Portal automation that resumes after a stop, and hands over to a non-programmer

Repetitive work on an official portal follows a familiar script: search for a code, pick the matching result, wait for the page, do it again. Hundreds of times.

It is the first thing anyone tries to automate, and the first automation that dies, because a naive script collapses at the first interruption and sends you back to zero.

Property one: resuming

The moment a record completes, the script marks it in the data file itself. The status and timestamp go in, along with the result that was selected.

Connection dropped? Session expired? Run it again and everything already finished gets skipped; the work continues from where it stopped. Even shutting the machine down loses nothing.

That same column doubles as an audit record. When somebody eventually asks what was entered and when, the answer is already sitting in the file.

Property two: handover

A script only its author can run is not a tool, it is a dependency on a person.

So the script shipped with a step by step operating guide aimed at non-programmers, covering environment setup, file preparation, starting a run, watching progress, and fixing the common problems.

The guide made the tool delegable, and that is the difference between saving your own time and saving the department's.

An important decision: login is manual

The operator signs in to the official portal personally, under their own identity. Automation takes over only after that point.

I do not store credentials and I do not automate authentication. The machine handles the repetitive selection; accountability stays with the person who signed in.

Practical traps

Wait after each operation. These portals respond slowly, and clicking fast silently drops steps. Build a measured wait into every action.

The file open in a spreadsheet program. An open file blocks writing and the whole run stalls. My fix was a clear message asking the operator to close it, after which the run picks up again with no crash.

Precise selectors. A page can hold two near-identical fields. Anchor the selector to something that genuinely distinguishes the right one, or the script types into the wrong field with no warning.

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