Map the work before automating it
Observe the current process with the people doing it. Record the trigger, inputs, decisions, handoffs and exceptions. Count the work involved over a representative period, including the effort spent correcting mistakes.
Separate repetitive rules from judgement. If staff disagree about where an enquiry should go, software will not resolve that policy question by itself. Agree the process first. Keep clinical decisions and urgent care routing outside an administrative pilot unless they are separately scoped and appropriately governed.
Define a small, reversible pilot
Choose one workflow and a limited operational scope. For example, a new general business enquiry could create a task for the correct team while a staff member confirms the routing. Use fictional data during initial development.
If AI is part of the workflow, specify what it may suggest, what it may execute and when a person must review the output. Define unacceptable outcomes and the process for handling them. Do not assume a plausible response is accurate.
Write the exception rules
- Missing information: hold the item for a named reviewer.
- Duplicate event: avoid creating another task or sending another message.
- Unavailable connection: retry safely and expose persistent failures.
- Uncertain classification: hand the item to a person rather than guessing.
- Incorrect action: record what happened and provide a correction route.
- Pilot stop: disable the automation and restore the documented manual process.
Measure the whole cost of the result
Compare completion time, error rates, unresolved exceptions and staff correction effort with the baseline. Include the time needed to review automated outputs. Saving entry time while creating a larger checking queue is not necessarily an improvement.
Review a sample of completed tasks and ask staff whether the handover is clearer. Expand only when the accountable owner accepts the results and support arrangements. Keep the workflow documented so someone can understand and operate it without relying on the original builder.
Further reading
These primary sources provide additional context for the project decisions above.
Related decisions
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