Understand the work before choosing the tool.
Proposed engagement scopeThe work to clarify
Critical work often crosses applications, teams and informal handoffs. A process can be scheduled and still depend on one person who remembers the exceptions. Discovery makes those dependencies visible: the trigger, inputs, decisions, owner, completion condition and recovery path.
How an engagement can work
A consulting engagement can combine stakeholder interviews, workflow mapping and technical review. Distinguish deterministic automation from tasks that benefit from AI assistance. Review the approval and exception paths alongside the happy path, then identify changes that simplify the process before adding technology.
Deliverables to agree
- Current-state workflow and dependency map
- Exception, ownership and control-point register
- Target-state design and an implementation backlog
A practical starting point
Choose a repeatable process where delay or rework is visible. Bring a representative example and the people who operate it. Agree how completion, failure and escalation will be recognized before deciding what to automate.