Document and workflow automation for firms that still type the same figure five times.

I'm William. I build the automations small firms never get around to: intake, document generation, the handoffs between people. Two builds below, with numbers.

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If you got an email from me, this page is here so you can check the work before replying.

Who I've helped

Two builds, both in daily use. For each: what the team does, how it runs now, what I built, and what it gave back.

Government of Canada

Document pipeline · 2025

The story

A four-person team in a federal department produces the same set of five documents for every request that comes in. Each one carried the same names, dates and reference numbers, typed by hand from a shared spreadsheet into a template that broke whenever someone renamed a column. Six to seven hours a week went to retyping and to the emails asking which copy was right.

What they do now

Someone fills one form. Six minutes later five documents are in the shared drive, named and formatted. If a detail changes, they edit the sheet and only the affected documents re-render. Nobody opens a template.

What I built

Two human steps, submit and send. Everything between them runs itself.

a person does thisruns on its own
  1. Fill one form

    Required fields are enforced at entry. The shared spreadsheet is gone.

  2. Store

    One source-of-truth sheet, version history on every edit.

  3. Render

    Five templates fill from the sheet on submit, in the department's own format.

  4. Catch edits

    A scheduled job spots later changes and re-renders only what changed.

  5. Send

    Five documents, named and filed in the shared drive, ready to go.

6–7 hrs
a week returned to a four-person team
6 min
per document set, down from about two hours
0
retyping. Every document comes from the one sheet
Python, Google Workspace, one scheduled job. Handed over with documentation and a walkthrough.

Fuel cell research group

Test data to report · 2025

The story

A university research group runs fuel cell tests all week and reports on them every Monday. The instrument exports were copied by hand into the report and the plots rebuilt in Excel each time, in the group's own style. That took half a day a week, and it fell to the most senior person because nobody else knew the format.

What they do now

Tests run as they always did. The report is waiting on Monday morning with the plots already in the group's style. The only thing anyone reads closely is the short list of runs the checks flagged.

What I built

One human step at each end. Everything between the test and Monday morning runs itself.

a person does thisruns on its own
  1. Run the test

    Exports land in the shared folder as before. Nothing changed for the people running tests.

  2. Watch

    A watcher notices new exports within a minute of arrival.

  3. Check

    Each run is validated. Partial or bad runs are flagged before they reach the report.

  4. Plot

    Per-run plots generated in the group's existing style.

  5. Compile

    The weekly report assembled in the same format every time, archived by run.

  6. Read on Monday

    Skim the flagged list. That is the whole job now.

0 hrs
of manual reporting each week
½ day
a week back to the most senior person in the group
30+
weekly reports produced without anyone touching a plot
Python, a shared drive, one watcher. The group owns the code and can add an instrument themselves.

What this proves to you

Neither client is in your industry. What carries over:

The shape of the problem is the sameOne fact typed by hand into five places, and a template that breaks. Your version has different names on it.
The build finishesBoth went live and both are in daily use. The handover is part of the build, so they run without me.
Nothing changed for the people using itThey fill the same form and read the same report. The retyping in between is gone.

What usually gets automated first

The jobs that eat a week are rarely the interesting ones. These are the usual suspects.

Intake forms that feed everything elseone entry, no retyping downstream
Documents generated from one sourceletters, agreements, invoices, summaries
Handoffs between peoplethe email that says "can you add this to the sheet"
Weekly and monthly reportsbuilt the same way every time, on time
Chasingreminders that go out without anyone remembering
Spreadsheets only one person understandsmade boring and shared

The offer

Three steps. You see each piece working before you pay for it, and you keep everything at the end.

01

Audit

A 30-minute call. I map where the hours go and tell you what is worth automating and what is not. Free, and useful even if you stop here.

02

Build

Scope and milestones agreed up front. I build inside the tools you already use where possible, and you see each milestone running before you pay for it.

03

Handover

Documentation, a walkthrough for whoever runs it, and the code. It keeps running without a retainer, and I'm reachable if something changes.

What you're protected by

You pay by milestone

The build is split into pieces you can see working. You pay for each one after it runs in your accounts, with no deposit and no retainer.

Built like software, and guaranteed

I'm a software engineer, so it's built the way software is built. Version history, checks on the inputs, and documentation for whoever runs it. If something I built breaks, I fix it at no charge.

Nothing to unwind

It runs in your accounts, on tools you already pay for, and you keep the code. If you stop working with me, nothing stops working.

Questions you probably have

Short answers. Ask me the long ones on the call.

Where does our client data go?

It stays in your accounts. I build inside them, copy nothing to my own systems, and my access is removed at handover.

What does it cost?

Quoted after the audit, which is free. You pay per milestone, after each one runs, with nothing hourly and no retainer.

What if it breaks after you leave?

You have the code and the documentation, so anyone technical can fix it. If it's my mistake, I fix it at no charge.

Do we need new software?

Usually not. Most builds run on what you already pay for. If something new is genuinely better, I'll say so and you decide.

photo

About

I'm William. I'm a software engineering student at the University of Waterloo, and Wren Automation is the business I'm building.

My work so far has been internships: data cleaning, pipelines that connect systems, and CRMs. The two builds above came out of that work.

I'm doing this because I want to build in this space, and the fastest way to get good at it is to fix real problems for real firms.

Why me

The two builds above are still running, and both were handed over with documentation. The record is on this page so you can check it.

I'm building a business on this kind of work, so each build has to be good enough that you'd mention it to someone. It is why the audit is free and you pay by milestone.

Request an audit

Tell me what eats your week. I reply within one business day with a few times for a 30-minute call. I send the times myself, and the call commits you to nothing.

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Lands in my inbox and one table I keep so nothing gets lost. Nobody else sees it, and I delete it if you ask.

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I'll reply within one business day from william@wrenautomation.com. If it hasn't arrived by then, check spam, then email me directly.