Transforming Federal Business Processes Through Salesforce Automation

USADF needed to modernize the business and administrative processes used by personnel in Washington, D.C., and its country offices, as well as by applicants and grantees throughout Africa. The agency sought a cost-effective, web-based Management Oversight Tool (MOT) built on a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that it could configure with minimal customization.

USADF wanted an approach that would deliver an initial Minimum Viable Product (MVP) through Agile development while establishing a scalable foundation for future capabilities. The modernization also had to handle complex approval processes, document-intensive workflows, coordination among multiple stakeholder groups, external reporting requirements, and authentication and integration dependencies.

During implementation, discovery revealed additional requirements, including more sophisticated approval hierarchies than originally anticipated, the need to generate and exchange PDF documentation with external organizations, and dependencies on USADF’s IT organization for Single Sign-On (SSO) integration.

DivIHN selected and implemented Salesforce as the foundation for USADF’s business process automation initiative, supporting licensing and hosting, requirements analysis, discovery, solution architecture, design, development, user acceptance, training, and deployment. 

Working directly with USADF Product Owners, users, and subject matter experts, DivIHN translated existing business processes into configurable Salesforce workflows. The team established the MVP architecture and solution design and implemented capabilities including:

• Employee Portal
• Electronic form configuration
• Approval process configuration
• Internal user homepage
• Task and activity management
• Document generation and PDF export
• Authentication and user access

DivIHN also began modernizing and automating USADF business documents and workflows, including the CPC Invoice, CPC Tax Invoice, CPC OPS Invoice, IT Systems Access/Revocation, Exit Clearance, and Micro Purchase Request forms. These initial workflows create a reusable foundation for automating additional USADF processes. 

DivIHN shaped the solution around real user workflows through demonstrations, discovery sessions, and iterative reviews. The team worked through complex approval hierarchies, simplified navigation, improved cross-departmental workflow visibility, and accommodated requirements for hand-signed and externally exchanged documentation.

The Salesforce solution established a scalable digital foundation for USADF’s broader Management Oversight Tool vision and moved document-intensive processes into an automated environment. 

Iterative demonstrations and user reviews helped DivIHN capture detailed operational requirements and create a more intuitive environment that fits the way USADF personnel work. Automated workflows made it easier to route and track activities across complex approval structures and replaced disconnected manual processes. 

DivIHN also delivered PDF generation at no additional licensing cost. USADF personnel continue to produce the documentation required for external recordkeeping and transactions reported to the U.S. Treasury, while the underlying workflow runs in Salesforce. 

When external dependencies delayed Single Sign-On integration, the team used Salesforce authentication to keep sandbox testing and training on track, so implementation kept moving while the final SSO integration progressed. 

The result gives USADF an MVP and a reusable Salesforce foundation that supports additional workflow and document automation as the agency expands its Management Oversight Tool.