Map a process before automating

What you will learn

• Identify the process trigger.
• Spot manual handoffs and waiting time.
• Find a small first automation.

The lesson

Follow one real item through the process, rather than describing how the process is supposed to work. Note where it arrives, who reads it, which systems they open and what “done” means. Include the work people do when the request is incomplete.

A good pilot often removes one repeated handoff instead of replacing the whole process. For example, extracting fields from an email and preparing a review card is easier to evaluate than immediately sending an order into an ERP.

Try this

Draw five boxes: trigger, first review, system lookup, decision and completion. Add the person or system responsible for each arrow between them.