Fitch Group 7

Inspiration

Our project was inspired by the need to streamline and automate vehicle management processes. Managing vehicle requests, approvals, and returns can be complex and time-consuming, so we set out to build a solution that improves efficiency, communication, and accuracy.

What it does

The project automates the vehicle request lifecycle:

• Request Submission: Employees submit vehicle requests through a simple form.
• Approval Process: Managers review and approve or reject requests with comments.
• Vehicle Allocation: Facility managers allocate vehicles and track their status.
• Vehicle Return: Clients notify managers when vehicles are returned, and an inspection process ensures all details are recorded.

How we built it

We built the project using:

• Microsoft Power Automate for workflow automation.
• Microsoft Forms for collecting requests and vehicle return submissions.
• SharePoint for storing and managing dynamic data, such as vehicle information and completed forms.
• HTML and Compose Actions to generate professional email notifications and confirmations. The workflows connect form submissions, approvals, notifications, and file management.

Challenges we ran into

• Content Issues: Extracting and passing dynamic content like file paths and email data to subsequent steps.
• File Management: Converting form responses into files (PDF) and saving them in SharePoint without errors.
• Testing Automation: Ensuring each step, like approval triggers or status updates, performed consistently across multiple use cases.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Successfully automated a multi-step approval process.
• Created 3 workflows to each dedicated user (Client, Manager and Facility teams) and all work seamlessly together
• Improved communication between clients, managers, and facility teams.
• Ensured accurate tracking of vehicle allocations and returns.
• Generated dynamic PDF reports and stored them efficiently in SharePoint.

What we learned

• The importance of structured workflows to reduce manual intervention.
• How to integrate Microsoft tools (Forms, Power Automate, SharePoint) for automation.
• Troubleshooting Power Automate errors like invalid file paths and email delivery failures.
• The value of clean, user-friendly forms and notifications for stakeholder engagement.

What's next for Fitch Group 7

Moving forward, we plan to:

• Expand the system to include automated vehicle maintenance tracking.
• Implement reminders and escalation workflows for pending approvals or delayed returns.
• Enhance user experience by building a custom Power Apps interface for better accessibility and interaction.
• Improve on the UI design of the sites

Built With

• 365
• css
• forms
• html
• microsoft
• powerautomate
• sharepoint