Background
The University has a number of electric vehicles that staff and students can use cars for work-related journeys, but sign-up process relied heavily on repetitive email administration, in-person inductions, multiple handover points, duplicated steps and long waiting times.
The process was redesigned using process mapping to identify duplication, waste, and opportunities for improvement before automation was introduced. This was to ensure automation would improve the way the process worked rather than simply replicating existing inefficiencies.
What changes were implemented?
- SharePoint communication site created as a central, consistent resource for all carpool information
- Training materials, safety requirements, user guidance, videos and FAQs were moved online
- MS Form was introduced to capture sign-up information with a Power Automate flow transferring it to a SharePoint List.
- Automated checks were added to confirm applicants were eligible, prevent self-approval and ensure a departmental approver was nominated
- Approval step was built into Power Automate to manage departmental approval requests and responses