The Chain Owner's Runbook

The chain owner role fails when it is a title rather than a set of recurring tasks. This is the set.

Weekly

Check that each interface ran, with plausible record counts.

Clear any failed transfers, using the replay path.

Look at the exception volumes from the schedule-to-time comparison.

Monthly, before the pay run

The four reconciliations: headcount, reference data, hours, absence.

Investigate differences rather than absorbing them.

Record what was found and its cause.

Confirm corrections outstanding are within the cut-off.

Quarterly

Access review across all four systems together, including integration and vendor accounts.

Manual step register reviewed: still needed, still owned, deputy still current.

Reference data lists compared across systems.

Retention check: has deletion actually run, in each system.

Annually

Rule register reviewed and versioned.

Chain diagram updated.

Interface specifications checked against what the interfaces actually do, which drifts.

The four cost counts — manual corrections, cross-module investigations, manual step time, integration maintenance — produced and reported.

And the honest question: would the estate be built this way again?

On each event

Before any module upgrade: the pre-upgrade check.

After it: reconciliation immediately, and the rule register re-checked for enabled calculations.

On a reorganisation: reference data, effective dates, and what happens to historical records.

On a new site, country or agency relationship: which join does this create, and who owns it.

The handover

Everything above, written down, with the four documents.

Tested by having the deputy run one month unaided while the owner watches rather than helps.

Whatever they had to ask is a gap in the runbook, and filling it takes minutes while it is fresh.

What the role is not

Not a systems administrator for any module.

Not an approver in the pay chain, which is a segregation problem.

Not a project manager. The joins are permanent, and treating them as a project is how they end up unowned again.

A practical configuration prompt

During configuration, use review the data-flow page to prompt questions about identifiers, ownership and output. Treat the page as a starting point and document each assumption.