Action Guide: Intake for Schedule of Values

A Schedule of Values (SOV) outlines the detailed breakdown of costs associated with a project, providing funders, underwriters, and brokers with an itemized view of expenses across milestones or line items.

In funding and insurance workflows, the SOV acts as both a verification and compliance document, showing where and how funds are allocated.

Manually collecting and organizing these files slows teams down and introduces inconsistencies, especially when multiple versions arrive through email or portals.

Heron automates the intake for Schedule of Values, pulling these files directly from inboxes, portals, or APIs and organizing them into a clean, standardized structure.

Instead of relying on staff to download attachments and manually store them in CRMs, Heron ingests, categorizes, and prepares SOVs for immediate review. The result is faster turnaround, fewer lost documents, and complete visibility into cost structures.

Use Cases

• Automate intake from shared inboxes: Heron captures incoming SOVs sent by brokers, contractors, or clients to addresses like underwriting@ or docs@, saving them to the correct deal folder automatically.
• Consolidate multi-page SOV submissions: Multi-file or multi-tab SOVs are combined into a single, coherent record linked to the right submission.
• Detect missing attachments: Heron flags emails referencing SOVs but missing attachments, triggering an automatic missing-info request.
• Standardize file formats: Converts XLS, PDF, and image-based SOVs into a consistent digital format, ready for classification and scrubbing.
• Identify duplicate SOVs: Detects and filters out previously submitted versions to prevent redundant review.
• Create immediate deal associations: Each SOV intake is matched to its corresponding merchant or project deal record in the CRM.

Every intake action turns scattered, unstructured submissions into traceable, system-ready data.

Operational Impact

Automating the Schedule of Values intake transforms a time-heavy task into a seamless data operation.

• Faster processing: SOVs reach the right CRM record instantly after submission.
• Error reduction: No manual download, renaming, or sorting required.
• Improved compliance: Every file is tracked with metadata for auditability.
• Scalability: Intake handles high-volume periods (such as monthly reporting cycles) without increasing workload.
• End-to-end visibility: Every received SOV is timestamped, associated, and ready for downstream checks.

The result is a predictable, compliant, and fully auditable intake layer for SOV handling.

Integration in Heron’s Workflow

Heron’s intake system for SOVs forms the foundation for downstream automation.

1. Submission capture: Brokers or clients send SOVs via shared inbox, portal, or API.
2. Classification: Heron identifies the file as a Schedule of Values and links it to the correct submission or merchant record.
3. File structuring: Multi-page or multi-tab SOVs are compiled and labeled for clean storage.
4. Metadata tagging: Policyholder, merchant, and program details are attached automatically.
5. Routing: The intake system directs the SOV to the correct underwriting, compliance, or funding queue.
6. Status update: The CRM record updates automatically to reflect receipt and readiness for scrubbing.

Each step minimizes manual touchpoints, ensuring reliable data flow from submission to underwriting.

Data Validation and Quality Controls

Heron’s intake automation doesn’t just collect files but also validates them for completeness and consistency before they enter the workflow.

• File type verification: Confirms that the uploaded file is a valid SOV document (PDF, XLS, or recognized format).
• Version tracking: Detects when newer versions replace older SOVs to avoid confusion.
• Naming normalization: Automatically renames files to match company conventions (e.g., “MerchantName_SOV_March2025.pdf”).
• Integrity checks: Flags corrupted or partially uploaded files before they create downstream issues.
• Data completeness flags: Identifies missing sections or line items commonly required for underwriting.

These steps make sure only clean, usable SOVs enter Heron’s processing stream.

Collaboration and Auditability

Heron enables better collaboration across brokers, underwriters, and operations teams.

• Centralized visibility: Every SOV submission is accessible from a single interface.
• Audit trail: Logs every intake event with timestamps, sender addresses, and document versions.
• Exception management: Any incomplete or invalid SOVs are flagged and routed for review.
• Broker transparency: Missing-info replies are triggered automatically to reduce follow-up delays.
• Secure access: Role-based permissions protect sensitive financial information within the document.

By automating intake and auditability together, Heron ensures transparency and accountability at every step.

Performance Metrics

Teams using Heron for SOV intake often track measurable improvements such as:

• Turnaround time (TAT): Intake-to-ready time reduced by over 70%.
• Exception rate: Less than 5% of SOVs require manual intervention.
• Duplicate rate: Duplicate submissions drop by 80%.
• Manual touches: Reduced by up to 90% as Heron handles forwarding, naming, and classification.
• Audit coverage: 100% of received SOVs include validated intake metadata.

These gains show how automated intake not only accelerates operations but also builds long-term data reliability.

Business Outcomes

Heron’s SOV intake automation streamlines documentation across every stage of the deal lifecycle.

• Underwriters gain clean, organized access to project cost data.
• Brokers avoid redundant follow-ups and missing submission errors.
• Operations teams manage higher volume without increasing staff.
• Compliance officers benefit from traceable, verifiable intake logs.

By making intake automatic, Heron helps teams focus on decision-making rather than document chasing.

Benefits of Using Heron for Intake of the Schedule of Values

• Speed: Captures and routes SOVs instantly upon receipt.
• Accuracy: Normalizes file names and formats to reduce manual sorting.
• Compliance: Creates audit-ready records for every submission.
• Scalability: Handles surges in volume with no loss in accuracy.
• Transparency: Tracks submission origin and history clearly.

Heron transforms the messy, manual SOV intake process into a structured, automated system that keeps deals moving.

FAQs About Intake for Schedule of Values

How does Heron handle Schedule of Values submissions?

Heron captures and classifies incoming SOVs from shared inboxes or portals, tagging them with relevant deal data and routing them automatically to the right queue.

What happens if an SOV is missing or incomplete?

Heron flags missing or incomplete SOVs immediately and sends automated missing-info requests to the broker or submitter to fill the gaps.

Can Heron process Excel-based SOVs as well as PDFs?

Yes. Heron supports both formats, converting Excel sheets or PDFs into standardized digital structures ready for downstream processing.

How does intake automation improve compliance?

Each intake action generates a timestamped audit trail, linking the document to a deal record and preserving version history for regulators and internal audits.

How much time can teams save using Heron?

Teams typically reduce manual handling time by 80–90%, moving from hours of inbox management to fully automated intake within seconds.