I connect the programs you already use so they hand data to each other by themselves, with no retyping — for example shop, warehouse, accounting and carrier.
And when something jams, you see it at once — and you see what it stuck on. Below I show that along the path of one order: an example, not a sign that I only work for shops.
Arrange a call about your processA data handover fails from time to time without anyone being notified. Only the customer's query shows that the case is missing.
Someone clicks “send again” because the first attempt did nothing. Now there is a second invoice or a second parcel — and the repair itself needs cleaning up.
A return, a payment made in two parts or an order split across two warehouses falls out of the system and lands in somebody's inbox as an email: “can you deal with this?”
This is how one order travels after rollout — from the shop to the parcel, including the point where it can jam. I take an order because it is the easiest to show from start to finish. I run a service request or an invoice the same way.
The system receives the order and checks that the data we settled on is complete
an order with an identifier that survives every later step
It passes the items to the warehouse and takes back the reservation confirmation
a confirmation number that travels back to the shop
It creates the document from the order data, with no retyping
an invoice tied to the same order
It requests the shipping label and writes the tracking number back to the order
a tracking number visible on the order
The order does not disappear: it goes into an exception queue with the name of what failed and a record of what was already done. For the cases we settle on the retry is designed and tested so that no duplicate appears. That is the harder part of the work — harder than connecting the systems.
What this evidence does not show
I do not give the company name, do not show how it was built, and do not give its figures. So here I write what I do and how — I do not promise to save you this much time or take away that many mistakes.
We take one real case — an order, a service request, an invoice — and walk its path: where someone retypes today and where it can get stuck. The call takes 30–45 minutes, is online and free.
A small step at a fixed price: the flow map, the list of interfaces, the exceptions that need handling and the risks on the vendors' side. It ends with a document that stays with you — including if you continue with someone else.
I connect what we settled on and set up the exception queue. We start with one flow, not with everything at once.
We work through the cases you named yourselves, including the awkward ones: in a shop a return or a partial payment, in a workshop a job waiting on a part, in an office a document that came back for correction.
A guide and handover, or ongoing monthly support — depending on who runs the flow from here.
For drawing out the path of the data you pay a figure agreed up front — you know what I do and what it costs. I give the price for the work itself only after that, because only then can you see how many programs can really be connected and how many odd cases turn up.
No. Exceptions will always exist — returns, partial payments, an order from two warehouses. The point is that they stop going missing: they land in a queue with the name of what failed and a record of what was already done. That is the harder part of the work, not connecting the systems.
I work with the interfaces your systems provide. If they are missing and the vendor provides no access, I say so while mapping the flow, not after the contract. I also check licences and API limits — they stay with you, and I say where they may get in the way.
Then you have to decide first. Automating a job locks in the way you do it; it does not decide the way for you. We settle that while I map the flow, before I connect anything.
I give no figure. Until your case is measured, it would be invented. I promise something else you can check: it is visible what stalled and why, and the log lets you reconstruct what happened to a specific case.
No rebuilding your systems from scratch. No replacing the tools you use. No promise that exceptions will disappear.
I am answerable for the flow and for making failures visible. Your company remains answerable for the data entered into the systems. Orders also raise tax and formal questions — those belong with your adviser; I say what can be handed over and recorded technically.
For drawing out the path of the data, yes — you know the figure up front, and what I draw stays with you even if you carry on with somebody else. I give the price for the work itself afterwards, because only then can you see how many programs can really be connected and how many odd cases turn up. No open-ended hourly billing.
Describe the path of a single case at your company — an order, a service request, an invoice — from where it appears to where it ends, and where it stops most often. I will tell you whether mapping it makes sense.