Actis Docs automates document collection — from scheduled requests and secure uploads to centralized review and clean exports. It's built for any firm or team that collects documents from clients, vendors, or third parties on a recurring or structured basis.
This post walks through the full workflow so you know exactly what to expect before you sign up.
The problem it solves
If your firm collects documents from external parties on a regular basis — FICA documents, vendor onboarding packs, monthly bookkeeping records, annual compliance submissions, employee onboarding packs — you're probably familiar with the cycle: send a request, wait, follow up, sort through what arrives, rename files, and repeat.
Actis Docs replaces that manual process with an automated workflow. You set it up once, and the system handles the sending, reminding, collecting, and exporting on an ongoing basis.
It works for any structured document collection, including:
- FICA and KYC compliance (legal firms, financial services)
- Vendor and supplier onboarding (procurement teams)
- Monthly or quarterly bookkeeping packs (accounting firms)
- Annual return documentation (company secretarial firms)
- Employee onboarding packs (HR teams)
- Due diligence collections (legal and advisory firms)
Step 1: Create a contact
The first step is adding the client, vendor, or third party to the system. You enter their name and contact email — that's all that's needed to get started.
Every document submission, approval, and rejection is stored against the contact record, so you have a running history across every collection cycle without digging through email threads.
Step 2: Build a template
A template defines the documents you need for a particular type of engagement. You give the template a name, add the document items (each marked as required or optional), and set the collection cadence: weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, annually, or a one-off manual request.
A few things worth knowing about templates:
- One template can be used for multiple contacts
- Submitters only need to upload what applies to them — optional items won't block submission
- You can build as many templates as you need for different engagement types
Example templates might include: "FICA Compliance Pack", "New Vendor Onboarding", "Monthly Bookkeeping Documents", "Annual Return Pack", "Employee Onboarding".
Step 3: Enroll a contact
Once a contact and a template exist, you enroll the contact in the template. This links them to the document checklist and the collection cadence.
From this point, the system takes over. At the start of each cycle, the contact receives an automatic email with a link to their personal upload portal. No account creation required — they click the link, upload the documents, and submit.
Each portal link is unique to that contact and that cycle, and is access-controlled so only the intended recipient can reach it.
Step 4: The submitter uploads
The upload portal shows a clear list of the documents requested, with each item labelled and a dedicated upload slot. Submitters drag and drop or select files, submit, and receive a confirmation.
The experience works in any browser with no downloads or plugins required. Clients, vendors, and third parties don't need to be technical — the process is as simple as attaching a file to an email, but structured so nothing gets missed.
If a submitter doesn't respond by a defined point, the system sends automatic reminders. You don't have to track who's responded and who hasn't.
Step 5: Review in the inbox
All uploads across all contacts land in a single review inbox. From there you can:
- Preview documents in-app without downloading them
- Approve documents that are correct
- Reject documents that are wrong, incomplete, expired, or the wrong version — and add a reason
When you reject a document, a re-request email goes to the submitter automatically. The email lists only the specific items that need resubmission — not the full checklist. The submitter clicks a link, corrects the issue, and resubmits.
The inbox gives you a clear view of what's approved, outstanding, and pending across every contact at a glance.
Step 6: Export
When a collection cycle is complete, you export the documents. Actis Docs produces a uniformly named set of files — consistent naming conventions applied automatically, so the output is clean and ready for use without manual renaming.
This matters for compliance handovers, audit trails, onboarding sign-offs, or any downstream process that expects documents in a predictable format.
Pricing
Actis Docs offers three tiers:
- Free trial — 10 clients, 10 requests, 3 templates. Full automation included. No credit card required.
- Pro — $29/month. 25 clients, 50 requests per month, 10 templates. Full recurring automation.
- Business — $79/month. Unlimited clients, requests, and templates. 50 MB file upload cap.
Who it's for
Actis Docs is built for any firm or team that collects documents from external parties on a structured basis and wants to remove the manual work from that process.
If you spend meaningful time each cycle sending requests, following up, sorting files, and cleaning up exports — whether that's for compliance, onboarding, accounting, legal, or HR purposes — Actis Docs is built to give that time back.
Ready to see it in action? Start your free trial — no credit card required, full automation included from day one.