Project overview
The customer, a leading power and utility company, required a more efficient way to conduct credit checks during contract creation. Their existing manual process lacked the benefits of an API-based event system, resulting in higher operational costs and delayed decision-making. This inefficiency directly impacted liquidity and receivables management.
Challenges
- Complex manual processing: Manual credit check steps increased processing time and errors.
- Operational overhead: Costs were high due to the labor-intensive nature of credit checks.
- Scalability issues: A growing customer base required a solution that could scale without adding operational burdens.
- Data integration and transparency: They needed reliable integration with third-party credit check providers and a clear, transparent view of all processes.
Proposed solution & architecture
Unified Techs proposed an automated API-based event system integrated with the customer's existing contract management platform. This solution facilitated automated credit checks during contract creation while ensuring speed, reliability and security. The architecture leveraged AWS services such as API Gateway, Lambda and SQS to create a seamless flow:
Event-driven credit check flow
- Contract creation and API call: Upon contract initiation, the system triggers an API call to initiate the credit check.
- Credit check processing: The credit check process is initiated through an API call, reading the necessary configurations and forwarding the request to the third-party credit check provider.
- Event processing and business logic: SQS queues manage event traffic and ensure asynchronous handling. Lambda functions process the business logic for each event.
- Third-party interaction: The system reliably forwards events and credit check requests to the third-party service provider through API calls, receiving feedback for contract approval or rejection.
- Decision making: Depending on the result of the credit check, the system automatically approves, rejects or flags the contract for manual review.
- Process monitoring: The solution includes automated monitoring to ensure transparency and accuracy across the entire workflow.
Architecture
Metrics for success
- Reduced process costs: Automation reduced manual handling of credit checks by 70%, lowering operational expenses.
- Improved processing time: Checks completed within minutes accelerated contract approvals.
- Enhanced reliability: Automated workflows reduced credit check errors by 90%.
- Seamless scalability: The architecture scaled without additional manual effort, supporting a growing customer base.
Lessons learned
- Automation lowers operational overhead: Shifting to an API-based event system eliminated bottlenecks and reduced labor-intensive processes.
- Seamless third-party integration: A reliable event-driven approach ensured data consistency and improved decision-making.
- Scalability ensures future readiness: The system's flexible architecture allowed for quick scaling without adding complexity.
Technologies used
Amazon API GatewayAWS LambdaAmazon SQSEvent-driven architecture