Business Operations & Microsoft 365 Workflow Implementation Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW

My Office Solutions is a Canadian professional-services firm providing bookkeeping, tax, business administration and operational support services.

We are seeking an experienced Business Operations and Microsoft 365 Workflow Specialist for a one-time, fixed-price project. This is not a full-time position, a general virtual assistant role or simply a Microsoft Planner setup.

Our objective is to implement a practical operating system that keeps client work, emails, recurring deadlines, tax engagements, responsibilities, reviews and follow-ups visible and under control—without depending on the owner's memory.

The freelancer will review our Microsoft 365 environment and approved documentation, implement the approved solution and train our team.

CURRENT PLATFORMS

Microsoft Teams, Planner, Outlook, Calendar and To Do
Microsoft 365 and SharePoint
Clockify
QuickBooks Online and Desktop
Microsoft Copilot and Power Automate, where appropriate

ClickUp is being retired. Microsoft Planner will be our official task-management system.

EXISTING DOCUMENTATION

A separate consultant is developing our operating framework, priority SOPs, checklists, ownership rules, hand-offs, reviews and escalation procedures. The selected freelancer will use the approved documents as the foundation for the Microsoft 365 implementation. This project should translate those processes into a functional system, not duplicate the SOP work.

TEAM

CEO/Owner: executive oversight, final review and important decisions
Operations Coordinator: calendars, task follow-up, email control and operational visibility
Two accounting team members: bookkeeping, tax, cleanup, reporting and client deliverables

KEY OBJECTIVES

CLIENTS AND DEADLINES

Create a reliable structure showing:

Active clients and services provided
Recurring work and frequency
Internal and external deadlines
Responsible person and reviewer
Status, next action and missing information
Blockers, risks and overdue work
Estimated versus actual hours

The freelancer will design the structure and assist our team in building the client and recurring-deadline inventory. No client deadline should depend on the CEO remembering it.

MICROSOFT PLANNER

Review and configure:

Plans, buckets, labels and task structures
Recurring client work
Ownership, priorities and due dates
Standard templates and checklists
Reviews, approvals and hand-offs
Escalation rules and overdue-task visibility
Integration with To Do, Outlook, Teams and Calendar
Management reporting

The general workflow should support:

Prepared → Internal Review → Corrections → Approved → Client Delivery → Completed

Every meaningful assignment must be documented, assigned, monitored and properly closed.

EMAIL CONTROL

Design and implement a workflow so that:

Client emails are acknowledged within the required response period
Emails requiring action become Planner tasks with an owner and deadline
Follow-ups are scheduled and monitored
Technical matters are routed to the correct person
Sensitive responses receive internal review
Unanswered emails and waiting clients are visible
The CEO receives only matters requiring executive involvement

Evaluate Power Automate, Outlook rules, shared mailboxes, categories and other appropriate Microsoft 365 features.

TAX-SEASON READINESS

Create a structure covering:

T1 and T2 client lists
Client classification: Keep, Develop, Reprice, Monitor or Exit
Engagement type, price and scope
Assigned preparer and reviewer
Fiscal year-end and filing deadlines
Information-request dates and document checklists
Documents received and outstanding
Estimated preparation time and team capacity
Review, correction, approval, signature, filing and completion stages
Reminders, workload conflicts and procedures for urgent work
CLOCKIFY AND PROFITABILITY

Connect Planner with Clockify to compare budgeted and actual hours by client and employee and identify scope creep and capacity.

EXECUTIVE VISIBILITY

Create an executive calendar or dashboard showing:

Critical deadlines and client commitments
Work requiring CEO review or approval
Delayed, blocked or high-risk assignments
Staff workload and capacity concerns
Clients exceeding budgeted hours

Routine staff work should remain in Planner. The CEO's calendar should contain only matters requiring executive attention or awareness.

AUTOMATION AND COPILOT

Identify practical opportunities for Power Automate, Copilot, Outlook rules, notifications, reminders, recurring task creation, email-to-task workflows, approvals and weekly summaries.

We do not want unnecessary complexity. Separate essential automations from optional future enhancements.

SHAREPOINT ORGANIZATION

Recommend a consistent Teams/SharePoint structure covering client folders, naming conventions, working and final documents, archives, templates, access and version control.

PROJECT PHASES

This is a one-time project divided into separately approved fixed-price milestones.

MILESTONE 1 – ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN

Review our Microsoft 365 environment and approved SOPs
Identify system gaps and implementation risks
Recommend the Planner and Microsoft 365 structure
Design the client/deadline inventory, email workflow and tax tracker
Recommend the executive dashboard, Clockify reporting, SharePoint structure and automations
Deliver a prioritized implementation roadmap and fixed-price proposal for subsequent milestones

MILESTONE 2 – CORE IMPLEMENTATION

Configure Planner, templates and recurring workflows
Implement client, deadline and tax-season tracking
Implement the email-control workflow
Configure executive visibility and Clockify reporting
Organize the approved Teams/SharePoint structure
Create the management dashboard or weekly report
Test and correct the core system

MILESTONE 3 – APPROVED AUTOMATIONS

Implement approved Power Automate workflows
Configure approved task creation, reminders, approvals and notifications
Implement approved summaries or Copilot solutions and document the automations

MILESTONE 4 – TRAINING AND HANDOVER

Test the system using actual workflows
Train the team
Provide written maintenance instructions
Define system ownership, correct issues and complete final handover

Approval of one milestone does not automatically authorize the next. Each scope, timeline and fixed price must be approved separately.

SUCCESS MEANS

The CEO no longer needs to remember or chase routine work
Client deadlines are recorded, assigned and monitored
Emails are acknowledged and converted into actions when required
Tax work is planned before busy season
Planner shows ownership, status, deadlines and reviews
Clockify shows time and cost
The executive view shows risks and critical deadlines
The team can maintain the system consistently

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Demonstrated experience with several of the following:

Business operations implementation
Professional-services, accounting, bookkeeping, tax or deadline-driven workflows
Microsoft Planner, Teams, Outlook, To Do and SharePoint
Power Automate and Microsoft Copilot
Clockify or similar time-tracking systems
Workflow automation, reporting, training and handover

This project is not suitable for general virtual assistants, candidates who only enter Planner tasks, developers who automate without understanding operations or consultants who do not implement their recommendations.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Please answer each question separately:

Describe a similar operating system you implemented for a professional-services firm.
Explain your experience with Planner, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Power Automate.
Have you worked with accounting, tax or another deadline-driven business?
How would you ensure important client emails are acknowledged, assigned and followed up?
How would you organize recurring deadlines and tax-season work?
How would you compare planned hours with Clockify actual hours?
What belongs in the executive dashboard, and what should remain in Planner?
What would you automate, and what should remain manual?
How would you use our approved SOPs when configuring the system?
What information and access would you require?

Please also provide your proposed phases, deliverables, timeline, separate fixed price for each phase, training included and post-implementation support.

PROJECT AND PAYMENT STRUCTURE

This is a one-time, fixed-price project—not a full-time or ongoing position.

The budget is negotiable based on demonstrated experience, proposed deliverables and agreed scope. We want a practical and cost-conscious solution.

The project will begin with the assessment and design milestone. Implementation, automation, training and handover will be approved separately. Any ongoing support after completion will be optional.

Please begin your proposal with the words “MOS OPERATIONS” to confirm that you have read the complete description.