Stanford IT Team Enhances Efficiency with Automated Workflows

The customer in this case study is Stanford University's Computer Resource Consulting (CRC) team. The CRC team is part of the University IT department and provides support to a wide range of users including students, faculty, administrative units, labs, and other IT groups. The team is a cost recovery service, designed to ease the financial costs of running a school or department within the university. Despite being a lean team, they are expected to deliver high-quality services while managing their resources efficiently. They are tech-savvy and open to exploring new tools and technologies to improve their workflows and increase their efficiency.

Stanford University's Computer Resource Consulting (CRC) team, a cost recovery service, was tasked with supporting a wide range of users including students, faculty, administrative units, labs, and other IT groups. Despite being a lean team, they were expected to deliver high-quality services while managing their resources efficiently. The team was using the app automation tool, Zapier, to track the number of appointments made. However, they realized the potential of Zapier's 'Zaps', workflows that connect different apps, to further streamline their operations. The challenge was to encourage the team to explore and learn Zapier and create their own Zaps to improve their workflows.

To encourage the team to explore and learn Zapier, CRC Director Brad Immanuel initiated a ZapAttack, a team-wide competition where each member could submit a Zap of their own creation. The team would then vote on the best Zap in its category. This initiative led to the creation of several innovative Zaps. One of the winning Zaps was created by Philip Bailey, who developed a workflow to instantly notify team members via text message when a new appointment was scheduled. This Zap also updated a Google Sheets spreadsheet that tracked appointments. Another significant Zap was created by IT Specialist Stephanie Ricardez, who built a workflow to automatically notify the team of inventory levels. This Zap used Zapier's own Schedule app to regularly check inventory levels in Google Sheets and send a message in Slack.

• The implementation of Zapier and the creation of custom Zaps significantly improved the operational efficiency of the CRC team. The automated workflows ensured that team members were immediately notified of new appointments, reducing the chances of missed appointments or double bookings. The automatic inventory notifications helped the team monitor their resources more effectively, ensuring seamless and timely service. The ZapAttack initiative also encouraged the team to explore and learn new tools, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. Overall, the use of Zapier and the creation of custom Zaps helped the CRC team be more efficient and effective in their work.

• Zapier saves several hours a week in preparing data.

• Techs save two to three minutes per ticket on over 22,000 tickets a year.

• The time saved adds up quickly, leading to significant efficiency gains.