The Snapshot – Training
| Industry | Safeguarding Training & Consultancy |
| Team Size | 2–3 people |
| Location | UK (expanding to Europe) |
| Time Saved | 4.2 hours per week |
| Cost Saved | £504 per month |
| Error Rate | Reduced by 90% |
| Tools Used | Make.com, OpenAI, WordPress API, LearnDash API, Google Sheets, MySQL |
The Challenge
Safeguarding Today won a significant new contract — a client needing approximately 5,000 staff members trained annually. The client didn’t have the internal capacity to manage course allocations themselves, so SGT took it on.
That decision came with a workload attached. Every week, an average of 96 email requests landed in the team’s inbox. Each one needed a team member to read the email, work out which course group the person should be assigned to, manually create their user account, and allocate them to the right course on the learning management system.
Each request took two to five minutes. Across 96 emails a week, that added up to 4.75 hours every week — 19 hours every month — at a cost of £570 in staff time. The interruption pattern made it worse: team members were fielding between 13 and 19 interruptions every single working day to keep on top of the inbox.
On the customer side, the experience wasn’t great either. Staff members requesting course access waited two to three hours before they could log in and start training — a delay caused entirely by the manual process sitting between the request and the allocation.
And beyond the immediate workload, SGT had no integrated reporting. They couldn’t easily track group allocations, monitor purchases, or identify upsell opportunities — which meant growth decisions were being made without the data to back them up.
For a 2–3 person team, this wasn’t sustainable. And it was only going to get worse as the client base grew.
The Solution
We built a fully automated course onboarding and reporting system using Make.com, OpenAI, the WordPress API, the LearnDash API, Google Sheets, and a MySQL database connection.
The onboarding automation works like this:
A dedicated email inbox monitors all incoming course access requests. When a new email arrives, OpenAI reads the content and determines which course group the person should be assigned to — no human decision required at any point. The system then creates the user account automatically via the WordPress API, allocates them to the correct course using the LearnDash API, and logs every allocation to a Google Sheet for reporting and audit purposes.
From email arriving to user having course access: fully automated, near-instant, zero manual involvement.
The reporting automation works alongside it:
A second workflow pulls data from the Google Sheet and queries the MySQL database for purchase history and upsell opportunities. For the first time, SGT had a clear, up-to-date view of course uptake, client activity, and where growth opportunities existed — all without anyone having to compile it manually.
The Results
- 19 hours of monthly admin eliminated — the team no longer processes course access requests manually
- £504 per month in staff time recovered — an 88% monthly return on the cost of the original manual process
- Error rate reduced by 90% — from 1% with manual processing down to approximately 0.1% with automated, API-driven allocation
- Customer wait time cut from 2–3 hours to near-instant — staff get course access the moment their request is processed
- 13–19 daily interruptions removed entirely — the team works without the constant context-switching that was draining focus
- Upsell reporting automated — commercial opportunities now surface automatically rather than getting missed
What SGT Said
“Phil immediately understood our needs and guided us through the entire process with clarity and confidence. He was incredibly patient with our questions, always taking the time to explain the technical details in a way we could understand. Most importantly, he delivered scalable solutions that not only met our current requirements but will support our growth moving forward.”
— Kelly W, Operations Manager, Safeguarding Today
After going live, Kelly sent this:
“Honestly, Phil — we couldn’t thank you enough. Having this automation in place has really opened our eyes to what is possible. Now when we meet with national clients who have concerns about managing the training of thousands of staff, we have a solution to offer them which completely ups our game.”
— Kelly W, Operations Manager, Safeguarding Today
What This Means In Practice
The numbers tell part of the story. The rest of it is what those numbers actually meant for a small team trying to grow.
Before the automation, every new high-volume client SGT won came with a hidden operational cost — hours of weekly admin that the team had to absorb. Winning more business meant more manual work, not just more revenue. That ceiling wasn’t going to move without changing the underlying process.
The automation removed the ceiling. SGT can now onboard high-volume clients without adding headcount or stretching the existing team. The system scales with the business — whether the client base doubles or the weekly email volume triples, the workload on the team stays the same.
The reporting layer compounded the benefit. With clear data on course uptake, group allocations, and upsell activity, SGT can now walk into conversations with national clients armed with the kind of strategic insight that small businesses rarely have. That capability — and the confidence it creates in those conversations — is what Kelly described as “completely upping their game.”
The automation didn’t just solve a process problem. It changed what kind of business SGT could credibly present themselves as.
If your business is winning clients but the operational workload is growing faster than your team can handle, let’s talk.
