A controller's critical monthly workflow ran on spreadsheets and email. Roughly fifteen hours of manual reconciliation every month, with no audit trail and no easy way to scale as the business grew.
Outcome
~15 hrs/month removed from a recurring manual workflow
Outcome
Documented decision logic, portable beyond any individual
Outcome
Audit trail on every step, not just the result
The Challenge
The work had to happen and had to be right. It just did not have to be done by a senior person clicking through spreadsheets and forwarding emails to chase the same answers each month.
Previous attempts to streamline the process had stalled. The workflow carried branching logic and exception handling that a generic template could not capture. Someone needed to sit with the controller and actually codify the rules before automating anything.
The Solution
Codify the workflow before automating it
- Walked the controller through the existing process end to end, naming every decision point and exception
- Documented the rules in plain language first, then translated them into an orchestration graph
Rebuild the process as AI-assisted automation
- n8n as the orchestration layer, with explicit triggers, error handling, and logging
- AI assistance scoped to the specific judgment calls where it adds value, with the controller retaining sign-off
- Monitoring and notifications so the controller knows the state of the workflow without checking it
The Results
Roughly fifteen hours a month came out of the controller's calendar. That is recurring time the business now spends on forward-looking work rather than rebuilding the same reconciliation.
The bigger win is the documented workflow itself. When the controller is out, or the business outgrows them, the process goes with the business. Not with a person.
Services Used
Engagement details anonymized at the client's request. Time-savings figures represent measured impact during the engagement.