From e-mail forms to traffic-light status indicators: visibility across all patent research
How the Hisense Europe development team moved patent research requests out of e-mail and into a structured process - with a clear status dashboard and automatic report generation.
"Microsoft Power Platform impressed us because it allows us to digitalise internal processes that we previously managed through Excel and e-mail relatively quickly. Our experience with the BizIT team has been excellent: they build visually appealing, user-friendly applications and are extremely responsive and professional."
Challenge
At Hisense Europe, patent research requests were managed through forms that employees sent by e-mail. The research and development team faced several challenges:
- there was no single overview of all requests received,
- requesters had no up-to-date information about the status of their requests,
- tracking changes sent by e-mail was time-consuming,
- assigning requests was made harder by the lack of visibility into team workload,
- final reports were prepared manually in Word,
- data for analytics (number of studies, completion times ...) was difficult to capture.
Solution
For Hisense Europe, we developed a custom Power Apps application that guides users through the entire process of handling patent research requests:
- Traffic-light indicators on the home screen show the status of every request by colour - the team can see at a glance where each one stands.
- Automatic e-mail notifications keep all stakeholders informed whenever a status changes (Power Automate).
- Word reports are generated automatically from data collected directly in the application, using predefined templates.
- Excel analytics update continuously and provide clear real-time reporting.
The application recognises different user types and gives each person the functionality they need. The solution is built entirely in the client's Microsoft environment, ensuring high security standards.
Impact
- Everything in one place with assured data quality.
- Clear visibility of request statuses - for the team and for those requesting the research.
- Automatic report generation from application data - no more manual preparation in Word.
- Live analytics for monitoring key information in real time.
How we worked
This project also followed our proven approach: process mapping and a solution prototype, approved by the client before development began.
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