This decision tree belongs to the timesheet correction approvals guide. It is built for a payroll advisor, bureau or software consultant who has found a staffing firm with years of documented fixes and wants to leave one meeting with a named signatory, a named sponsor and a short list of sign-offs.
Why the payroll operations head comes first
Every disputed shift eventually lands on a pay run, so the payroll operations head sees the settled version of each change. That person can answer, from memory or a quick check, the four questions that decide whether a conversation is worth having:
- Do pay adjustments carry a reason, and from which year?
- Which pay periods sit in the current platform, and which stayed behind in the old one?
- Did the week boundary or the client approval cutoff ever change? Federal rules require covered employers to record daily and weekly hours, so the boundary is written down somewhere.
- Who on the receivables side keeps the credit notes that settle late changes?
Knowing all that still does not make the payroll head a signatory. The role is sponsor and guide: it explains the records to leadership and joins the first call.
The tree, branch by branch
Follow the branches in order. Each one ends in a name, a sign-off or a stop.
Branch A: records knowledge. Can the payroll operations head describe correction records, years and systems? If yes, name them as the records contact and continue. If no, ask who settles disputed hours with clients, often the billing lead, and start there.
Branch B: authority. Who is the firm's CEO? In an owner-run firm that is usually the owner. The CEO can agree, for the firm, to explore a data discussion and is the authorized contact; the CFO or COO may prepare the case internally. In a private equity backed firm, the operating partner may also need to know; the CEO tells you.
Branch C: client programs. Are some of the records held in a vendor management system run by a client or its managed service provider? If yes, counsel reads that program's terms before anything is proposed. Late fixes there can be formal documents in their own right; SAP's support note for Fieldglass, for example, describes how a supplier corrects an already invoiced sheet through a revision and a memo route. The firm may see those documents, but they live on the client's platform under the client's rules.
SAPBranch D: employee pay data. Do the records carry hours, pay codes or rates for identifiable people? Almost always. HR and counsel decide what personal pay information may be used beyond running payroll, and under which employee notices or works council rules where those apply. Placed associates often work in small teams at one site, where de-identification is harder; the re-identification risk answer explains why.
Branch E: willingness. Will the authorized contact take an introduction? If yes, introduce them and name the payroll head. If not yet, do not submit.
Roles, access and authority
| Role | What they hold | Says yes to a licensing discussion? |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll operations head | Correction logs, reason codes, pay periods | No; records contact and sponsor |
| Billing or accounts receivable lead | Invoices, memos, client disputes | No |
| Branch or client services leader | Client program terms in practice | No |
| HR lead | Employee notices and policies | Advises on worker data |
| Counsel | Client contracts, VMS program terms | Advises; may set conditions |
| CEO, or the owner-CEO | Firm-level decisions | Yes, within client and employee limits |
| Payroll consultant or software partner | Administrator access | No; access is not authority |
The last row is the one advisors most often get wrong. Access lets someone run a report. It does not let them describe the firm's records to an outside party, and it never makes them the authorized contact.
Retention duties do not grant licensing rights
A common shortcut in staffing conversations goes: "the law makes us keep it, so it is ours to use." It is wrong in both halves. The Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #21 sets minimum retention periods (three years for payroll, two for the underlying time cards), which is a floor for compliance, not permission for reuse. Ownership is a separate matter again: client programs, employee notices, acquisition documents and the firm's own policies all shape it. That is why data rights are reviewed before any commercial step, and why the signatory, not the sponsor, makes the call.
What stays unknown until SourceX reviews it
- whether client VMS terms allow the firm to reuse its own submissions and memos
- what worker information must be removed or aggregated
- whether buyers want correction records, and on what terms
The introduced firm needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded; placed associates on assignment do not count, as the staffing headcount answer explains), a documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions, and the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application. Stay at metadata level; never ask for timesheets, registers or memos.
The system map shows which records each role holds, and the referral brief template has a field for the authorized contact. A fractional CFO for staffing agencies is often the person who already knows who decides. For correction records outside staffing, see human review records and correction workflows.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
Once the tree ends at a CEO who will take the call, register as a partner, check the firm against who qualifies, and read the program terms before introducing them.