A sample runbook for one flow.
The runbook Harbor Row Bookkeeping, a fictional six-person firm, keeps for feed watch, the flow that checks its bank feeds: what it does, where it runs, what to do when it fails, and who owns it. The firm, its people and every number are invented. Yours would be written for your flows.
- What it doesChecks every bank feed on 70 client files each morningRead-only
- Where it runsA scheduled job, in an account the firm ownsDaily, 06:00
- When it failsFour cases, with the first check for each4 cases
- Pause or changeWho can switch it off, and how a change is madeChange log
- Who owns itDana at the firm, Cudalo on the retainerVersion 2
Sample runbook
Five steps, every morning at six.
Fictional. What feed watch does, in order, and where each step happens. It reads the ledgers and changes nothing in them.
- 01
Read every bank account
At 06:00 the flow opens each of the 70 client files, 52 in QuickBooks Online and 18 in Xero, and reads every connected bank and card account. It reads only: it does not post, edit or delete.
- 02
Check three things per account
When the last bank line arrived, whether the feed reports an error, and when the bank's consent runs out. An account with no new line for two business days counts as stopped, unless it is on the quiet list.
- 03
Raise what it finds
A stopped or failing feed becomes a task in Karbon on that client, for the bookkeeper who owns the file, due before 10:00. Consent that runs out within seven days becomes a reminder task, due the day before.
- 04
Tell Cudalo first, then Dana
Cudalo gets every alert at 06:10 and checks whether the fault is in the flow or at the bank. A fault in the flow is ours to fix, and the task says so. Anything still open at 10:00 goes to Dana by email.
- 05
Close what is fixed
The next morning's run checks the account again. If lines are arriving, it closes the task with a note of the gap, so nobody closes it by hand.
Where it runs
Where it runs and what it can touch.
Every connection runs under an account the firm owns and can revoke. Nothing here holds a bank password.
Runs on
- A small scheduled job named “Feed watch”, in an automation account the firm owns and can revoke. The real runbook names the platform
- Daily at 06:00, firm time; one run covers all 70 files
- Each run's log shows which files were read and what was raised, with no bank lines kept
Reads
- Xero: the 18 client files, with read-only access
- QuickBooks Online: the 52 client files. Intuit gives apps one accounting permission with no read-only option, so the flow is written to read only, and the access list says so
- Karbon: the client list, and who owns each file
Writes
- Karbon: tasks on the client, and notes on those tasks
- Email: alerts to Cudalo, and to Dana when a task is late
- A one-line summary to Cudalo and Dana when each run finishes, even when every feed is fine
Never
- Posts, edits or deletes anything in a ledger
- Re-authorizes a feed or touches a bank login: a person does that
- Keeps a copy of bank lines after the run
When it fails
When something goes wrong, start here.
Four cases: what each looks like, the first thing to check, and who to call.
- 01
A feed has stopped
This is the flow doing its job. Open the bank connection in the ledger: usually the bank's consent has lapsed. Re-authorize it from the firm's login, then have the ledger pull the missing days. If it cannot, ask the client for statements covering the gap.
- 02
No summary by 06:30
The run never started. Every run ends with the one-line summary, so silence is the sign. The schedule may be switched off, or the account may have reached its monthly run limit.
- 03
A run stops part way
A ledger connection has expired or been revoked, usually after a password change or someone leaving. The flow retries that file twice, then raises a “not checked” task for it rather than skipping it quietly.
- 04
A feed flagged that is not broken
An account with no activity, such as a savings account, looks like a stopped feed. Check with the client or the bank. If it really is quiet, add it to the quiet list in Karbon so it is not flagged again.
Pause or change
How to pause it, and how to change it.
Anyone named in this runbook can pause it. Changes go through Dana, so the runbook stays true.
Pause everything
Switch “Feed watch” off in the automation account, then tell Cudalo and say why on the team's Karbon board, so nobody assumes feeds are being watched. Nothing is lost: the first run after it is switched back on checks every account from its last line.
Pause one client
Tag the client “Feed watch: skip” in Karbon, for a client who is leaving or a file still being set up. Remove the tag and the next run watches it again.
Change it
- The quiet list and the skip tag: the file's bookkeeper, any time
- Who is alerted, the two-day rule and the 10:00 deadline: Dana, by asking Cudalo
- New checks or another ledger: within the retainer, or quoted
- Every change is recorded in the change log below and in the monthly summary
- 01
Built and handed over
Phase one of the plan: every bank feed on 70 files checked each morning, tasks in Karbon for the file's owner, alerts to Cudalo first.
- 02
Looks seven days ahead
Checks consent end dates seven days out, so the next re-authorization is a reminder rather than an incident. Added after a Xero feed stopped on 9 October.
Who owns it
One owner at the firm, one on the retainer.
Who fixes each kind of problem, and who holds the logins. If the retainer ends, the flow keeps running and this page says who to call.
- DanaOwner. Approves changes, and hears about anything still open at 10:00Firm
- The file's bookkeeperSam, Priya, Luis or Maya. Re-authorizes a stopped feed on their own filesBookkeepers
- JoKeeps the Karbon client list right, which is where the flow gets its 70 filesClient list
- CudaloFirst alert each morning, fixes to the flow itself, the monthly summaryRetainer
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