PulseIQ
PulseIQ is a made-up company. It stands in for a typical technology business that sells software on subscription. It is a composite, not a real firm. Every figure on these pages is either counted from the process maps or marked illustrative.
Who PulseIQ is
- Size band: a mid-sized company, past the point where one person can hold the whole finance picture in their head, and small enough that the finance team is lean.
- Business: sells subscription software to business customers, with a mix of monthly and annual billing.
- Finance team: a small team led by a controller, with part of the work handled by an outside provider.
The systems, described generically
- A general ledger and payables system.
- A spend request tool, where business teams ask to buy things.
- A billing system for subscriptions.
- A payroll provider.
- A bank portal for payments and balances.
- Spreadsheets that connect the rest.
What made it messy
- Work moves between systems by hand, so people re-key the same data.
- Approvals depend on who is available that day.
- Exceptions are chased by email, then fixed in the ledger afterwards.
- The documented process and the one people follow have drifted apart.
The areas
There is one page for each of the eight areas. Spend is fully built. The others are in progress.
| Area | Also called | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | Accounts payable | Built |
| Get Paid | Order to cash | In progress |
| Payroll | Payroll and benefits | In progress |
| The Close | Month-end close | In progress |
| Budget vs Actual | Budgeting and FP&A | In progress |
| Cash Ops | Treasury and cash | In progress |
| Controls | Internal controls | In progress |
| Reporting | Financial reporting | In progress |