Background:
I was approached by a client who had a recurring task of uploading supporting documentation to a third-party partner site. This manual process had to be performed for every transaction, resulting in over an hour of lost productivity each day.
Requirements:
The challenge was that the third-party partner site did not offer a suitable API for automating the process. However, they agreed to allow an automated solution as long as it adhered to certain conditions. The solution needed to be rate-limited and not put excessive strain on their infrastructure. The client required a script that could run on an unattended computer, navigate the web browser like a human user, and upload the relevant documents to the correct transaction record.
Implementation:
To meet these requirements, I developed an application using Python and Selenium. Python was chosen for its development efficiency compared to Java. Selenium is a front-end testing framework that provides browser automation capabilities. By mapping out the necessary HTML elements on the partner site, I utilized Selenium to control the web browser’s interactions. The entire application was packaged and exported as an .exe file, which could be triggered and provided with arguments through a Windows script.
By employing Python and Selenium, I successfully created an automated solution that emulates human-like behavior for uploading supporting documentation to the third-party partner site. This significantly reduced manual effort and saved the client valuable time and resources on a daily basis.