What was the problem?

The departmentā€™s Capex tracking process was manual and bottlenecked through managers, who had to manually collect timesheet data from their squads each month, creating delays, inconsistencies, and administrative burden that took time away from strategic work.

What did I do?

I took ownership of the Capex acquisition process and redesigned the tracking tool to enable individual engineers to directly log their own time, eliminating the manual manager collection step and creating a self-service system that improved accuracy and reduced administrative overhead.

How did I do it?

  1. I audited the existing Capex tracking tool to understand its current structure, permissions, and limitations.
  2. I identified the manual data collection process as the primary friction point and pain source for managers.
  3. I reconfigured the tool to allow individual contributors direct edit access to their own time entries.
  4. I set up clear guidelines and validation rules to ensure data quality without requiring managerial gatekeeping.
  5. I communicated the new process to the department with training on how to use the self-service system.
  6. I monitored the first few cycles to identify issues and refine the workflow based on feedback.
  7. I created automated messages so that everyone would be informed to fill in their time entries.

What did I achieve?

I eliminated the monthly manual collection process, reducing manager administrative burden by approximately 4-6 hours per cycle and created the baseground for a scalable system that this tool could evolve to.