Case study 01 · Budget & procurement
From manual tracking
to budget clarity.
How a university athletics department tracked vendor invoices against sport-by-sport purchase orders, where the manual process slowed things down, and how I would redesign it.
Based on real experience. Names, PO numbers, and dollar amounts have been changed for confidentiality.
The challenge
Each sport had its own purchase order with a vendor, and each PO had a set amount. When invoices came in, I prepared them in Adobe Acrobat, logged the invoice number and amount in a shared spreadsheet, and filed everything in Dropbox so it was documented.
If invoices for a sport went over the amount on its PO, I prepared a change order request to add funds before the invoice could be paid. The process worked, but it depended on careful manual steps at every stage.
| Sport | PO | PO amount | Invoice 1 | Invoice 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | PO-101 | $60,000 | $42,250 | $14,500 |
| Men's Basketball | PO-102 | $70,000 | $38,000 | $15,250 |
| Men's Golf | PO-103 | $32,500 | $24,800 | $10,950 |
| Men's Soccer | PO-104 | $52,500 | $29,500 | $11,500 |
| Softball | PO-105 | $57,500 | $34,500 | $14,000 |
| Women's Basketball | PO-106 | $65,000 | $29,000 | $16,500 |
| Women's Cross Country | PO-107 | $20,000 | $8,250 | |
| Women's Soccer | PO-108 | $49,000 | $25,500 | $10,250 |
| Women's Track & Field | PO-109 | $55,000 | $39,100 | $6,200 |
| Women's Volleyball | PO-110 | $45,000 | $33,750 | $8,900 |
| Totals | $304,650 | $108,050 | ||
| All invoices | $412,700 |
Double entry
PO and invoice details were retyped from the procurement system and the invoice into the spreadsheet.
Sheets that grow sideways
Each new invoice added a column, up to Invoice 7, which made each sport's row harder to read at a glance.
Late overage alerts
Because totals ran by invoice column, a sport going over its PO was spotted once invoices came in, and payment waited on a change order.
Scattered backup
Invoices, approvals, and change orders lived in different folders with different file names.
The process, mapped.
Every invoice followed the same six steps. When an invoice pushed a sport over its PO amount, it took a second path through the change order process.
- 01
Invoice arrives
Vendor invoices come in by email for a specific sport and purchase order.
Email - 02
Match to the PO
Find the matching purchase order and sport allocation in the tracking spreadsheet.
Excel - 03
Prepare the invoice
Mark the invoice approved to pay and prepare the PDF for processing.
Adobe Acrobat - 04
Log the invoice
Type the invoice number and amount into the next open invoice column.
Excel - 05
File the backup
Save the PDF into the right Dropbox folder for audit support.
Dropbox - 06
Check the balance
Compare the sport's invoices to its PO amount. Excel totaled each invoice column, but not each PO's remaining balance.
Excel
Exception path: change order request
- CO-1
Prepare change order
Fill out the change order request with the PO, amount, and reason.
Acrobat - CO-2
Attach backup
Merge the approved invoices into one PDF package.
AcrobatDropbox - CO-3
Route for approval
Email the package for business officer and procurement approval, then wait.
Email
Anatomy of a change order
A change order adds funds to an existing purchase order. Each request needed the right PO, a clear reason, the revised total, and the invoices that supported it. Here is the Men's Golf request from the tracker above, with illustrative amounts.
Additional funds requested to cover Men's Golf equipment and tournament costs above the original PO amount.
- Vendor invoice 1 · $24,800 · approved to pay
- Vendor invoice 2 · $10,950 · approved to pay
Draft request
Fill in the PO, change type, amount, and reason.
Compile backup
Merge the approved invoices into one PDF package.
Business officer approval
Review and sign off on the added funds.
Procurement processing
Procurement updates the PO and issues the revised order.
Fully executed
The revised PO total is active, and invoices can be paid.
How I would redesign it.
The goal is the same process with fewer manual steps: enter data once, see balances live, catch overages early, and keep every document in one place. It uses tools most teams already have.
- 01
One intake point
Invoices go to one shared inbox. A simple form or automation captures vendor, PO, sport, invoice number, and amount once.
Microsoft FormsPower Automate - 02
Structured invoice log
One row per invoice in an Excel table, with dropdowns for sport and PO, instead of adding Invoice 1, Invoice 2, Invoice 3 columns.
Excel tablesData validation - 03
Live PO balances
A PO register calculates invoiced, remaining, and % used automatically with SUMIFS, so every PO row shows what's left, not just column totals.
SUMIFSConditional formatting - 04
Early warnings
Each PO turns gold at 80% used and red at 100%, so a change order can start before an invoice is held.
Alerts - 05
Pre-filled change orders
The change order form pulls the PO, amounts, and revised total straight from the log, with backup invoices attached automatically.
Acrobat formsTemplates - 06
Digital approvals & filing
E-signature routing with status tracked in the log, and every PDF saved with one naming rule in one folder per PO.
Acrobat SignSharePoint / Dropbox
What changes
Designed to cut manual steps per invoice from six to two.
In the redesign, the only manual steps are reviewing the captured invoice and approving it. Balances, alerts, filing, and change order drafts happen automatically, and every step leaves a clear audit trail.
These are design goals for a proposed process, not measured results.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice entry | Retyped by hand into a wide spreadsheet | Captured once through an intake form into a structured log |
| Balance tracking | SUM formulas totaled each invoice column and all invoices for the vendor | Remaining balance and % used calculated on every PO row |
| Catching overages | Noticed when an invoice is already over | Alerts at 80% and 100%, before payment is held |
| Documents | PDFs in folders with mixed file names | One naming rule, one folder per PO, linked in the log |
| Change orders | Built from scratch each time | Pre-filled from the log with backup attached |
| Approvals | Stamped and sent by email | E-signature routing with status visible to everyone |
| Visibility | Open the spreadsheet and scan rows | A dashboard by sport and vendor |
Have a process
like this?
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