Document workflow automation in a small company starts with the documents that can be assembled from data already in the system: the contract, the invoice, the act of completed work and the commercial proposal. The client’s details are entered once, the amount is calculated from the services, and the document is ready in a couple of minutes with no mistakes in the details. Approval, storage, exchange with 1C and electronic document exchange come next, on the same database.
What document workflow automation actually means
Put simply, documents stop being typed by hand and passed around by email and messengers. A document is assembled from the client card and the deal, approved inside the system, stored next to the deal and sent to the client or to accounting from the same place.
At the legal company GORONO, clients, deals, documents and money used to sit in different programs and spreadsheets. A contract with an invoice took 30-40 minutes to type, and mistakes in the details surfaced after signing. Clients sent scans by messenger, email and file-sharing services, and before filing nobody knew for sure which version of the charter was the latest.
Russian law does not insist on paper. Article 9 of the federal accounting law (402-FZ) says a primary accounting document is drawn up on paper and/or as an electronic document signed with an electronic signature. If the other party or a government body asks for paper, the company must print a copy of the electronic document at its own expense.
Your own system or an off-the-shelf EDMS
A document automation system comes in two kinds. An off-the-shelf EDMS (electronic document management system) is a separate program for documents: incoming and outgoing papers are registered, approved and stored there. Your own automation is built into the system where the company already runs clients, deals and money, so the document is assembled from the same data and nothing is copied into another program.
For a small company the difference is usually about where the numbers come from. If the contract lives in the EDMS and the deal amount lives in the CRM, someone has to reconcile them. At GORONO the contract amount cannot be typed by hand: it is calculated from the selected services, so the figures in the contract header and in the appendix always match.
An EDMS fits when there are many documents that have little to do with the company’s data: letters, internal orders, memos. When a document is a continuation of a deal, it is easier to assemble it where the deal is.
Which documents to move into the system first
Start with documents that repeat often and follow one rule. We look at what data a document is made of and where that data already lives.
| Document | Assembled from | Example from our projects |
|---|---|---|
| Contract | Client details by tax ID, services, payment stages, deadlines | GORONO: a button in the deal card, Word and PDF |
| Invoice | The contract or one of its stages | GORONO: a QR code for paying from a banking app |
| Commercial proposal | A specification in Excel or PDF and the directory of organisations | Proposal generator: one click |
| Agency contracts, agent reports, acts, offers | Templates and the platform’s data | B2B marketplace: sent via electronic document exchange |
Contract and invoice. At GORONO the contract is built with a button from the deal data: number and date, the customer’s details, the representative and the basis of their authority, services with amounts, payment stages. The system writes the amount in words and puts names and cities in the right grammatical case on its own (Russian contracts need these), and that is exactly where templates usually go wrong. If a deputy signs under a power of attorney, their details replace the director’s. We covered where contract, invoice and act templates break in a separate blog article.
Commercial proposal. In the sales and service platform (under NDA) a manager uploads a specification in Excel, PDF or another format. The generator parses the file, takes the client’s details from the shared directory of organisations and builds a proposal on the company’s template, with the calculation.
Documents that go out in batches on a schedule. On the B2B marketplace (also under NDA) agent reports go out three times a month, and they are assembled from templates together with agency contracts, acceptance acts and offers.
The client card is the basis for all of this. At GORONO it is created from the tax ID: name, registration numbers, address and business activities are filled in automatically, and only the head of the organisation is entered by hand. If the tax ID is not found, the system highlights the fields for manual entry and work carries on.
Approval and storage
Once a document is assembled, it has to be approved and later found. At GORONO the finished contract goes to the client for approval straight from the deal card, and the contract, invoices and acts are sent in one email. The client opens the proposal through a link with a personal access code, and nobody else can open it.
Documents coming from the client follow the reverse path. Each service is split into blocks according to the regulator’s requirements; for an Emergencies Ministry (MChS) licence for a limited company there are 16. Each block has upload slots with a precise hint. The lawyer accepts a block, sends it back for rework or rejects it, and a document cannot be returned without a comment. The screen shows whose turn it is.
Documents are easiest to store where they were assembled, with role-based access. At GORONO the accountant sees the bank, contracts, invoices, acts and taxes and nothing else, while a lawyer sees only their own clients.
Document automation in an organisation with several departments
The more departments work with one document, the more access rights matter. In the sales and service platform rights are inherited from the organisation to the department and the employee, and a client sees strictly their own data, enforced at the database level. Automation between branches works the same way: a new unit gets its own rights, while templates and the directory of organisations stay shared. On the B2B marketplace access rights were designed before the first line of business logic, because changing them after the fact costs the most.
Exchange with 1C and electronic document exchange
Your own system does not replace accounting. It hands accounting ready data. On the B2B marketplace accounting exchanges data with 1C, the most common accounting software in Russia, and contracts, agent reports, acts and offers go to counterparties through electronic document exchange. In the sales and service platform, electronic document exchange and automatic universal transfer documents will plug into the same foundation next.
The signature decides what legal weight an electronic document has. Under Article 6 of the Russian electronic signature law (63-FZ), a document signed with a qualified electronic signature is equal to a paper document with a handwritten signature, unless the law requires paper only. Simple and non-qualified signatures give the same weight in cases set by law, regulations or an agreement between the parties to electronic exchange. That is why regular counterparties agree in advance which signature they use.
Money closes the loop. At GORONO the bank statement is pulled in every hour, a payment finds the client by the payer’s tax ID and attaches itself to the deal if there is only one match. Unclear payments go to a “sort out manually” list. A supplier’s invoice in PDF is turned into a payment order and an expense.
Frequently asked questions
Where should a small company start with document workflow automation?
With the contract, invoice, act or commercial proposal - documents that repeat often and are assembled from client and deal data. First set up the client card by tax ID and the service directory, then the templates.
How is your own automation different from buying an EDMS?
An EDMS is a separate program for documents, and data for them has to be copied from the CRM and accounting. Your own automation assembles the document from the same database where clients, deals and money are kept, so the amount in the contract and in the deal never diverge.
Can primary accounting documents be kept only in electronic form in Russia?
Yes. Under Article 9 of law 402-FZ a primary document is drawn up on paper and/or as an electronic document signed with an electronic signature. If a counterparty or a government body asks for paper, the company makes a copy at its own expense.
Can your own document system be connected to 1C and electronic document exchange?
Yes. On the B2B marketplace we are building, accounting exchanges data with 1C, and contracts, agent reports and acts go out through electronic document exchange.
Who this suits
Companies where documents grow out of a deal: legal and accounting firms, equipment suppliers, distributors, B2B platforms. If contracts and invoices are still typed by hand and client scans are hunted down in messengers, start with one document and the client card. Describe how documents move in your company today in the form below, and we will tell you what to move into the system first. More of our work is under directions.
