Process Consultant, Australia

Mapping the business before choosing new software

When an Australian business starts shopping for software, the brief is usually a list of frustrations: quotes that take too long, jobs that are finished but not invoiced, stock that never quite matches, a BAS that needs days of clean-up. Those are real problems, but most of them start in the process, not the tool.

I begin by following real work end to end. A recent job or order, a supplier invoice, a week of timesheets and one month's close are traced through every person, app and spreadsheet they touch. Along the way I note where things wait, where information is typed twice, where approvals happen after the money is already committed and where staff rely on memory to handle exceptions.

Often the picture shows that different states or divisions have drifted into their own versions of the same process. A branch in Queensland invoices on completion, one in Victoria invoices weekly, and head office cannot compare them. Some of these differences are justified; many are not.

The redesign then makes deliberate choices. Some fixes are organizational, such as moving a check earlier or giving a step an owner. The rest are written up as ranked requirements, ready for better use of the apps you have, focused automation or a wider ERP project.

From timesheet to pay run: award steps that need an owner

For many Australian employers, the hardest part of hire to pay is not the pay run itself but everything that happens before it. Modern awards and enterprise agreements set classifications, penalty rates, overtime, allowances and leave conditions, and the payroll result is only as good as the information that reaches it.

When I map this flow, I look at:

• Onboarding. Who decides an employee's award and classification, who records it and who reviews it when duties change.
• Rostering and timesheets. How hours, breaks, shifts and travel are captured, and who approves them before payroll cutoff.
• Allowances and leave. How claims and leave requests are submitted and approved, and how they reach payroll.
• Rate changes. Who notices when award rates or conditions change and makes sure payroll is updated.
• Payroll and STP. Who runs payroll, who reviews it and how Single Touch Payroll reporting and superannuation are checked.

Award interpretation itself is a specialist area. Your payroll provider, employment advisor or industrial relations specialist confirms how awards apply to your people. My job is to make sure the process gives them accurate, approved information on time, with a clear owner for each step and evidence that checks were done.

Making the BAS the end of a clean process

The Business Activity Statement is where GST, PAYG withholding and other obligations come together. If the BAS takes days of adjustments, the cause is almost always further upstream. I map the record to report process with the BAS as its final step and work backwards:

• Who chooses tax codes on sales and purchases, and how unusual items such as imports, capital purchases or mixed supplies are flagged.
• Whether supplier invoices are checked for the details your accountant needs to claim GST credits before they are entered.
• How bank, card and clearing accounts are reconciled during the period rather than all at once at the end.
• How payroll figures reach the ledger and are agreed with payroll reports.
• Who prepares the BAS, who reviews it and how the review is evidenced.

The redesigned close puts each of these in sequence with an owner and a deadline relative to period end. Your BAS agent or accountant decides the tax treatment and lodges the statement; the process makes sure they receive figures that have already been checked. A predictable close also gives management reports they can rely on earlier in the month.

Suppliers, approvals and payments across states

Purchase to payment is where control gaps most often cost real money. My maps cover the full chain: a manager asking for a new supplier, the ABN and banking checks, sign-off on a purchase before anyone orders, comparing the bill with what was delivered, and assembling then releasing the payment file.

The future process usually includes:

• A single supplier onboarding route, with ABN checks and bank details verified by calling a known contact.
• Purchase approval by role and amount before orders are placed, with a defined exception route for emergencies on site.
• Matching rules for partial deliveries and price differences, with a named person resolving disputes.
• Separation between the person preparing the payment file and the person authorizing it in the bank, or a documented compensating review where the team is small.

For businesses working across states, I also check that approval limits mean the same thing everywhere. A regional manager in Perth and one in Brisbane should have the same authority for the same role.

Everything is captured in a delegation of authority that covers spending, credit notes, write-offs, payroll changes and bank detail changes. It becomes the single reference for staff, auditors and any future system configuration.

Remote delivery across Australian time zones

The engagement is remote. Sessions are booked in the part of your working day that suits each team, whether in the eastern states or in Western Australia, and each workshop covers one process with the staff who handle it day to day. Maps are drawn live and shared afterwards for written comment, so site staff who cannot attend can still contribute. Visits can be arranged when a workshop genuinely benefits from one.

Ahead of the sessions I study genuine paperwork, such as a recent tax invoice, an approved supplier bill, a completed timesheet and whatever month-end checklist you use, so workshop time goes on decisions.

The deliverables are current and future process maps, a delegation of authority, procedures for the riskiest tasks, a list of questions for your accountant, BAS agent and payroll advisor, and a ranked set of requirements. Where repetitive work turns out to be the real drag, the Australian automation page describes the follow-on. Where the maps point to a new platform, the next stage is detailed requirements with an ERP business analyst in Australia. My overall method is explained under business process consulting, and the Australia hub gives wider market notes.