# StrideHQ building blocks

> Creators, invoices, payment runs, payments and approvals, and how they connect.

StrideHQ has five building blocks: creators, invoices, payment runs, payments and approvals. A creator sends an invoice; an approved invoice becomes due for payment; a payment run groups due payments; a person approves and funds the run; each payment in it is sent to its creator.

## Creators

A **creator** is anyone you pay: an influencer, a talent agency or a production company that bills for its talent, or a creator's own limited company.

Each creator has a record in StrideHQ with:

- Their basic details and business details, including company and VAT details where they have them
- Their UK or EU tax status, recorded before the first payment
- Their bank details, checked before the first payout and paid in their local currency
- Their contracts, invoices and payment history

A creator is only included in a payment run once they are ready to be paid. If something is missing, such as a tax form or bank details, StrideHQ flags it and the agent follows up with the creator.

You can add creators one at a time or import them from a spreadsheet.

## Invoices

An **invoice** is a creator's request to be paid. You upload invoices as PDF or Word files, and StrideHQ reads each one: the supplier, amount, currency, VAT and due date.

Each invoice is then matched to the right creator and checked against what was agreed. Anything that doesn't add up, such as an amount over the purchase order or a possible duplicate, is flagged for your team to review.

An invoice moves through statuses as it is checked and paid, for example **To review**, **Ready to approve**, **In payment run** and **Paid**.

## Payment runs

A **payment run** pays a batch of creators together, in every currency, from one approval.

Runs are built from the **Due for payment** queue: invoices and payments that are due and have passed their checks. You can create a run yourself, or the StrideHQ Agent can prepare one for you. Anything that fails a check is held back with a reason, not silently dropped.

A payment run moves through these statuses:

| Status               | What it means                                           |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Pending approval     | The run is ready for your team to review and approve.   |
| Awaiting funds       | The run is approved and waiting for your bank transfer. |
| Transfer sent        | Your transfer is on its way.                            |
| Partially funded     | Part of the money has arrived.                          |
| Funds received       | The run is funded and ready to send.                    |
| Processing           | Payouts are being sent to creators.                     |
| Completed            | Every creator in the run has been paid.                 |
| Partial              | Some payouts went through and some didn't.              |
| Failed               | The payouts didn't go through.                          |
| Expired or Cancelled | The run was not paid.                                   |

If a payout fails, for example because a creator's bank details are wrong, StrideHQ tells you which one failed and why, and you can retry it without rebuilding the run.

## Payments

A **payment** is one creator's payout within a payment run. When an invoice is approved, StrideHQ creates a payment for it that is due; a payment run picks up due payments.

Each payment has its own status:

| Status     | What it means                                 |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Pending    | Waiting for the run to be funded and released |
| On hold    | Held back, with a reason                      |
| Processing | Being sent                                    |
| Sent       | Sent, waiting for confirmation                |
| Paid       | Arrived                                       |
| Failed     | Didn't go through, with a reason              |

A failed payment can be retried without rebuilding the run.

## Approvals

Nothing is paid until a person approves it. There are two separate steps:

1. **Approving the run.** Someone with full payments permission (an Owner, Admin or Finance Lead) reviews and approves the run. StrideHQ runs its compliance checks again and refreshes the exchange rates at this point. No money moves yet.
2. **Sending the payouts.** Once the run is funded, someone chooses **Process payouts** and confirms with a 6-digit code sent to their email.

The StrideHQ Agent can prepare a run, but it can't approve it or move money.

## The StrideHQ Agent

The StrideHQ Agent does the preparation work: it reads invoices, checks them against contracts and purchase orders, chases creators for anything missing, and builds payment runs. When it has prepared a run, it shows it as ready for your approval, and you can approve it, discuss it or reject it.

When the agent isn't sure about something, it holds it back and tells you why rather than guessing. You can also do every step by hand.

## Audit trail

Every check, chase, approval and payout is recorded with a timestamp, showing whether the agent or a person did it.

- **Activity log:** under Reports, filter by payments, compliance or creators, and export it to CSV.
- **Run audit trail:** download the full record for any completed run.

StrideHQ keeps the records each creator payment needs, but compliance decisions stay with your team. StrideHQ doesn't replace professional tax or legal advice.