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Global biochemical company achieves workflow automation

A leading lab science enterprise was spending too much time on manual updates, taking them away from the mission. Reducing an entire process to the push of a button produced instant outcomes:

100 steps savedManuel errors eliminatedMaintenance and updates simplifiedDelivery accelerated by two full days
case study setup
Situation

Custom software for a biochemical company

A world leader in in vitro diagnostics engaged Sketch to build an automated installer to update the operating systems and software for bacterial testing devices used in clinical applications.

Challenge

Slow, manual process

The Company came to Sketch with a problem: the process for updating their testing devices was manual, required many steps (mostly undocumented), and was inherently error-prone. Worse still, the only person who knows the manual installation process had taken another position.

Software system updates were keeping the team from its mission.

case study challenge

Knowledge and training gap

Even if someone else were trained in the manual steps, the process would still be a single point of failure. Making matters worse, when something went wrong (often) during the manual installation process, the entire process had to start over from the beginning.

Costly workflow

Even under the best circumstances, the process for building the devices’ base image required all of the following:

  • two full business days of waiting
  • six different software packages
  • 10 reboots, at the bare minimum
  • Windows configuration updates
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Regular interruptions

The manual process was required quarterly to accommodate major builds, plus another twenty more times a year to create hot fixes. The client had outgrown this part of its software ecosystem and needed a change to move forward.

Enter Sketch

Solution

Workflow automation

Automate days of tedious work. Reduce costs and errors. Save focus for the work that matters most.
case study solution

Knowing the key implementor’s departure was imminent, the client attempted to automate certain steps in the process. They deduced that end-to-end installation process automation wasn't possible, but called Sketch for a sanity check.

A consultant spent several days shadowing the individual implementing the manual steps, documenting the entire process in detail.

Once our software developers understood the installation workflow, they could pinpoint manual steps to eliminate. Process automations also reduced the number of system reboots required.

Sketch showed progress by demonstrating working software throughout the engagement, starting after the first two weeks. This iterative delivery created a tight feedback loop, and the transparency facilitated productive co-creation of the workflow automations.

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Two key benefits

  1. Precise status tracking and logging to make the automated workflow visible.

  2. Automated testing and alerts to pinpoint any sections of code not performing as expected.

case study results
Results

Reducing days of work

By the end of the brief engagement, a manual, error-prone, 100-step, multi-day process was reduced to a single button push.

Full process automation

New installations no longer require an individual to run (or even oversee) a manual process. 

CLIENT FEEDBACK

“Great curiosity, passion, and a strong focus on delivering a solution that just works. Really been a pleasure working with Sketch!”

Senior Director, Software Engineering

Microbiology R&D Biotechnology

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