MDFAutomation
From Excel hell to automated budget workflows
Overview
Power Automate + SharePoint solution for marketing development fund tracking. Replaced a painful manual Excel-based process with automated workflows.
Key Metrics
Case Study
The Problem
Marketing Development Fund tracking was managed through a tangle of Excel files, email chains, and manual reconciliation. The process was error-prone, impossible to audit, and consumed significant time from both the team submitting funds and the team approving them.
The Approach
Mapped the full MDF workflow end-to-end — from budget allocation to claim submission, approval, and reconciliation
Built Power Automate flows that trigger automatically at each workflow stage, routing tasks to the right person without manual intervention
Made SharePoint the single source of truth — all fund records, approvals, and supporting documents live in one auditable location
Designed approval interfaces simple enough for non-technical users to operate without training
The Impact
Eliminated manual Excel reconciliation entirely — the process now runs without spreadsheet wrangling
Reduced errors and time spent on MDF administration across both submitting and approving teams
Created a full audit trail for budget tracking and compliance — previously impossible with email-based approvals
Lessons Learned
"Power Automate is massively underutilized for solving Excel-hell problems in enterprise settings — the tooling is already there, people just don't know it"
"Non-technical user adoption requires making the new process simpler than the old one, not just better — convenience beats capability"
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