The Challenge
Project Beta processed 200+ shipment approvals per month through a manual workflow spanning 5 departments, 3 approval tiers, and 12 discrete steps tracked across shared spreadsheets and email threads. Approvals took an average of 3 business days, errors caused $40K per month in shipping corrections, and there was zero visibility into where any given approval was stuck.
The Approach
I started with a full process mapping exercise using BPMN notation in Miro, interviewing stakeholders across all 5 departments. Requirements and sprint tasks were managed in Jira; all process documentation landed in Confluence. Identified 7 of the 12 steps as fully automatable and 3 as partially automatable. Built the automation suite with Make.com as the orchestration layer, Airtable as the central data hub, and Slack for one-click approvals with custom webhooks for the TMS integration. Added real-time status dashboards, automated escalation for stalled approvals, and a complete audit trail.
Platforms & Tools Used
This engagement used a full professional BA/PM stack: from discovery and process mapping through delivery and documentation.
Project Stages
Mapped the full 12-step approval workflow using BPMN 2.0 notation in Miro. Interviewed all 5 departments to capture the real process, not the documented one. Identified 23 decision points, 6 handoff bottlenecks, and 4 ghost steps that nobody owned.
Scored all 12 steps across automability, ROI, and risk. Documented a TO-BE state in Confluence, defining which steps become auto-routed, which get Slack one-click approval, and which still need human review, with clear acceptance criteria per sprint.
Built the full automation suite with Make.com orchestrating 9 automated steps, Airtable as the central approval hub, and Slack for instant notifications. Every approval action is logged with timestamp, actor, and decision context.
New Row
Dept.
Slack
Entry
Ran 2 UAT cycles with real shipment data before go-live. Tracked 47 test cases in Jira, all passed. ROI was measurable within week 1: approval time dropped from 3 days to 4 hours. Full $40K/month correction cost eliminated by week 3.