RPA in Barnabókaklubbin – Automation in a Children’s Book Club
Barnabókaklubbin is a Faroese children’s book club whose everyday work relies on manual coordination across loosely connected systems. In this project, I explored how Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can support membership onboarding while still leaving room for human judgement, local knowledge and organisational learning.
Context
Membership administration happens across Outlook, Excel, Navision 2018 and Brevo. None of these systems are fully integrated, meaning staff manually move data between them and rely on tacit knowledge to keep everything consistent.
This makes the organisation vulnerable – if the person with the overview is away, it becomes difficult to keep track of members, payments and shipments. A full system replacement is unrealistic, so the project explores automation as a pragmatic step forward.
Research focus
The project investigates how RPA can support membership onboarding in a small, low-maturity organisation without replacing human judgement.
Methodologically, the project combines qualitative interviews, process mapping and service blueprinting with a design-based approach where analysis, design and implementation inform each other.
My role – Technical Lead
I was responsible for the entire technical side of the project:
- Designing the full automation concept and flow structure.
- Developing the complete Power Automate Desktop RPA solution.
- Parsing HTML registration emails into structured variables.
- Automating membership creation in Navision 2018, including debtor setup, financial settings and Rokningardepilin integration.
- Automating creation of webshop users and CRM contacts in Brevo.
- Debugging selectors, timing issues and ensuring maintainability.
- Documentation, testing and technical evaluation.
Process & approach
1️⃣ Understanding current practice
Through interviews and blueprinting we mapped the real “as-is” process and identified how much work consists of “glue tasks” — manually holding systems together.
2️⃣ From insights to design principles
We prioritised selective automation of stable, rule-based parts of the process, modular flow design, visibility of data quality issues and a clear division of labour between staff and RPA.
3️⃣ Building the RPA flow
The solution was built across four modules: email parsing, Navision debtor creation, webshop setup and Brevo CRM contact creation — allowing future changes without rebuilding everything.
Outcome
In testing, the RPA onboarding completed the process in ~4 minutes compared to ~10 minutes manually, while reducing cognitive load and repetitive copy-paste work. Staff still handle edge cases and judgement-heavy situations.
Key learnings
- Selective automation is often more realistic than “full automation”.
- RPA depends on process clarity and data quality.
- Modular flow design supports adaptation over time.
- Human judgement remains central in small organisations.