Automating tedious year-end processes for a federal health agency

Challenge 

For over a decade, a federal health agency relied on a semi-manual process to update classification records tied to an annual release of medical vocabulary changes. Each year, the agency received a comprehensive list of updates—including modified subject headings, entry terms, and related references—that required extensive manual review. Staff coordinated across spreadsheets, tracked changes by hand, and relied on developer handoffs to implement updates. 

This approach presented several challenges: 

• Manual confirmation of data relationships across interlinked record structures
• Inconsistent formatting in Excel-based reports
• Limited traceability in change logs, reducing audit readiness 
• Difficulty identifying errors and duplicates across large datasets 
• Senior staff spent multiple days coordinating updates using low-tech tools 

As this process environment became more interconnected and data-driven, the lack of automation hindered operational efficiency, scalability, and consistency. 

 

Approach 

In 2025, Guidehouse collaborated with the agency to reimagine this time-intensive process. Our team designed and implemented the Year-End Processing (YEP) Automation Suite—a scalable, intelligent workflow that replaces the most labor-intensive steps with dynamic, API-integrated logic. 

The YEP Suite automates term validation, applies approved updates to classification records, and synchronizes related vocabulary to maintain consistency across systems. Built-in quality checks and structured review workflows ensure data accuracy, while timestamped logs and structured outputs support transparency and audit readiness.  

Each step of the process is designed to be: 

• Transparent: Clear audit trails and structured outputs
• Repeatable: Annual execution with minimal configuration 
• Scalable: Adaptable to future use cases and environments  

The solution was tested across multiple environments with iterative stakeholder feedback and received final approval ahead of schedule for the 2026 update cycle. 

 

Impact 

The YEP Automation Suite delivered measurable improvements in speed, accuracy, and auditability:  

• Accelerated processing: Reduced annual update cycle from multiple business days to under 30 minutes 
• Improved data integrity: Automated checks minimize errors and duplication 
• Enhanced audit readiness: Structured, timestamped outputs with traceable logs 
• User-friendly implementation: Designed for low-maintenance, repeatable use
• Faster consensus: Reduced review cycles from 4-5 rounds to just 1-2 

This modernization effort transformed one of the agency’s most critical but resource-intensive tasks. By replacing longtime, manual workflow with a scalable automation framework, Guidehouse helped the agency boost internal efficiency, improve data quality, and lay the foundation for future automation—such as integration with administrative dashboards and automated job schedulers.