Helping organisations reclaim time lost to manual processes
The Problem
A growing project-based organisation found its administrative team spending around three hours per person, per day processing information received via email. Clients regularly sent project updates, approvals and key information needed to keep projects moving. While the subject line usually referenced the relevant project, the organisation relied on a manual process to capture and distribute the information.
Three administrators monitored a shared inbox. When an email arrived, an administrator would:
- Open the email
- Flag it so colleagues knew it was being processed
- Locate the relevant project spreadsheet
- Copy the information across manually
- Notify the project manager or request further information from the client
While the process worked, it consumed significant administrative time and became increasingly difficult to manage as project volumes increased.
Several risks emerged through the lens of the Business Capability Framework;
Information
The organisation relied on staff correctly interpreting email content and manually transferring information between systems.In several instances, email subject lines referenced the wrong project, resulting in information being recorded against incorrect projects and creating confusion for project teams.
Data
There was no reliable mechanism to validate information during transfer.Simple copy-and-paste errors, incorrect dates and incomplete information occasionally affected project timelines and reporting accuracy.
Process
The process depended entirely on administrative capacity. When workloads increased, project updates waited in inboxes until somebody had time to process them. Information flow slowed, creating delays elsewhere in the organisation.
People
Knowledge of the process sat largely with the administrative team.If key staff were absent, processing times increased and there was a greater risk of inconsistency.
Technology
The organisation already owned tools capable of improving the process but was not using them effectively.
How We Helped
During the Assess phase of the Digital Solutions Framework, we mapped the end-to-end process to understand:
- How information entered the organisation
- Where delays occurred
- Which steps created the greatest risk
- What activities consumed the most staff time
Rather than introducing additional software, we first explored how the organisation could make better use of the technology already available to them.
A simple digital submission process was introduced.
Administrators maintained a list of active projects within a structured form. Clients and project managers selected the relevant project when submitting information, ensuring updates were consistently linked to the correct project from the outset.
Submitted information was then automatically:
- Recorded against the correct project
- Stamped with submission date and time
- Linked to the individual who submitted it
- Distributed to relevant project stakeholders
Notifications were delivered directly to project teams through Microsoft Teams, allowing updates to be reviewed and actioned when appropriate.
The Result
The organisation reduced the amount of time spent manually processing project updates and removed several high-risk points from the workflow.
Benefits included:
- Reduced manual administration
- Improved consistency of information capture
- Better visibility of project updates
- Fewer data entry errors
- Improved audit trail of submissions
- Faster communication between teams
- Greater confidence in project information
Most importantly, administrative staff were able to spend less time moving information between systems and more time supporting project delivery.