How a Company in Vienna Solved a Problem Where a Company Spent More Than 30 Hours Per Month Updating Product Inventory Manually Using Microsoft Foundry

Imagine spending over 30 hours every month tediously updating product inventory data manually across multiple systems. 😰 This was the reality for our client, a fast-growing retail company based in Vienna, Austria. The manual process was error-prone, time-consuming, and impacted their ability to scale effectively.

In this case study, you’ll discover how automation with Microsoft Foundry, orchestrated through n8n and supported by RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service, transformed their inventory management. We’ll walk through the problem, our technical approach, the detailed workflow architecture, integration with tools like Microsoft Foundry, Google Sheets, and Slack, and the impressive results achieved—saving over 30 hours per month and drastically reducing errors.

If you’re a startup CTO, automation engineer, or operations specialist struggling with manual data processes, this story shows a practical, step-by-step path to efficient automation. Don’t forget to Explore the Automation Template Marketplace to see ready-made workflows that can streamline your operations.

The Problem: Manual Product Inventory Updates Wasting 30+ Hours Monthly

Our client is a mid-sized retail company headquartered in Vienna, operating within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Their operations department was responsible for maintaining up-to-date product inventory data across various platforms, including Microsoft Foundry, a critical low-code data integration tool they used for managing product information.

Before automation, inventory updates were handled through a cumbersome manual process involving:

• Downloading reports from their ERP system.
• Manually updating stock counts and pricing in Microsoft Foundry.
• Cross-verifying data with Google Sheets maintained by regional teams.
• Communicating updates internally through Slack and email threads.

This process took more than 30 hours every month and was prone to human errors, resulting in inaccurate inventory reports and delayed updates affecting procurement and sales forecasts. The operations team reported frustration with the repetitive tasks, and management was concerned about scalability and the risk of SLA breaches due to update delays.

Key impacts included:

• Average 5% error rate in inventory data causing order mistakes.
• High operational overhead delaying monthly stock reporting by up to 3 days.
• Limited visibility into update status causing frequent follow-ups among teams.

Our Approach: Discovery and Automation Proposal

RestFlow began the engagement by conducting an in-depth discovery phase, mapping every step of the existing inventory update process. We interviewed the operations team in Vienna and analyzed system logs to identify bottlenecks.

We identified that Microsoft Foundry was at the core of their product data management, but manual data entry and lack of integration with other systems like Google Sheets and internal communication tools were the root causes of inefficiency.

Given their use of Microsoft Foundry’s APIs and the availability of scheduling triggers, we proposed an automation architecture leveraging n8n as the workflow orchestration tool. n8n was selected due to its open-source nature, rich integration capabilities, and flexible workflow design enabling complex multi-step automations without vendor lock-in.

The high-level proposal included:

• Automated extraction and validation of product inventory data from ERP exports.
• Use of Microsoft Foundry API to programmatically update inventory records.
• Integration with Google Sheets as an audit and fallback repository.
• Slack notifications for status and error alerts.
• Robust error handling and logging mechanisms.

This approach promised to reduce manual input, improve data accuracy, and accelerate update cycles.

The Solution: Architecture & Workflow

Global Architecture Overview

The automated workflow designed to solve the problem leverages the following components:

• Trigger: Scheduled trigger running daily and monthly inventory update jobs.
• Orchestration Tool: n8n cloud instance hosted and monitored by RestFlow.
• External Services and APIs: Microsoft Foundry API for inventory update; ERP system exports consumed as XLSX files delivered over secure FTP; Google Sheets for backup and auditing; Slack for team notifications.
• Outputs: Updated product inventory records in Microsoft Foundry, audit log rows in Google Sheets, status and error messages via Slack.

End-to-End Workflow Steps

1. Scheduled Workflow Trigger: The workflow initiates at 8 AM daily and an extended full update at month-end.
2. ERP Report Retrieval: Secure FTP node downloads daily inventory export XLSX files.
3. Data Parsing and Validation: XLSX files parsed to JSON; validations run to check for missing SKUs, negative stock counts, or price mismatches.
4. Data Enrichment: Cross-referenced with Google Sheets to check for anomalies and manual corrections.
5. Update Inventory in Microsoft Foundry: API calls made to update stock and prices per SKU using REST nodes.
6. Audit Logging: All updated records and errors logged into Google Sheets for transparency.
7. Slack Notifications: Summary report sent to operations and sales channels.

This workflow replaced the manual multi-step update performed by the team, running reliably each day without human intervention.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🧩

1. Scheduled Trigger Node

This node uses n8n’s Cron feature set to initiate workflows at specified times—daily for incremental updates, and monthly for full inventory syncs. Configured to run at 8 AM Vienna time to ensure data freshness.

2. Secure FTP Download Node

Connects to the ERP system’s FTP server with credentials securely stored in n8n credentials manager. Downloads the latest inventory XLSX file. File path includes date pattern to ensure correct version retrieval.

3. XLSX Parser Node

Parses the downloaded XLSX file to JSON format for easier transformation. Fields include SKU, stock quantity, price, and update timestamp.

4. Data Validation & Filtering Node

Uses conditional logic to check missing fields, negative quantities, or out-of-range prices. Invalid rows are separated to an error queue for manual review.

5. Google Sheets Lookup Node

This node reads a reference Google Sheet that holds manual corrections and overrides, merging this data with the ERP output to enrich and correct product records before updating Foundry.

6. Microsoft Foundry API Update Node

REST API node configured with token-based authentication. For each SKU, sends PATCH requests to update stock and pricing fields. Uses expressions to map SKU IDs and payload data correctly.

7. Audit Logging Node (Google Sheets Append)

Logs update timestamps, SKU IDs, and update status to a Google Sheet acting as an immutable audit trail. Essential for compliance and troubleshooting.

8. Slack Notification Node 📣

At workflow end, sends a summary message to the operations Slack channel indicating success, number of records updated, and highlighting any failures. Uses Slack’s rich message formatting for clarity.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

The workflow implements automatic retries with exponential backoff on failed API requests to Microsoft Foundry. Malformed data triggers alerts but isolates from blocking entire runs.

Logging and Observability

All errors and status updates are logged in Google Sheets and sent via Slack alerts for near-real-time monitoring.

Idempotency and Deduplication

The workflow uses unique invoice and SKU IDs to prevent duplicate updates. Before execution, a pre-check confirms if the data was already processed by comparing timestamps in audit logs.

Security & Data Protection

API keys are stored securely within n8n credentials with restricted access scopes limiting operations to inventory updates only. PII data is masked or excluded entirely from logs.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The daily volume of SKUs (~5,000) was handled efficiently with batching in the Microsoft Foundry API update node to avoid rate limits.

Future scaling includes modular workflow design allowing easy addition of other warehouses or regions. The scheduler can be adapted to regional timezones, and webhook triggers can complement polling mechanisms for real-time stock alerts.

RestFlow’s managed hosting ensures reliable uptime and availability as the business grows.

Comparison Tables

Platform	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Free to $20/month for cloud hosting	Open-source; flexible; strong API integrations; self-hosting option	Requires technical setup; less out-of-the-box templates than competitors
Make	Starts around $9/month	User-friendly; extensive app integrations; visual scenario builder	Complex pricing; limited on-premise options
Zapier	Starts at $20/month	Easy to use; huge app ecosystem; reliable	Limited custom logic; expense increases with automation volume

Integration Method	Cost	Pros	Cons
Webhook Trigger	Low	Real-time updates; efficient resource use	Requires systems to support webhook calls; complexity to set up
Polling Scheduler	Low to medium	Simple setup; guaranteed periodic data refresh	Delay between polls; wasted API calls if no data changes

Storage Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Free up to limits	Easy access; collaborative; integrates with n8n	Performance limits; no true relational querying
SQL Database	Variable, depending on provider	Fast queries; relational integrity; scalable	Requires maintenance; higher technical complexity

Results & Business Impact

Within the first full month after deployment, the automation delivered significant benefits:

• Time savings: Over 30 hours per month reclaimed from manual data entry and verification tasks.
• Error reduction: Inventory data errors dropped from 5% to below 0.5%, improving order accuracy and customer satisfaction.
• Faster SLAs: Monthly stock reporting turnaround improved by 70%, with reports ready 2 days earlier.
• Improved visibility: Real-time Slack notifications and detailed audit logs increased transparency for the operations and sales teams.

This shift allowed the operations team to focus on strategic tasks rather than routine updates and increased confidence in inventory data for procurement decisions.

Thanks to RestFlow’s end-to-end Automation-as-a-Service model, the client benefited from expert design, implementation, ongoing monitoring, and maintenance without additional burden on their IT staff.

Pilot Phase & Ongoing Maintenance Disclaimer

Like all high-value automations, this project included a pilot phase running the workflow with real but controlled data to identify edge cases and adjust configurations. During this period, minor bugs were fixed and process parameters tuned in collaboration with the client’s operations team.

Following the successful pilot, RestFlow took over the managed hosting, continuous monitoring, alerts, and maintenance to ensure stability and performance at scale. This ongoing partnership is critical to keep the automation responsive to business changes and software updates.

Automation is a journey. Real environments uncover nuances that must be addressed dynamically, and RestFlow’s service guarantees continuous optimization.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion: Transforming Inventory Management with Automation and RestFlow

This case study demonstrates how a retail company in Vienna successfully tackled a challenge where over 30 hours per month were lost to manual product inventory updates using Microsoft Foundry. By implementing a carefully architected automation workflow powered by n8n and integrated with ERP systems, Google Sheets, and Slack, the client achieved remarkable efficiency gains and quality improvements.

Automation freed the operations team from repetitive tasks, accelerated reporting cadence, and reduced errors, enabling scalable growth and better decision-making. This practical success exemplifies how RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service—covering process design, robust implementation, reliable hosting, proactive monitoring, and ongoing maintenance—delivers tangible business value.

If you are ready to modernize your manual workflows, Explore the Automation Template Marketplace for ready-to-use solutions or Create Your Free RestFlow Account to start automating today.