Understand the work before choosing the automation.
A useful starting brief describes the current process and the change you want to make. It gives the implementation team enough context to ask the right questions.
Identify the trigger and the result
What causes this work to begin? A customer request, a document, a scheduled review or an event in another system? Describe the specific result that tells the team the work is complete. “Handle invoices” is broad; “prepare a supplier invoice for an accountant's approval” gives the workflow a boundary.
Name the people and their decisions
List the people who supply information, perform the work, approve a result and handle an exception. Explain what each person is allowed to decide. Automation should make those responsibilities easier to carry out.
Find the context people already use
An experienced employee may rely on product information, account history, policy, prior decisions or a conversation with a colleague. Identify those sources and who maintains them. A model cannot reliably replace context it has never received.
Choose a bounded first use
Start with a task that is useful on its own and has an observable result. State which inputs and situations belong in the first implementation. Describe what should happen when a request falls outside that boundary.
Establish a baseline
Record how the work performs today: preparation time, corrections, missed information or repeated handoffs. Use measured figures when available, and label estimates as estimates. The baseline helps you decide whether the new workflow is actually better.
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