Contractor onboarding

This playbook coordinates operational onboarding for one contractor after an engagement agreement has been executed. It reconciles agreed scope, start dates, and contact details with customer-defined onboarding prerequisites, coordinates secure collection of required compliance and tax documentation, secures explicit access authorizations from designated system owners, and records the receiving manager's operational readiness acceptance. The process covers operational readiness and system handoffs; it excludes legal contracting, worker classification determinations, and organization-wide policy definition. When automated directory, intake dispatch, or provisioning tools are unconfigured, operational requests route to designated owners with manual fallback and explicit verification requirements.

• Retrieve the executed agreement and statement of work from PandaDoc, extracting the contractor's full legal name, authorized contact email, contracting entity, agreed service scope, compensation terms, payment schedule, and target start date. Check Notion for an existing onboarding case for this engagement; if present, verify the recorded state before creating a record under Terms agreed, logging baseline parameters and initiating the onboarding checklist.
• Compare the engagement terms against the organization's prerequisite policy in Notion, identifying mandatory items including non-disclosure agreements, jurisdiction-appropriate tax and regulatory documentation, background verifications where mandated by company policy, and designated operational communication channels. Do not demand sensitive personal data unless explicitly mandated by the customer's onboarding policy.
• Prepare the contractor intake request via Fillout or configured secure intake channel, requesting only policy-required operational details, invoice submission preferences, working hours availability, and mandatory compliance submissions through approved secure upload channels. Review authorized recipient addresses and message contents before dispatch, using manual delivery by the operations lead if automated sending is unconfigured. Inspect external submission channels before attempting any redelivery, and update the Notion tracking status to Collecting prerequisites.
• Information request. Present missing prerequisite items to the contractor when mandatory onboarding documents or operational details remain outstanding past the customer-configured follow-up window. The contractor must provide the missing files via the approved secure channel or clarify the expected delivery date. If the contractor provides the requested items, verify completeness against the policy checklist and advance the case. If the contractor does not respond within the configured escalation window or states an inability to provide mandatory records, route the blocker to the receiving manager and compliance owner. The receiving manager cannot waive compliance prerequisites governed by other policy owners; if non-waivable prerequisites cannot be met, move the case to Held or declined.
• Verify returned intake materials against the PandaDoc agreement baseline, checking that the contractor legal entity matches submitted tax and regulatory records, invoice delivery instructions conform to agreed payment terms, and declared availability aligns with the project timeline. Note any discrepancies between agreed terms and received submissions in the Notion case file.
• If intake submissions reveal conflicting legal entities, altered payment instructions, or start date delays exceeding the customer's tolerance window, hold automatic readiness advancement. Inspect whether a prior reconciliation note already exists before writing updates, and compile a reconciliation brief contrasting the contract baseline with intake responses.
• Exception. Route conflicting engagement details or unverified payment information to the operations lead and finance manager for resolution. The review displays the executed PandaDoc agreement terms alongside the conflicting intake data. The operations lead and finance manager must review the discrepancy and decide whether to accept the contractor's corrected details, require an amended agreement, or halt onboarding. If corrected details are approved, update the Notion record with the authorized baseline and proceed. If an amended agreement is required, move the case to Held or declined pending new contractual documentation.
• Generate an access entitlement schedule strictly based on the contractor's agreed scope, identifying required repositories, project workspaces, and communication channels. Submit authorization requests to the designated system or directory owners for each required service; readiness acceptance by the receiving manager does not grant or authorize unrelated system access. Record each requested entitlement as pending authorization and verification; do not treat request dispatch or submission as confirmed operational access.
• Verify that each authorized system administrator has provisioned the approved access rights by querying directory group memberships or collecting explicit confirmation receipts from each system owner. If verification cannot be confirmed or directory tools are unavailable, hold progression in Readiness decision until affirmative proof is obtained from the administrator.
• Approval. Request final operational readiness sign-off from the receiving hiring manager. The submission presents the completed prerequisite checklist, verified compliance documentation status, confirmed system owner access authorizations and receipts, and the contractor's confirmed start date. The hiring manager must decide whether to grant readiness approval, request specific adjustments, or decline onboarding. If approved, advance the case toward Onboarding accepted. If adjustments are requested, return to prerequisite collection with the manager's itemized requirements. If declined or postponed indefinitely, move the case to Held or declined and record the accountable owner's rationale.
• Following receiving manager approval, inspect the tracking record to ensure final prerequisite status is recorded in Notion, then dispatch the welcome package and orientation briefing to the contractor via authorized channels or manual operations handoff. Verify that the welcome handoff was delivered and the final Notion status is recorded under Onboarding accepted before marking the run complete.
• If onboarding is halted due to contract cancellation, missing regulatory clearance, or manager rejection, move the case to Held or declined. Transmit formal revocation requests to the authorized administrators of all provisioned systems and obtain explicit confirmation receipts that credentials have been deactivated; do not claim credentials are revoked merely from logging the cancellation in Notion.
• In a fictional onboarding case, contractor Apex Design Services submitted an intake form listing an LLC entity name that differed from the individual sole proprietor named on the PandaDoc agreement. The discrepancy paused readiness progression, triggering an exception review. The operations lead determined that an amended statement of work reflecting the LLC was required prior to tax documentation filing. The hiring manager concurred, moving the case to Held or declined pending the amended contract. Once the executed amendment was uploaded, the case resumed under Collecting prerequisites and completed successfully.
• Completion requires receipt of all mandatory compliance and tax documents, explicit authorization and confirmed verification receipts for all requested system access entitlements, documented operational readiness sign-off from the receiving hiring manager, verified welcome briefing handoff, and recorded final status in the Notion tracking workspace. If access provisioning remains unconfirmed, welcome handoff cannot be verified, or manager approval is withheld, the case remains in Readiness decision or Held or declined; notification dispatch or passive timeout never authorizes completion.