Your 30-Day Journey to Complete Document Automation

Every week, your team wastes hours manually processing documents. Invoices pile up. Resumes get lost in inboxes. Contracts sit waiting for data extraction. You know automation is the answer, but where do you start?

The problem isn't technology—it's implementation. Most companies fail at document automation not because the tools don't work, but because they lack a structured rollout plan. They try to automate everything at once, overwhelm their team, and give up after week two.

This guide is different. Over the next 30 days, you'll implement AI-powered document automation step-by-step, starting with one workflow and scaling systematically. By day 30, you'll have automated your most time-consuming document processes, trained your team, and built a foundation for continuous improvement.

Why the 30-Day Framework Works

Traditional automation projects fail because they're too ambitious. Companies try to automate 15 different document types, integrate with 10 systems, and train 50 employees simultaneously. The result? Analysis paralysis, technical debt, and frustrated teams.

The 30-day framework succeeds because it follows a proven pattern: Start small, prove value, then scale.

The Traditional Approach	The 30-Day Scanny Journey
6-month planning phase	Week 1: Live prototype
$50,000+ upfront investment	Free trial, scale as you grow
Custom development required	Pre-built integrations ready
IT team builds everything	Business users create workflows
Go-live in month 6 (maybe)	Production workflow by week 3
40% adoption rate	85%+ adoption (proven process)
ROI uncertain	Measurable savings by day 30

Key Insight: The companies that succeed with automation don't have bigger budgets or better tech teams. They have better implementation strategies.

Before You Begin: Prerequisites

Before starting your 30-day journey, ensure you have:

1. Executive Buy-In

• One sponsor who can remove roadblocks
• Budget approval for paid plan (after free trial proves value)

2. The Right First Use Case

• High volume (at least 50 documents/month)
• Clear structure (invoices, receipts, forms—not unstructured reports)
• Painful manual process (team actively complains about it)

3. Access & Permissions

• Admin access to your target integration (Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Drive, etc.)
• Ability to create API keys and webhooks
• Sample documents (20-30 real examples)

4. A Champion

• One person dedicated 5 hours/week for 30 days
• This person will become your internal automation expert

Ready? Let's begin.

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Week 1: Foundation & First Extraction (Days 1-7)

Day 1-2: Account Setup & Discovery

Objective: Understand what Scanny can do and set up your account.

Action Steps:

1. Sign up for a free Scanny trial
2. Complete the onboarding tutorial (15 minutes)
3. Upload 5 sample documents from your chosen use case
4. Test the default extraction (no configuration yet—just see what happens)

What You'll Learn:

• How accurate Scanny is out-of-the-box
• What fields it automatically detects
• Where you need customization

Deliverable: A list of fields you need extracted (e.g., Invoice Number, Date, Total, Line Items, Vendor Name)

Day 3-4: Define Your Schema

Objective: Create a custom JSON schema for your document type.

This is where you tell Scanny exactly what data to extract and how to structure it. A well-designed schema is the foundation of accurate automation.

Example: Invoice Extraction Schema

{
  "fields": [
    {
      "name": "invoice_number",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Unique invoice identifier"
    },
    {
      "name": "invoice_date",
      "type": "date",
      "description": "Date invoice was issued"
    },
    {
      "name": "due_date",
      "type": "date",
      "description": "Payment due date"
    },
    {
      "name": "vendor_name",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Name of the vendor/supplier"
    },
    {
      "name": "vendor_address",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Vendor's business address"
    },
    {
      "name": "subtotal",
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Total before tax"
    },
    {
      "name": "tax_amount",
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Total tax charged"
    },
    {
      "name": "total_amount",
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Final amount due"
    },
    {
      "name": "line_items",
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Individual items or services",
      "fields": [
        {
          "name": "description",
          "type": "string"
        },
        {
          "name": "quantity",
          "type": "number"
        },
        {
          "name": "unit_price",
          "type": "number"
        },
        {
          "name": "amount",
          "type": "number"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Pro Tips:

• Start with 5-10 core fields. You can always add more later.
• Use clear, consistent naming conventions (snake_case recommended)
• Add descriptions—they improve extraction accuracy
• For arrays (like line items), define sub-fields clearly

Deliverable: A saved Document Type in your Scanny dashboard with your custom schema.

Day 5-6: Test & Refine

Objective: Validate your schema with real documents.

Action Steps:

1. Upload 20 sample documents
2. Process them using your new schema
3. Review the extracted JSON for accuracy
4. Identify patterns in errors (e.g., dates in wrong format, missing fields)
5. Refine your schema based on findings

Common Issues & Fixes:

Issue	Solution
Dates extracted as text	Add explicit type: "date" and format hint
Line items missing	Ensure "type": "array" is specified
Wrong vendor name	Add context in description field
Numbers with commas fail	Scanny handles this automatically—check your data type

Deliverable: 90%+ accuracy on your test set.

Day 7: Document Your Process

Objective: Create internal documentation for your team.

What to Document:

• What document types are supported
• How to upload documents (email, drive, manual)
• What the extracted data looks like
• How to handle errors
• Who to contact with questions

Deliverable: A one-page quick-start guide for your team.

Week 1 Milestone: You have a working document extraction system that achieves 90%+ accuracy on your first use case.

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Week 2: Integration & Automation (Days 8-14)

Day 8-9: Choose Your Integration

Objective: Decide where your extracted data should go.

Popular Integration Paths:

For Finance Teams:

• QuickBooks (create invoices automatically)
• Xero (sync expenses)
• Google Sheets (for review workflows)

For Sales/HR Teams:

• Salesforce (create leads from business cards)
• HubSpot (enrich contact records)
• Applicant Tracking Systems (parse resumes)

For Operations:

• Google Drive (organized storage)
• Slack (notifications)
• ERP systems (inventory updates)

Action Steps:

1. Identify your target system
2. Ensure you have API access
3. Generate API credentials
4. Test a manual API call (use Postman or curl)

Deliverable: Working API credentials and confirmed access.

Day 10-12: Build Your First Workflow

Objective: Automate the entire process from upload to integration.

Scanny workflows use a simple trigger-action model:

Workflow Example: Invoice → QuickBooks

{
  "workflow_name": "Invoice to QuickBooks",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "document_processed",
    "document_type": "invoice"
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "webhook",
      "url": "https://api.quickbooks.com/v3/invoice",
      "method": "POST",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      "body_template": {
        "Line": "{{line_items}}",
        "CustomerRef": {
          "value": "{{vendor_name}}"
        },
        "TxnDate": "{{invoice_date}}",
        "DueDate": "{{due_date}}"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "notification",
      "channel": "email",
      "recipients": ["finance@yourcompany.com"],
      "subject": "New invoice processed: {{invoice_number}}",
      "body": "Invoice {{invoice_number}} for {{total_amount}} has been added to QuickBooks."
    }
  ]
}

Action Steps:

1. Create a new workflow in Scanny
2. Select your document type as the trigger
3. Add your integration action
4. Map extracted fields to API fields
5. Add error handling (what happens if the API fails?)
6. Test with 3 sample documents

Deliverable: A working end-to-end workflow.

Day 13-14: Error Handling & Monitoring

Objective: Ensure your automation doesn't break silently.

Set Up:

1. Webhook Monitoring: Track success/failure rates
2. Alerts: Email notifications for failed jobs
3. Retry Logic: Automatic retries with exponential backoff
4. Human Review Queue: Flag low-confidence extractions

Example: Confidence-Based Routing

{
  "workflow_name": "Smart Invoice Processing",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "document_processed",
    "document_type": "invoice"
  },
  "conditions": [
    {
      "if": "{{confidence_score}} >= 0.95",
      "then": "auto_approve",
      "else": "human_review"
    }
  ],
  "actions": {
    "auto_approve": [
      {
        "type": "webhook",
        "url": "https://api.quickbooks.com/v3/invoice"
      }
    ],
    "human_review": [
      {
        "type": "notification",
        "message": "Low confidence extraction—review required"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Deliverable: Automated monitoring and error recovery system.

Week 2 Milestone: Your first workflow is live in production, processing real documents and sending data to your target system automatically.

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Week 3: Scale & Optimize (Days 15-21)

Day 15-16: Add Document Input Channels

Objective: Make it easy to get documents into Scanny.

Input Methods:

1. Email Forwarding: invoices@yourcompany.scanny.ai
2. Google Drive Sync: Auto-process files in specific folders
3. Dropbox/OneDrive: Monitor and process automatically
4. API Upload: Direct integration from your existing systems
5. Mobile App: Snap a photo, auto-process

Action Steps:

1. Enable email forwarding for your document type
2. Connect your cloud storage
3. Test each input method with sample documents
4. Document the process for your team

Deliverable: 3+ ways for documents to enter your automation pipeline.

Day 17-18: Add Your Second Use Case

Objective: Prove the system scales beyond one document type.

Choose a complementary use case:

• If you started with invoices, add expense receipts
• If you started with resumes, add offer letters
• If you started with contracts, add NDAs

Action Steps:

1. Define schema for document type #2
2. Upload 20 samples and test
3. Create a workflow
4. Launch alongside your first workflow

Deliverable: Two production workflows running simultaneously.

Day 19-20: Performance Optimization

Objective: Improve speed and accuracy.

Optimization Checklist:

Speed:

• Enable batch processing for bulk uploads
• Use webhooks instead of polling
• Process documents asynchronously

Accuracy:

• Review 100 processed documents
• Identify common error patterns
• Refine schema descriptions
• Add validation rules

Cost:

• Review your usage metrics
• Optimize API calls (batch where possible)
• Choose the right Scanny plan for your volume

Example: Validation Rules

{
  "fields": [
    {
      "name": "total_amount",
      "type": "number",
      "validation": {
        "min": 0,
        "max": 1000000,
        "required": true
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "invoice_date",
      "type": "date",
      "validation": {
        "format": "YYYY-MM-DD",
        "not_future": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Deliverable: Documented optimization wins and updated workflows.

Day 21: Team Training

Objective: Ensure your team can use and maintain the system.

Training Agenda (1-hour session):

1. Overview: What we've automated and why (10 min)
2. How to Upload: Demo all input methods (15 min)
3. How to Review: Show the dashboard and error queue (15 min)
4. Troubleshooting: Common issues and fixes (10 min)
5. Q&A: Open discussion (10 min)

Create:

• Video walkthrough (use Loom or similar)
• FAQ document
• Troubleshooting flowchart

Deliverable: Trained team ready to use the system independently.

Week 3 Milestone: You have multiple workflows running, optimized for accuracy and speed, with a trained team managing the system.

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Week 4: Scale, Measure & Plan Ahead (Days 22-30)

Day 22-23: Add Advanced Workflows

Objective: Explore conditional logic and multi-step automations.

Advanced Workflow: Resume Screening

{
  "workflow_name": "Intelligent Resume Screening",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "document_processed",
    "document_type": "resume"
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "score",
      "criteria": {
        "years_experience": "{{experience_years}} >= 5",
        "has_degree": "{{education.degree}} != null",
        "required_skills": "{{skills}} includes ['Python', 'Machine Learning']"
      },
      "output": "candidate_score"
    },
    {
      "type": "conditional",
      "if": "{{candidate_score}} >= 80",
      "then": [
        {
          "type": "webhook",
          "url": "https://api.lever.co/v1/candidates",
          "method": "POST"
        },
        {
          "type": "email",
          "to": "{{applicant_email}}",
          "template": "interview_invitation"
        }
      ],
      "else": [
        {
          "type": "email",
          "to": "{{applicant_email}}",
          "template": "rejection_notice"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Deliverable: One advanced, multi-step workflow.

Day 24-25: Measure ROI

Objective: Quantify the value you've created.

Metrics to Track:

Time Savings:

• Documents processed: ______
• Manual hours saved: ______ (assume 2-5 min per document)
• Weekly time savings: ______

Error Reduction:

• Manual error rate (before): ______%
• Automated error rate (after): ______%
• Errors prevented: ______

Cost Savings:

• Labor cost saved: $______ (hourly rate × hours saved)
• Software cost: $______
• Net savings: $______

Example ROI Calculation:

Metric	Before Scanny	After Scanny	Improvement
Invoices processed/month	500	500	—
Minutes per invoice	5	0.5	90% reduction
Total hours/month	41.7	4.2	37.5 hours saved
Labor cost (@$30/hr)	$1,250	$126	$1,124 saved
Error rate	8%	1.2%	6.8% fewer errors
Scanny cost	$0	$199/mo	—
Net Monthly Savings	—	—	$925
Annual ROI	—	—	$11,100

Deliverable: ROI report to share with stakeholders.

Day 26-27: Security & Compliance Review

Objective: Ensure your automation meets enterprise standards.

Security Checklist:

• Enable two-factor authentication
• Rotate API keys quarterly
• Use environment variables for secrets (never hardcode)
• Enable audit logging
• Review user permissions (principle of least privilege)
• Encrypt data at rest and in transit
• Set up data retention policies

Compliance Considerations:

• GDPR: Are you processing EU citizen data? Enable data deletion workflows.
• HIPAA: Healthcare documents require BAA (contact Scanny for enterprise plan).
• SOC 2: Request Scanny's compliance documentation.

Deliverable: Security audit report and compliance checklist.

Day 28-29: Plan Your Next 90 Days

Objective: Build a roadmap for continued automation expansion.

Next Use Cases to Automate (Prioritize by Impact):

High Impact:

• Purchase orders
• Expense reports
• Customer onboarding forms
• Contracts and agreements

Medium Impact:

• Timesheets
• Insurance claims
• Medical records
• Shipping documents

Future Exploration:

• Multi-language documents
• Handwritten forms
• Complex tables and charts
• Document classification (auto-routing)

Deliverable: 90-day automation roadmap with prioritized use cases.

Day 30: Celebrate & Share

Objective: Recognize the team and share your success.

Final Steps:

1. Present Results: Share your ROI report with leadership
2. Team Celebration: Recognize the champion and early adopters
3. Internal Case Study: Document your journey for other departments
4. Feedback Loop: Survey your team—what worked? What didn't?
5. Plan Next Steps: Schedule your Week 5 kickoff

Deliverable: Internal success story and next-phase approval.

30-Day Milestone: You've transformed your document processing from manual to automated, saved measurable time and money, and built a foundation for enterprise-wide automation.

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Common Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Trying to Automate Everything at Once

• Mistake: Starting with 10 document types in Week 1
• Fix: One use case at a time. Prove value, then scale.

2. Skipping the Testing Phase

• Mistake: Going live without validating accuracy
• Fix: Always test with 20+ real samples before production.

3. Over-Engineering the Schema

• Mistake: Extracting 50 fields when you only need 10
• Fix: Start minimal. Add fields as you discover new needs.

4. Ignoring Change Management

• Mistake: Launching without training your team
• Fix: Invest in documentation and hands-on training.

5. No Success Metrics

• Mistake: Automating without tracking ROI
• Fix: Measure before and after. Prove the value.

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What Happens After Day 30?

By the end of your 30-day journey, you'll have:

• ✅ 2-3 production workflows running
• ✅ Measurable ROI (time, cost, error reduction)
• ✅ A trained team managing the system
• ✅ A roadmap for the next 90 days
• ✅ Executive buy-in for continued expansion

Your next steps:

Months 2-3: Expand

• Add 3-5 more document types
• Integrate with additional systems
• Automate cross-departmental workflows

Months 4-6: Optimize

• Implement AI-powered document classification
• Build custom dashboards and reports
• Develop a center of excellence for automation

Months 7-12: Scale

• Roll out enterprise-wide
• Create reusable templates for common use cases
• Train power users across departments

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Real Results from the 30-Day Journey

Case Study: Mid-Size Manufacturing Company

• Day 1: Signed up, uploaded 10 sample invoices
• Day 7: 95% extraction accuracy achieved
• Day 14: First workflow live (invoices → QuickBooks)
• Day 21: Added purchase orders, trained AP team
• Day 30: Processing 500 docs/month, saving 35 hours/month

12-Month Impact:

• 6,000 documents processed automatically
• 420 hours saved (10+ work weeks)
• $18,000+ in labor cost savings
• Error rate dropped from 12% to 0.8%

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Your Action Plan: Start Today

Don't wait for the "perfect" time to begin. The best automation projects start small and iterate quickly.

Your Next Steps:

1. Sign up for a free Scanny trial (no credit card required)
2. Choose your first use case (pick the most painful one)
3. Upload 10 sample documents (see what happens out-of-the-box)
4. Follow the Week 1 plan (it takes about 5 hours total)

By this time next month, you could have:

• ✅ Automated your most time-consuming document process
• ✅ Saved your team 20+ hours per week
• ✅ Built a foundation for enterprise-wide automation
• ✅ Proven measurable ROI to your leadership team

Ready to start your 30-day automation journey? Start your free trial now or schedule a demo with our team to see the platform in action.

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Already using Scanny? Log in to your dashboard and start building your first workflow today.

Have questions about your specific use case? Our team is here to help. Share your automation goals, and we'll provide a customized 30-day roadmap tailored to your business.

The journey to complete document automation starts with a single step. Take it today.