Field note 04 · Heavy civil operations · Admin & document automation
Payroll sorting from 2 hours to about 5 minutes, every two days
Payroll files, department documents and contractor confirmations were all handled by hand. Three Python tools now do it.
Built by RootN’s founder as an engineer inside a Western Canadian heavy-civil contractor’s equipment operation. The employer and its systems are not named.
- 2 h → ~5 min
- payroll file sorting, every two days
- ≈96%
- less time on that task
- 3 tools
- sorting, routing and confirmations
- Every 2 weeks
- contractor confirmations sent automatically
The situation
Raw payroll files had to be split by hand (contractors, hourly and weekly employees, by day), taking about 2 hours every two days. PDFs were opened one by one and routed to Maintenance or Operations based on a code printed on each. Contractor hour confirmations were prepared and emailed manually.
What was built
Three Python tools. One reads the payroll export, sorts entries by employee type and date and writes the outputs. One reads the printed code on each PDF and files it to the right department. One generates an individual hour-confirmation PDF for each contractor and emails it every two weeks.
The result
Payroll sorting takes about 5 minutes instead of 2 hours, roughly 96% less time. Document routing and contractor confirmations run without manual handling.
What this means for you
Where the same pattern applies
Recurring file handling (splitting, sorting, renaming, routing, sending) is usually the fastest payback in an office.