Case Studies

Replacing Manual Marketing Requests with a SharePoint Shopping Cart - JCHC

September 7, 2026

Replacing Manual Marketing Requests with a SharePoint Shopping Cart - JCHC

Executive Summary

Jefferson County Health Center (JCHC) had a problem that many healthcare organizations recognize: a marketing materials request process that still ran on manual forms, email chains, and spreadsheets. Every order created friction. Every month-end report costs hours. Nobody requested it, nor did the marketing team have visibility into what was happening.

SharePoint Designs built a custom Shopping Cart solution natively inside SharePoint Online. No external tools. No complex approval workflows. No developer dependency after launch. The result was a fully self-service, e-commerce-style request system that went live organization-wide and immediately eliminated the manual overhead that had slowed the marketing team for years.

Key Results at a Glance

100%

SharePoint-native solution — no external tools

Zero

approval bottlenecks in submission flow

7 →1

manual steps reduced to one cart submission

Auto

monthly reporting — hours saved every cycle

About Jefferson County Health Center

Jefferson County Health Center is a public health organization serving the Jefferson County community. Its marketing and communications team manages the supply and distribution of branded materials, including promotional products, uniforms, and patient-facing collateral, to staff and departments across the organization.

With multiple departments submitting requests and a finite inventory of configurable products, the marketing team needed a structured, trackable, and scalable way to manage incoming orders without adopting additional tools or creating IT dependencies.

The Challenge

Before this project, JCHC's marketing materials request process was entirely manual. This created compounding problems at every stage, from submission to fulfillment to reporting.

01	Fragmented Submission Process Users filled out static forms and submitted them manually to the marketing team via email. There was no standard template, no required fields, and no validation leading to incomplete requests and repeated back-and-forth.
02	No Product Standardisation Requestors described products inconsistently — different names for the same item, varying size notations, informal colour descriptions. The marketing team had to manually interpret and standardise every order before processing.
03	No Visibility or Audit Trail Neither requestors nor the marketing team could see the status of an order once submitted. There was no order history, no tracking, and no centralised record making disputes and follow-ups difficult.
04	Time-Consuming Manual Reporting At the end of every month, someone on the marketing team manually compiled order data from emails and spreadsheets to produce a demand report. The process was time-intensive, error-prone, and produced results that were already out of date by the time they were circulated.

The Solution

SharePoint Designs designed and built a fully SharePoint-native Shopping Cart system, with a familiar, e-commerce-style interface embedded directly within JCHC's existing Microsoft 365 environment. The solution required no external software, no third-party licenses, and no ongoing IT involvement after deployment.

The core principle was simplicity: give requestors an experience they already understand (online shopping), give the marketing team the structured data and reporting they need, and give administrators full control, all within the tools JCHC already owns.

Solution Features

E-Commerce Style Shopping Cart

Browse a structured product catalogue with clear categories
Select items and add them to a cart in a single session
Review the full cart before submitting multiple items in one request
Familiar interface reduces training requirements to near-zero

Admin-Controlled Product Catalogue

Marketing team can create, edit, and deactivate product listings without IT
Product details, images, availability, and configurations managed in real time
New products can be added and made live within minutes

Configurable Product Attributes

Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL, 6XL standardized across all products
Colours: multiple selectable variants per product
Branding: logo attachment capability for branded merchandise
Styles: product-specific configurations defined per listing

Centralised Data in SharePoint Lists

All orders stored in structured SharePoint lists with consistent fields
Filterable and sortable by date, product, requestor, department, or status
Single source of truth for the entire marketing team

Direct Submission — No Approval Bottlenecks

Requests submitted directly to the marketing queue
No multi-step approval workflow required
Marketing team receives complete, structured, actionable order data immediately

Automated Monthly Reporting

Reports generated directly from SharePoint list data
Order volumes, product-level demand, size trends, and colour preferences all captured
Consistent format every month — no manual compilation required

Full Visibility for All Stakeholders

Requestors can view their full submission history and current request status
Marketing team has complete access to all orders across all departments
Searchable and filterable by any field

How We Built It - Implementation Approach

01	Process Assessment Conducted a structured review of JCHC's existing manual workflows. Mapped the end-to-end request journey from form submission through to monthly reporting — and documented every inefficiency, gap, and pain point with the marketing and operations teams.
02	Data Architecture Design Designed the SharePoint list structure to support the full solution: a product catalogue list with configurable attributes, an orders list capturing all submission data, and an attributes list (sizes, colours, logos, styles) that feeds the cart interface dynamically.
03	UI Development Built a user-friendly SharePoint interface that simulates a cart-based interaction model. Designed for immediate comprehension — if you've ever shopped online, you can use this system without training.
04	Testing & Quality Assurance Validated the solution against JCHC's actual product catalogue and order scenarios. Confirmed data integrity, permissions, reporting accuracy, and cross-device compatibility before wider rollout.
05	Organisation-Wide Deployment Rolled the solution out across JCHC with minimal change management required. The familiarity of the shopping experience meant adoption was near-immediate.

Before vs. After - Side by Side

Aspect	Before	After
Request Submission	Manual paper/email forms — error-prone and slow	Intuitive shopping cart interface — submit in minutes
Product Options	Unstructured, inconsistent across requestors	Fully standardised: sizes XS–6XL, colours, branding styles
Reporting	Manually compiled each month, hours of effort	Automated monthly reports generated directly from SharePoint
Data Storage	Scattered emails and spreadsheets	Centralised SharePoint lists — single source of truth
Processing Speed	Days of back-and-forth clarification	Same-day submission with zero approval bottlenecks
User Experience	Confusing, inconsistent, high error rate	Familiar e-commerce style — minimal training required
Visibility	No order history or status tracking	Full request history for users and marketing team

Business Impact

The Shopping Cart solution delivered measurable improvements across every dimension of JCHC's marketing materials process.

Operational Efficiency

Eliminated all manual form handling and email-based submission
Reduced processing time from days to same-session completion
The marketing team spends zero time reformatting or interpreting requests.

Data Quality & Accuracy

Structured inputs with validated fields remove ambiguity entirely.
Standardized product attributes prevent inconsistent ordering.
Zero data entry errors from requestor to order record

User Experience

Familiar shopping interface adopted immediately, minimal training required
Requestors have full visibility into their submission history.
Order confirmation and history are accessible at any time.

Reporting & Strategic Insight

Monthly reports generated automatically from live SharePoint data
Demand trends, popular products, and size/color patterns are visible at a glance.
The marketing team can plan stock and procurement based on actual data.

Scalability

New products are added to the catalog in minutes by non-technical admin users.
Solution scales as JCHC's product range and department count grow.
No external tools or license costs to manage as the organization expands

Why SharePoint — Key Differentiators

100% SharePoint-Native

No external tools, third-party integrations, or additional licences. Built entirely within JCHC's existing Microsoft 365 environment.

Zero External Dependencies

The solution continues to function and evolve without reliance on any external vendor, platform, or support contract.

IT-Independent Administration

The marketing team owns and operates the catalogue, products, and reporting without raising a single IT ticket.

Built for Scalability

Products, attributes, departments, and users can all be added without rebuilding any part of the system.

faqS

Does this require any external tools or licences?

No. The entire solution is built natively on Microsoft SharePoint Online. JCHC did not need to purchase any external software, integrate third-party platforms, or obtain additional licences. If your organization has Microsoft 365, you already have what this solution requires.

Can non-technical users manage the product catalogue?

Yes. The admin interface is designed for marketing and operations staff, not IT. Adding a new product, updating availability, or modifying size and colour options takes minutes and requires no coding or technical knowledge.

Can this solution be used for other request types beyond marketing materials?

Absolutely. The same SharePoint-native architecture can be applied to any configurable internal request process, IT equipment requests, facilities management, employee onboarding kits, stationery ordering, and more. The product catalogue and attributes are fully configurable.

How does this work with Microsoft Copilot?

Because all order data, product catalogues, and request history live in SharePoint lists and SharePoint Online, this solution is fully compatible with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Employees can query order history, product availability, and demand trends in natural language through Copilot, no additional configuration required.

How long does implementation take for a similar organization?

For an organization with a defined product catalogue and existing Microsoft 365 infrastructure, a solution of this scope typically deploys in 4 to 6 weeks including discovery, data design, build, testing, and go-live. Ongoing administration requires no developer involvement.

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