PDF Certificate Automation
Automation of PDF generation for official documents that were previously created manually. Fewer entry errors and significant time savings.
Challenge: "Repetitive manual work"
The assessment of applications and the issuance of certificates involve many repetitive checks and standard documents. However, this process was manual work: opening Word files, entering data, and converting to PDF.
The result: many small, frustrating problems such as entry errors, documents with different versions, and inconsistent file names.
Solution: "Small automation"
The policy was to keep existing forms as much as possible and only automate the boring, repetitive parts.
- Batch PDF generation (CSV/Word): Using tFPDF/FPDI to read data and convert it to a uniform PDF format.
- Uniform EN/JA templates: The layout for official documents in English and Japanese was standardized, making switching easy.
- Traceable file names: Automatically adding date and student ID to file names for easy archiving.
Technical details
- PHPSpreadsheet: Safely reading and validating data from Excel and CSV.
- tFPDF/FPDI: Using existing PDF templates and placing Japanese/English text as an overlay.
- Laravel integration: Certificate issuance linked to the administration system, turning it into a one-click action.
Result: "Fewer errors, more time"
- Issuance time for certificates reduced by approximately 70% (from 30 min. to 10 min.).
- Re-issuance due to entry errors is practically zero.
- Problems with different document versions have disappeared.
- Staff can collect and process documents much faster.
Even small automations have a big effect when applied consistently.