Case Study: Workforce Productivity

PowerApps Automation Helps a Building Material Manufacturer to Eliminate Manual Labor by 100% and Save up to 75% Time in Request Approvals

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Customer: A wholesale building material manufacturer Profile: The client develops, manufactures, and markets insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites
Industry: Manufacturing
Services: PowerApps

Business Need

The client was using a cloud-based risk management application to manage all application requests which were being implemented within the organization, get the required information from vendors, and identify potential risk factors. Although the application was built into the PowerApps, there was a heavy reliance on manual processes.

Whenever a new idea from an employee came in, all activities from creating a request to finalizing the feature were done manually. Not only was this approach time – consuming but related documentation was also not centralized.

The client wanted to automate the entire application request process, centralize all data into a single platform, and enable integration across:

  1. BOX integration to store application-related documents
  2. MS Form integration to get the information from the vendor
  3. Data verse integration to store application-related information.
  4. Power Automate integration to automate the email process and save responses in CSV format when vendors submit the MS form
  5. ServiceNow integration to ensure every request that gets approved by the approval authority is automatically created in ServiceNow
  6. Talent Center integration to retrieve employee information from the talent center

Solution and Approach

Synoptek implemented an automation process along with multiple integrations to create a centralized document center. Here is a list of activities we carried out:

  • Implemented PowerApps to bring down the effort needed to fill up required details
  • Applied field-level authorization to establish and maintain application security
  • Enabled the collection of application-related document, including vendor responses, RACI documents, and other supportive documents in a central system
  • Enabled the system to identify business risks based on which supplier/vendor has to carry out different actions
    • Upload supportive documents in the public URL
    • Provide answers to the questions via a form link
  • Enabled the IT Security team to review documents uploaded by vendors and accordingly approve the application request
  • Helped the client maintain RACI documents in a centralized folder

“Synoptek team did an excellent job with managing scope, time, and cost considering unexpected events that impacted our global operations and priorities. They were fully engaged throughout the duration of the project and showed flexibility with respect to any adjustment in scope, efforts, and schedule. The resources have technical depth and breadth and were able to provide alternatives to solution requirements. Overall, Synoptek’s engagement and delivery on this project have met all our expectations.”
– IT Project Lead

Business Benefits

Synotpek’s PowerApps implementation has helped the manufacturer reduce the time and effort it takes in assimilating and approving requests while also improving the user experience. Today, the client is able to enjoy several business benefits, including:

  • 100% reduction in manual work which has led to increased productivity and better cost savings
  • 75% reduction in the time taken to communicate with different departments and approve requests
  • Improved visibility via access to a secure and centralized document management system
  • Enhanced compliance with regulations and audit trials
  • Better workflow and version history which makes it easy to track who has performed what action and when
  • Improved communication and coordination between cross-departmental teams and vendors
PowerApps Automation Helps a Building Material Manufacturer
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