The Problem
A business operations team was managing core processes through email chains, shared spreadsheets, and manual form submissions. Approval handoffs got lost or delayed, status was invisible without interrupting someone to ask, and errors introduced during manual data transfer caused downstream problems that took time to diagnose and fix. The people doing the work were also spending significant time on coordination overhead rather than the work itself.
What I Built
Mapped the actual workflows (including the undocumented exception paths and edge cases) and built automated systems replacing the highest-friction manual processes. Structured intake forms fed directly into automated routing, notification, and record-keeping flows. Status tracking was built into each workflow so stakeholders could check progress without interrupting anyone, and escalation rules handled approvals that stalled past a threshold.
Technical Challenge
Existing processes had years of undocumented edge cases and tribal knowledge embedded in them. Automating the official version of the process was straightforward — but it would have broken immediately on real usage. The harder work was identifying every exception path through interviews and observation, then deciding which to automate fully, which to route to a human with context, and which to flag rather than process.
What Was Delivered
- Automated intake and routing workflows
- Multi-step approval chains with deadline escalation logic
- Status tracking and stakeholder notification systems
- Integration with Google Workspace (Sheets, Drive, Gmail)
- Data validation and error handling at intake boundaries
- Operational reporting and audit trails
Outcome
Processing time on key workflows dropped substantially after automation. Error rates from manual data transfer fell to near zero for the automated paths. The operations team reclaimed hours per week that had been spent on coordination and chasing approvals.
Technologies
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