We live in a century of information. Information is everywhere. Look at your company’s everyday processes: HR involves information about current and potential employees; procurement managers search and analyze the data on goods and services to acquire the best of them; the marketing department processes information on current trends and the company’s products to develop the best offers that will work for your customers. These are billions of words and numbers per day. And everything should be studied very carefully to avoid risks. Sometimes one number entered wrong can cause colossal money losses, legal issues, or even life threats. Trying to be more attentive, employees may spend more time on tasks that are not desirable either. However, there is the right way out - automation. Today, I'll share some examples of automation where our team took an active part. How to reduce human errors Some years ago, I worked on the project that I still are proud of. The client represented a big international company - manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment, mostly for elevators. The company’s stock had included a vast range of products, that was why the company's employees had to create catalogs with thousands of pages. Initially, such a catalog's preparation took around two years and cost a lot of money and labor. Moreover, during this time, some information became irrelevant. Also, the probability of errors causing unpredictable consequences was high due to the manual layout. So, the client recruited the company I work in to find a solution. Which was the web application that optimized and automated the processes involved in catalog creation. The developed system has reach functionality and consists of three modules: , a web application that manages a vast amount of products in one place and imports updates from the external system (SAP) once a day. A Product Information Management system (PIM) organizes the working process by creating special projects for editing product info (translation, approval of printing, or online catalog). A workflow management module operates with all product media and digital files, stores them in their file system, and maintains previews for the files. A media management module Therefore, the PIM system ensures information validity, workflow management module tracks and notifies the project status and other changes, which let us synchronize the work between departments. The media management module ensures correct placement of text and graphical content on catalogs’ pages. With the system described above, our client managed to get the following results: The catalog’s development time has been reduced from 2 years to 5 weeks; The percentage of irrelevant pieces of information decreased from 31% to 2%. How to do employee scheduling (and make money on it) This case is an excellent example of human resource automation. Moreover, the client managed to optimize processes in their company and make money on it. A while ago, my company worked with a German company that specialized in Human Resources. They needed a web application that would simplify the planning of shifts and vacations and automate accounting of working hours and payrolls. As a result, we came up with a full-fledged HRM system consisting of four modules: . This module stores employee data: documents, pay sheets, certificates. With easy access to such information, the manager saves considerable time on personnel management. Personnel management module . Employees can check at the beginning and the end of their work shift, lunch break, and vacation leaves. This simplifies calculating salaries and bonuses. Work scheduling . A user can create a shift schedule, distribute it to staff, allow changes, monitor the work plan's implementation, and ensure interchangeability. We also added a feature that notifies the manager on an unplanned absence of an employee. Shifts planning . In the app, a user can plan a vacation or day-offs. The manager can follow the vacation plan and regulate the employee's schedule. Leaves or day-offs planning The developed system helped to achieve the following results: Now the scheduling process takes than before. much less time Employees are more . satisfied with the schedule The client decided to release the product as Saas (Software-as-a-service). Other companies can also buy and use it. This fetched many new clients interested in their HR services, which significantly . increased the client’s revenue How to automate the manual tendering process The next client turned to us to develop an automated system for holding tenders. They needed an information platform that would automate tasks related to search, organization, and holding of tenders. At the same time, we had to configure the work in two modes: (search for tenders based on a set of parameters) and (selection of participants, regulations control, bidding, winner determination, etc.). participant mode organizer mode So, we developed a covering all client’s business requirements with the following functionality: web application Development of tender conditions following the current tasks of the company. Publication of the tender on specialized external websites. Analysis of the conditions for the procurement of goods and services. Development and control of tender regulations under current legislation. Control of internal tender regulations. Automatic email alerts when a new tender is launched.Users’ rating depending on the number of tenders they participated in and their winnings. The web application allowed completely automate the tendering process and achieve the following results: The search efficiency of the tenders, based on parameters set, . increased by 56% The client managed to . decrease staff expenses by 11% Conclusion These are just a few cases from my experience. We have seen many examples of how companies can flourish when implementing proper technology. Figures are saying for themselves. Previously published at https://intexsoft.com/
