LMS → Salesforce Data Automation
Built a secure, API-driven integration using free tools to automate LMS data ingestion into Salesforce, saving 100+ hours of manual work and ~$10K annually.
Technologies & Tools
📊 Impact: ~$10K savings + 100+ hours saved annually
Problem
Tech Goes Home relied on a Learning Management System (LMS) to track learner participation and progress, but syncing this data into Salesforce required manual exports, uploads, and reconciliation. This process was time-consuming, error-prone, and financially inefficient, with third-party automation tools carrying significant licensing costs. LMS data was synced manually on a recurring basis, staff spent hours exporting, cleaning, and uploading files, data freshness was inconsistent impacting reporting, and commercial automation tools introduced unnecessary recurring costs.
My Role
I owned the integration end-to-end, including designing the overall integration architecture, implementing secure authentication using Salesforce OAuth, building automation scripts in Google Apps Script, testing and validating API interactions using Postman, and handling edge cases such as partial updates and data mismatches. This was a production-grade system, not a one-time script.
Solution
Designed and implemented a fully automated LMS → Salesforce integration using only free and native tools, eliminating manual work while maintaining data accuracy and security. This solution automated the end-to-end data flow from the LMS into Salesforce, saving over 100 hours of manual work annually and avoiding approximately $10,000 per year in external automation fees.
Architecture
High-Level Data Flow
High-Level Data Flow: (1) Scheduled Apps Script job triggers data extraction from LMS
Data is cleaned, normalized, and mapped to Salesforce objects
Script authenticates to Salesforce via OAuth
Records are upserted into Salesforce using REST APIs
Logs and basic error handling ensure visibility into failures. Used Google Apps Script to avoid infrastructure overhead, Salesforce REST APIs directly for fine-grained control, and OAuth-based access following Salesforce security best practices instead of hardcoded credentials.
Key Design Decisions
Results
- ✓Saved over 100 manual staff hours annually
- ✓Avoided approximately $10,000 per year in third-party automation costs
- ✓Improved data accuracy and consistency in Salesforce
- ✓Enabled near real-time reporting on learner participation
- ✓Created reusable integration pattern for future systems