Before
10+ steps, every week
- 1Collect the amounts due for the week
- 2Type each amount into a spreadsheet
- 3Work out the total in the spreadsheet
- 4Open the system
- 5Re-enter the amounts there
- 6Update the values to match
- …and the rest of the routine
The same numbers typed twice, in two places.
After
One screen, a few clicks
Enter the amounts once
The total is calculated and written straight to the database. Three or four clicks in all.
The approach
Listen first. Each business unit got focused time with the people doing the work before any code was written. Looking for places where the same information was entered twice was usually enough to find the biggest improvements.
One example
A department collected amounts due every week. They typed the amounts into a spreadsheet to get a total, then went into the system and entered the same values again.
I built a single page, reachable from a menu item in the core platform, where they enter the numbers once. It performs the calculation and writes the result to the database. A process of 10+ steps became a one- or two-value form and three or four clicks.
What else I built
- Single-form submissions to replace other multi-step processes, many of which went from about eight steps to one form with a few selections.
- Bulk-loading scripts in C# that take files with 10,000+ lines of data and insert them into the database reliably.
- System-to-system integrations using SOAP requests, including a web form for one team and the requests that send its data to the core platform, since the two systems were separate.
I worked mostly on my own, and worked closely with the data analysis team to find areas to improve.
What changed
- Manual spreadsheet entry was eliminated wherever the core platform could take over.
- Data that lived on individual employees’ computers moved into one system of record.
- People spent their time on work, not re-typing.
This is the same process I use today in the Workflow Checkup.