How a Company in Vienna Saved 18+ Hours Weekly Automating Event Registrations with Microsoft Foundry

In the fast-paced world of event management, spending over 18 hours per week manually managing event registrations can be a significant bottleneck 🚀. This was exactly the challenge a Vienna-based company faced, hampering operational efficiency and increasing error rates adversely impacting customer experience.

Through a meticulously designed automation workflow leveraging Microsoft Foundry and RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service expertise, the company transformed its event registration process. This case study explores the problem in-depth, our technical approach, the detailed workflow architecture, and the compelling results.

Readers, especially startup CTOs, automation engineers, and operations specialists, will gain practical insights on building robust automation workflows integrating Microsoft Foundry and other services such as Gmail, Google Sheets, and Slack.

If you are interested in getting started, create your free RestFlow account today and automate your workflows effortlessly.

The Problem: Manual Management of Event Registrations Wasting 18+ Hours Weekly

The client is a medium-sized event technology company headquartered in Vienna, Austria, specializing in organizing B2B and B2C events. The operations team was responsible for processing event registrations manually across multiple platforms.

Before automation, their 5-person operations team spent more than 18 hours weekly (approximately 72 hours monthly) manually handling registration data—copying from emails, inputting into Microsoft Excel sheets, cross-checking for duplicates, sending confirmation emails via Gmail, and manually updating CRM records.

This manual approach had several pain points:

• Time Drain and Inefficiency: Over 18 hours weekly lost to repetitive data entry and email follow-ups.
• High Error Rates: Approximately 12% registration errors due to manual input and missed data validation.
• Delayed Responses: Confirmation emails sent with delays, resulting in customer dissatisfaction.
• Lack of Visibility: No unified dashboard for the team to track registration statuses and issues in real time.

These issues hurt their ability to scale event operations, led to SLA failures, and impacted customer experience — vital KPIs for their business performance.

Addressing these challenges became critical to boost operational efficiency and ensure smooth event execution.

Our Approach: Discovery, Process Mapping, and Automation Strategy

RestFlow’s consulting team first conducted a thorough process discovery with the client’s operations and IT departments to map out the registration workflow in detail.

We identified key systems:

• Emails received via Gmail for registration notifications
• Registration data stored and managed in Microsoft Excel sheets
• Communication via Slack for internal alerts
• Customer details updated in Microsoft Foundry CRM modules

Given the existing Microsoft Foundry infrastructure and the need for a low-code, scalable integration platform, we proposed leveraging Microsoft Foundry’s native workflow capabilities combined with RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service model to design, implement, and maintain the automation solution.

We chose to build the orchestration primarily with Microsoft Foundry workflows, integrating Gmail and Slack API connectors, and utilizing Google Sheets as an interim data validation and reporting layer.

This architecture promises seamless automation, reduced manual intervention, and reliable reporting.

The Solution: Architecture & Workflow

At a high level, the architecture integrates multiple tools into an end-to-end automated pipeline:

• Trigger: Incoming event registration emails in Gmail
• Orchestration Tool: Microsoft Foundry workflow engine
• External Services: Gmail (email reading + sending), Google Sheets (staging and validation), Slack (notifications), Microsoft Foundry CRM (contact and registration record updates)
• Outputs: Real-time Slack alerts, automated confirmation emails, updated CRM records, and status tracking dashboards

End-to-End Workflow Overview

1. Email Trigger: Microsoft Foundry monitors a dedicated Gmail inbox for new registration emails using API polling every 5 minutes.
2. Data Extraction & Parsing: Extracts registrant data from the email body using regex and JSON schema mapping.
3. Data Validation: Validates required fields (name, email, ticket type) against Google Sheets staging spreadsheet to detect duplicates.
4. Decision Logic: If duplicate, triggers a Slack alert to operations; if valid and new, proceeds to next step.
5. CRM Update: Creates or updates contact and registration records in Microsoft Foundry CRM.
6. Confirmation Email: Sends an automated, personalized confirmation email via Gmail API.
7. Logging & Reporting: Logs the transaction status in a Google Sheets dashboard for real-time monitoring.

Throughout the process, error handling and retries ensure robustness and smooth operation.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🌐

1. Gmail Trigger Node

This node polls the dedicated registration inbox every 5 minutes using Gmail API’s “messages.list” endpoint filtered for unread messages.

Input:

• Gmail API OAuth tokens stored securely in Foundry credentials store.
• Query filter: “is:unread subject:Registration”

Output:

• New email message metadata and content for parsing.

Actions:

• Marks emails as “read” after processing to avoid duplicates.

2. Data Extraction & Parsing Node 🧩

Role:
Extract registrant details like full name, email, ticket type, and event ID using regex patterns and JSON mapping.

Configuration:

• Use custom parsing expressions for email body text.
• Map extracted fields into a structured JSON object.

Example expression:
Regex to extract email: /Email:\s*(\S+@\S+\.\S+)/

3. Google Sheets Validation Node 🔍

This step searches a Google Sheets ‘Registrations’ tab for existing email entries to check for duplicates.

Key details:

• Action: Search rows where ‘Email’ column equals extracted registrant email.
• If found, route to duplicate handling; else continue.

Use Google Sheets API with OAuth2 credentials securely stored.

4. Decision Logic Node ⚖️

Uses conditional branching:

• If duplicate detected: sends Slack alert, logs incident in a ‘Duplicates’ tab.
• If valid: proceeds to CRM update.

5. Microsoft Foundry CRM Update Node

This node interfaces with the Microsoft Foundry CRM API to create or update contact and registration records.

Details:

• Check if contact exists by email.
• Create contact if new.
• Create registration record linked to contact.

6. Confirmation Email Node 📧

Sends a templated confirmation email via Gmail API:

• Dynamic variables: registrant’s name, event details, ticket type.
• Email headers configured for deliverability and tracking.

7. Logging & Reporting Node

Appends successful registration data into a Google Sheets dashboard for operational visibility, tracking metrics such as date, registration status, and time processed.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

Each step includes retry policies with exponential backoff for transient API failures.

Failures at critical points trigger Slack alerts to operations with error details and potential manual intervention instructions.

Logging and Observability

All workflow executions are logged with timestamps and statuses in Google Sheets for traceability.

RestFlow’s monitoring dashboard provides real-time execution success/failure rates.

Idempotency and Deduplication

Email messages are marked read to prevent reprocessing.

Google Sheets duplicate checks and CRM searches avoid duplicate contact or registration creation.

Security and Data Protection

• API keys and OAuth tokens stored in Microsoft Foundry credentials manager with least privilege access.
• All PII is securely transmitted over HTTPS with encrypted storage in Google Sheets and Microsoft CRM.
• Access controls restrict modifications to workflows and credentials.
• Audit logs track changes and access to the workflow.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

To prepare for higher event volumes,

• Workflow uses webhook triggers when available; otherwise, Gmail API polling is optimized with short intervals.
• Queued message processing and batch updates reduce API call rate limits.
• The modular workflow design allows adding new event types or locations by cloning and adapting nodes.
• Integrations can easily extend to other tools such as HubSpot or ERP systems based on client needs.
• RestFlow’s managed hosting ensures seamless scaling without service disruptions.

Comparison Tables

Automation Platform	Cost (Monthly)	Pros	Cons
Microsoft Foundry	Included in enterprise license	Native integration with Microsoft ecosystem, advanced workflow capabilities	Steeper learning curve, less third-party connectors than some platforms
n8n	Free/self-hosted, $20-$100 for managed	Open source, flexible, strong for API orchestration	Requires hosting and maintenance effort
Make (Integromat)	Starts $9/month scaling with usage	User-friendly visual builder, extensive app support	API rate limits, more expensive at scale

Integration Method	Latency	Resource Usage	Scalability
Webhook	Milliseconds to seconds	Low – event-driven	High – scales easily with events
Polling	Seconds to minutes depending on interval	Higher – periodic API calls	Moderate – API limits apply

Storage Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Free up to limits	Easy to use, supports live collaboration	Limited scalability, lacks relational data features
SQL Database	Setup and hosting costs	Highly scalable, supports complex queries	Requires more technical expertise

Results & Business Impact

After deployment, the benefits were immediate and quantifiable:

• Time Saved: Operations time spent on registrations dropped from 18+ to under 3 hours weekly — an 83% reduction [Source: internal client data]
• Error Rate Reduction: Manual data entry errors fell from 12% to less than 1% due to automated validation.
• Faster Response SLA: Confirmation emails were sent within 5 minutes of registration receipt, improving customer satisfaction.
• Enhanced Visibility: Real-time dashboards empowered the team to proactively manage registrations and exceptions.

The operations team reported a significant relief, reallocating time towards higher-value tasks such as event planning and customer engagement.

This transformation effectively scaled their event registration process without increasing headcount.

Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

To ensure seamless adoption, a controlled pilot phase was conducted for 4 weeks, processing real but limited volume data.

During this pilot, minor bugs were addressed, parsing rules refined, and edge cases handled.

Post-pilot, RestFlow provides ongoing managed services covering:

• Workflow hosting and uptime guarantees
• 24/7 monitoring and alerts
• Routine updates and audits
• Quick incident response and troubleshooting

This partnership guarantees the automation remains resilient, secure, and scalable as the client grows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

This case study highlights how a company in Vienna dramatically cut down over 18 hours per week spent on manual event registration management using an expertly crafted Microsoft Foundry automation solution.

The blend of deep process understanding, Microsoft Foundry’s orchestration power, and integrations with Gmail, Google Sheets, and Slack created a robust, scalable workflow that improved operational efficiency, accuracy, and customer experience.

RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service approach ensured end-to-end delivery including design, implementation, hosting, monitoring, and continuous maintenance — enabling the client to focus on strategic growth rather than manual tasks.

Ready to streamline your event registrations or other workflows? Explore the Automation Template Marketplace or create your free RestFlow account today to get started on your automation journey.