Reducing manual processing by 40 percent for a tax credit platform through workflow automation and API development.
A connected three-layer system covering screening, API integration, and state-level submission automation that reduced manual intervention by 40 percent and transformed a fragmented, volume-constrained workflow into a scalable processing platform.
THE CHALLENGE
A tax credit processing company had built its initial screening operation on a manual and fragmented workflow that could not scale with client demand. There was no unified interface, no automated submission path, and no integration with the state-level agencies that process credit applications. Every application required significant manual handling, and as employer volume grew, the overhead per application became a direct constraint on how many clients the platform could serve. Turnaround times were slowing and the processing model was approaching the limits of what the team could absorb.
OUR APPROACH
The core problem was not any single gap in the workflow. It was the absence of connection between the parts. A better screening interface without API automation would reduce friction at one point while leaving the rest manual. A public API without state-level integration would create a capability that still required human intervention to complete every submission. We identified this early and made the deliberate decision to build all three layers as a connected system rather than address them in sequence.
That decision carried a higher upfront design cost but eliminated the risk of building partial automation that creates new handoff points rather than removing them. Every component was designed with the others in mind, so that the output of one fed directly into the next without requiring manual coordination at any stage of the submission cycle.
- • Building a fully branded, mobile-responsive WOTC screening portal with tokenized access, standalone questionnaire delivery, and structured results export to external systems.
- • Developing a public API with endpoints for employee data creation, retrieval, and bulk upload, enabling external platforms to interact with the screening system programmatically.
- • Creating a programmable output formatter generating state-specific CSV, XLSX, and XML files to meet the submission requirements of different state-level processing agencies.
- • Implementing automated submission across SFTP, HTTP form post, email, and SMS channels, with completion checkers and credit calculators giving operations real-time pipeline visibility.
THE RESULTS
Manual intervention reduced by 40 percent.
Automated API submissions and state-level integrations removed human involvement from a significant portion of the processing workflow, directly reducing operational overhead per application.
Turnaround time compressed end to end.
The combination of an intuitive screening interface and automated downstream workflows reduced the time between candidate onboarding and completed credit submission across all employer accounts.
Multi-state scalability achieved.
Configurable submission templates and credentialed bulk processing gave the platform the ability to operate across multiple states and employer accounts without rebuilding workflows for each new market.
Platform opened to external integration.
The public API with full Swagger documentation allowed clients and partners to connect their own systems directly, extending the screening workflow beyond the platform’s own interface.
As the platform continues to add employer clients and enter new state markets, it does so on an infrastructure that does not require rebuilding for each expansion. The 40 percent reduction in manual handling was the immediate outcome. The more significant shift was from a processing model constrained by volume to one designed to grow without proportional increases in operational cost.
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