Driving Efficiency with No-Code Automation
Summary
Implementing a no-code automation to connect existing systems, eliminating the charity's manual data entry and inefficient communication workflows.
Outcome
Recovered 23 hours of staff time per month by automating repetitive tasks.
Achieved a 92% reduction in the costs associated with manual data entry and communication.
Delivered a cost-effective and sustainable no-code solution that the charity's staff can manage long-term without technical expertise.
The Project
CARAS, a charity supporting people from a refugee background, initially requested a new beneficiary-facing app to display their available activities. However, the discovery phase revealed that the team's most significant challenges were operational. The project quickly pivoted from a client-facing solution to an internal process automation project aimed at solving a deeper, more impactful problem.
The Problem
Through stakeholder interviews and the creation of a service blueprint, I uncovered a significant administrative burden on the charity's staff. The core issues were not related to beneficiary awareness, but to highly inefficient internal workflows:
Excessive Manual Labour: Senior staff were spending over 23 hours per month on repetitive, manual tasks that could be automated.
Repetitive Data Entry: Every time a new beneficiary was registered via a Google Form, their details had to be manually copied and pasted into the charity's Lamplight CRM.
Inefficient Communication: To avoid being marked as spam by mobile carriers, staff had to send activity reminders as individual text messages, a time-consuming and unscalable process.
Misallocated Resources: Valuable staff time was being diverted from the charity's core mission of supporting beneficiaries to focus on administrative tasks.
Users & Audience
CARAS Staff: The primary users who were bogged down by manual data entry and communication tasks.
Beneficiaries: The recipients of the charity's services, who would benefit from more reliable and consistent communication.
My Role & Responsibilities
My role evolved from a UX Designer to a UX Designer and no-code implementer. My responsibilities included:
Conducting stakeholder interviews to understand the service's operational reality.
Creating a service blueprint to map the user journey and identify backstage inefficiencies.
Identifying that the initial project brief would not solve the core issue and proposing a pivot.
Researching and implementing a no-code automation solution to connect their existing tools.
Creating detailed handover documentation to empower the CARAS team to manage the new system.
Process
1. Discovery & Service Blueprinting
I began by mapping the entire journey a beneficiary takes, from their first contact with CARAS to attending an activity. The creation of a service blueprint visually separated the "frontstage" actions (what the beneficiary sees) from the "backstage" actions (internal staff processes). This map made it clear that the most significant pain points were internal. While an app for beneficiaries would have been useful, the real opportunity for impact was in freeing up staff time, which led to the decision to pivot the project.
2. Solution Design & Research
The ideal long-term solution would be to migrate to a more advanced CRM system. However, this was out of scope due to budget, time, and training constraints. The most practical and impactful solution was to automate their existing workflows. Despite having no prior experience with automation, I researched no-code tools that could act as a bridge between their existing systems: Google Forms, Lamplight (their CRM), and a bulk SMS service. I selected Integromat (now Make) for its flexibility and ability to connect to their required apps.
Solution
Using Integromat, I designed and built a no-code automation that completely replaced the team's manual data entry and communication process. The new workflow is triggered automatically whenever a new beneficiary is registered.
Intake
A staff member fills out a Google Form with the new beneficiary's details.
Automation
Integromat instantly detects the new form submission and pulls the data.
Distribution
The automation simultaneously performs two actions:
It creates a new, fully populated user profile in the Lamplight CRM.
It adds the beneficiary's name and phone number to a contact list in TextMagic, an SMS service.
This new process completely eliminates manual data transfer and enables staff to send activity reminders to entire groups with a single action, without being flagged as spam.
Outcomes & Results
The project was a huge success, transforming the charity's operational efficiency and freeing up the team to focus on their core mission.
The automation solution recovered 23 hours of staff time every month.
This translated to a 92% reduction in the cost associated with manual data entry and communications.
The solution was built with no-code tools, making it a cost-effective and sustainable solution that the CARAS team could manage themselves long-term without needing technical expertise.
A detailed handover document was created to empower staff to maintain and adapt the automation, ensuring the solution's longevity without future technical support.