendor information and relationship details, served as the primary payments tracking system for the organization, and automated the majority of administrative work related to payments, freeing up staff time and improving partner relationships.
The Process
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I met with organizational staff to talk about their experience of requesting payments, and what they’re top priorities were for any system that was to be implemented. They wanted it to be accessible, clear, and to be able to check the payment status of requests they’d submitted.
I met with the finance team to understand the kinds of information they need to collect about each payment, and how that information is used.
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I proposed a payments hub in Airtable as a proposed solution for the payments system. This included a CRM for vendors which could be linked to pending and past payments.
After testing a basic draft of the system for user-friendliness, the finance team agreed that it appeared to be a suitable platform to meet their needs.
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The payments system was comrehensive but simple: a vendor CRM page, a payment tracker page with a form where invoices could be submitted, a document library with banking forms and automations that sent them to new vendors, and a weekly summary email of pending payments.
Beyond the initial launch of the payment hub, I was brought back to expand it - adding payment requests for stipends and honoraria, staff reimbursements, and a credit card expense form were all built into the central hub. It is now the single source payment data and process in the organization.
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The system was tested by one team in the organization, who submitted their invoices over the course of a week, and by the finance team who processed the invoices. We met as a collective to gather feedback, where we identified the need for certain payment types to have a simple approval system put in place. Once the update was built and tested, the system was ready to launch.
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The new payment process was documented in a few places:
A comprehensive payments policies and process document, which outlined the responsibilities of each part involved in the process, the compliance requirements related to reporting and data retention, and included an appendices with links to all the related forms
A one-pager payment process document, issued in English and Spanish
An FAQ Document issued in English and Spanish
View descriptions, table description, and a base user guide built in Airtable.
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