How RestFlow Standardized ICT Incident Reporting to Achieve DORA Compliance in Budapest

In today’s fast-paced IT environment, regulatory compliance isn’t just a requirement—it’s a competitive differentiator. A Budapest-based IT company faced significant challenges aligning their ICT incident reporting practices with the new DORA regulation. 4bb Manual processes bogged down operations and left teams struggling to maintain operational resilience and meet compliance deadlines.

This case study reveals how RestFlow, a compliance-first automation partner, transformed their ICT incident reporting by implementing the ICT incident reporting pack —a standardized, automated workflow tailored to DORA’s stringent requirements. If you are a CTO, automation engineer, or operations specialist eager to understand practical yet sophisticated automation strategies to meet DORA, this article guides you end-to-end.

You’ll learn about the challenges of manual compliance, the integration of leading tools with orchestration platforms like n8n, and how Automation-as-a-Service makes long-term compliance scalable, audit-ready, and stress-free.

The Problem: Manual ICT Incident Reporting Under DORA Created Operational Friction

The client was a mid-sized IT services firm headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, operating within the IT sector. Their risk management and operations teams needed to comply with DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act), a European regulation demanding rigorous reporting of ICT incidents including timelines, impact assessments, evidence, and remedial actions.

Before automation, incident reporting was largely manual and fragmented. Teams relied on spreadsheets, emails, and ad hoc document stores. This created multiple pain points:

• Time-Consuming: Each incident report took 6+ hours to collate, largely due to searching across different systems and manually constructing timelines.
• High Risk of Errors: Manual copying introduced data inaccuracies and inconsistencies in impact assessments.
• Lack of Visibility and Traceability: The absence of a centralized dashboard meant limited oversight, delayed approvals, and missing evidence documenting incident resolution.
• Compliance Exposure: Delays and incomplete reports risked non-compliance with DORA’s strict SLAs, threatening regulatory penalties and reputational harm.

This inefficiency impacted multiple teams: risk management, compliance officers, ICT operations, and the compliance audit group. Collectively, they faced frequent bottlenecks and stressed workflows, risking operational resilience and the company’s ability to meet DORA’s incident reporting theme.

Our Approach: RestFlow’s Compliance-First Discovery and Automation Proposal

RestFlow initiated the project with a thorough discovery phase. We engaged cross-department stakeholders to map out current ICT incident reporting workflows, pinpointing pain points, duplication, and data gaps.

Key systems identified included:

• Gmail for internal incident communication
• Google Sheets used as the interim incident logging tool
• Slack as a main communication channel for alerts and approvals
• Central cloud storage for evidence documents

The objective was clear: automate data collection, validation, timeline construction, impact analysis, and evidence packaging into a standardized DORA ICT incident reporting pack. RestFlow recommended n8n as the orchestration platform due to its flexibility, scalability, and native integrations with Google Workspace and Slack.

We designed a global architecture that automates the end-to-end workflow, reduces manual steps, and enhances controls, approvals, and audit logs. The entire automation would be managed as a turnkey Automation-as-a-Service solution by RestFlow, including hosting, monitoring, updates, and maintenance.

The Solution: Architecture & Workflow

Global Architecture Overview

The automation workflow is triggered whenever an ICT incident is reported via an internal web form or an email notification.

Components:

• Trigger: Incoming webhook triggered by a form submission or parsing an incident notification email via Gmail.
• Orchestration: n8n platform manages the workflow logic with error handling and logging.
• Integrated Services: Google Sheets for interim data storage; Slack for notifications and approvals; Google Drive for storing evidence artifacts; and an internal incident tracking CRM API.
• Outputs: A standardized, timestamped ICT incident reporting pack in PDF with detailed timeline, impact, evidence links, plus Slack alerts and email summaries for compliance teams.

End-to-End Workflow Walkthrough

1. Incident Report Intake: Submission of incident data via an internal web form triggers an n8n webhook.
2. Data Validation & Enrichment: Incoming data is validated for completeness; missing fields prompt automated Slack messages to responsible owners.
3. Timeline Creation: The system compiles and timestamps event logs from Google Sheets and emails to build an incident timeline.
4. Impact Assessment: Based on input parameters, rules calculate risk score and potential impact categories.
5. Evidence Aggregation: Relevant files from Google Drive are linked or automatically uploaded to the incident report.
6. Approval Workflow: Slack notifications prompt designated compliance officers to approve or request revisions.
7. Final Packaging and Archiving: The entire pack is compiled into a PDF stored securely in cloud storage and entered into the CRM.
8. Audit Logs & Reporting: Every action is logged, with dashboards updated for real-time compliance visibility.

Explore the Automation Template Marketplace for ready-to-use templates that can jumpstart your own ICT incident reporting automation.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 4bb

1. Webhook Trigger Node

Configured to listen for POST requests from the incident reporting form. It parses JSON payloads capturing incident metadata such as incident ID, reporter, and timestamp.

Key Configuration: Webhook URL exposed internally; validation schema to ensure required fields like ‘incident_type’ and ‘incident_time’ are present.

2. Data Validation & Conditional Branching Node

Uses n8n’s Function and If nodes to verify completeness. If critical data is missing, a Slack message is sent to the incident owner highlighting missing fields.

Example: If ‘impact_description’ is empty, send alert.

Expression: {{$json[“impact_description”] === “”}}

3. Google Sheets Data Retrieval & Timeline Assembly

This node queries incident event logs recorded over time, filters relevant entries by incident ID, and concatenates timestamps and descriptions into a timeline string.

Filter: Query where “incident_id” matches webhook payload.

Transformation: Map rows to a formatted timeline like ‘YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm – Event description’.

4. Risk & Impact Assessment Node

Using fixed rules (e.g., if downtime > 1 hour and affected users > 1000, then risk = high), this node calculates risk scores.

Outputs impact level and classification fields to the report.

5. Google Drive Integration Node

Searches folders tagged with the incident ID for relevant screenshots, logs, or evidence files. Links or downloads are appended to the final report.

6. Slack Approval Node

Sends the report summary to the compliance officers’ channel with buttons for approval or rejection.

Conditional Branch: If approved, proceed to final packaging; else send feedback request.

7. PDF Generation & Cloud Archiving Node

Compiles all gathered information into a PDF using an HTML to PDF conversion service.

Saves the file securely on Google Drive or company repository with version control.

8. CRM Update Node

Calls the CRM API to store the approved incident report record under the correct client and incident profile.

9. Audit Logging Node

Logs every step’s success or failure, including timestamps, user approvals, and validation results, into a dedicated audit Google Sheet for compliance audits.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

Workflow nodes are configured with retry policies—up to 3 attempts with exponential backoff to handle transient API failures. Failed incidents automatically trigger Slack alerts to admins.

Logging & Monitoring

All workflow runs are logged in n8n’s console and external ELK stack integration. Key errors generate email notifications to RestFlow’s support team for prompt remediation.

Idempotency & Deduplication

The webhook includes a unique incident ID. The workflow checks existing records before processing to avoid duplicates, ensuring data integrity.

Security and Data Protection

API keys and tokens are stored as n8n credentials with role-based access control.
PII is encrypted in transit with HTTPS and at rest in Google Drive with restricted permissions.
Access to the automation dashboard is limited to authorized personnel with two-factor authentication.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The webhook approach supports near real-time incident intake, eliminating delays inherent in polling.

For increased volume, RestFlow implements queuing via RabbitMQ compatible nodes and parallel execution to meet SLA demands.

Modular workflow design allows adding new compliance themes or extending to multi-country operations with minor configuration changes.

Our managed hosting platform ensures stable uptime, seamless updates, and rapid scaling when new teams or regulation updates are introduced.

Comparison Tables

Automation Tool	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Open-source + Paid Cloud plans	Highly customizable, strong integration with Google & Slack, good for complex workflows	Requires some technical expertise to setup and maintain
Make (Integromat)	Tiered subscription plans	Visual builder, quick setup, good for mid-complexity automation	Less flexible for custom coding, API limits
Zapier	Subscription based	User-friendly, vast app ecosystem, quick deployment	Limited complex logic and error handling

Integration Method	Cost	Pros	Cons
Webhook (Push)	Low (No extra polling cost)	Real-time, efficient, scalable, reduces API calls	Requires configurable webhook endpoints
Polling	Can be higher with frequent polls	Easier setup if no webhook support	Delayed detection, inefficient with many empty checks

Storage Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Free up to quota	Easy integration, familiar interface, good for small-medium data	Not suitable for large datasets or complex queries
Relational Database (e.g., PostgreSQL)	Varies by hosting	Highly scalable, complex querying, reliable concurrency	Requires DB management skills and infrastructure

Results & Business Impact

The automation delivered by RestFlow led to transformative improvements:

• Time Savings: Incident report creation time dropped from 6+ hours to under 90 minutes, a 75% reduction.
  [Source: Internal Client Data]
• Quality Improvements: Error rates in reports decreased by over 90%, eliminating manual copy-paste mistakes.
• Faster Compliance: Reports met DORA’s 72-hour window without fail, significantly reducing regulatory risk.
• Stress Reduction: Teams reported increased confidence and less manual firefighting thanks to automated alerts and approvals.
• Audit-Ready Reports: Comprehensive logs and standardized packs improved transparency during audits.

Operations and compliance teams from Budapest to remote offices now seamlessly collaborate, with real-time Slack notifications and centralized dashboards improving visibility.

Create Your Free RestFlow Account to experience how such workflows can be tailored for your operation.

Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

It is important to note that the implementation included a pilot phase where the automation processed real incidents in controlled settings. Minor bugs, edge cases, and exception flows were identified and resolved to ensure robustness.

Post-pilot, RestFlow provides full managed hosting, ongoing workflow monitoring, periodic updates aligned with evolving DORA requirements, and rapid support response. This long-term Automation-as-a-Service commitment guarantees that the client’s compliance remains resilient even as regulations and business needs evolve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

By partnering with RestFlow, the Budapest-based IT company successfully automated their ICT incident reporting process to meet DORA’s regulatory demands with confidence and precision. This transformation eliminated manual bottlenecks, reduced errors, ensured timely reporting, and enhanced audit readiness.

RestFlow’s end-to-end Automation-as-a-Service model—from design through ongoing maintenance—provides a sustainable, scalable path to operational resilience and compliance excellence.

If your organization is looking to automate complex compliance processes like ICT incident reporting under DORA or similar regulations, RestFlow is uniquely positioned to deliver pragmatic, hands-on automation solutions that drive measurable value.

Start your automation journey now and discover the power of compliance-first workflow automation.