Aitsa resources · Practical guidance
What is business process automation?
Business process automation uses software to move defined work between people and systems. Before choosing a tool, map one process: where it starts, who does each step and what happens when something goes wrong.
Aitsa practical guide
Before you automate, map one process.
Start with the work as it happens today, not the process you wish you had. Walk through an ordinary case and an exception with the people doing the work.
Use these eight prompts to decide whether to simplify the process, test a small automation or investigate further. Sketch the steps, their owners and each decision on the worksheet.
Start and finish
What triggers the work? What observable result marks it complete?
People and responsibility
Who does each step, approves the result and handles exceptions? Name a backup.
Current effort and delay
How often does it happen? Measure hands-on time, waiting and rework.
Inputs and access
Which records, systems and permissions are needed? Which source is authoritative?
Rules, AI and judgment
Which steps follow fixed rules? Where is information unclear or a person needed?
Failure and recovery
What if data is missing, duplicated or wrong, or a system is unavailable?
Full cost and ownership
Count setup, software, usage, review and maintenance. Who owns accounts and can export data?
Pilot and decision
Choose a small test, success measure and stop condition. Simplify, test or investigate?
Sketch the current steps in order. Add the person responsible and a return path for each exception. The example below shows what that looks like.
Aitsa practical guide
See the decisions and return paths.
In this imagined fabrication workshop, finance needs a completed job record, a signed delivery note and the customer purchase-order reference before approving an invoice-ready handover. Actual customer requirements must be checked.
Checking that fields and attachments are present is different from checking that they are correct. Finance still checks the job, customer, signatures, quantities and amount.
Fictional worked example. This is not an Aitsa client result or a universal customer-document requirement.
- 01Supervisor
Record the completed job
Attach the agreed supporting records and a unique job reference.
- 02Admin
Check the handover
Check required fields, document presence and repeated job references. Presence does not establish correctness.
- 03Decision
Required fields and files present?
No: admin owns the missing-item queue, corrects the same job record, then repeats the check. Yes: send it to finance.
YesContinue to finance ↓NoCorrect the same record; recheck 02 ↶ - 04Finance
Review and approve
Check job/customer match, signatures, quantities, amount and the agreed requirements. Reject: record the reason and return to admin for correction. Approve: mark the handover invoice-ready.
ApproveRecord the approved handover ↓RejectRecord the reason; return to admin ↶ - 05Admin + finance
Keep one approved record
Record who approved it and when. Creating an invoice, submission, customer acceptance and payment are later, separate stages.
The worksheet, filled in
- Start and finish
- Start: a job is marked complete. Finish: finance approves one invoice-ready handover record. Invoice creation, submission, acceptance and payment are outside this pilot.
- People and responsibility
- Supervisor confirms the job and documents. Admin checks and chases missing items. Finance approves. Name an admin backup before the pilot.
- Current effort and delay
- Record job volume, admin minutes, missing documents and elapsed time to finance approval. Collect a baseline before claiming a saving.
- Inputs and access
- Use the job record, signed delivery note and customer purchase-order reference. Confirm the customer's actual requirements and approved storage.
- Rules, AI and judgment
- Rules check required fields and repeated job IDs. A person checks supporting evidence, quantities and amounts. AI is unnecessary for this first pilot.
- Failure and recovery
- Missing or conflicting records stay in an exception queue with an owner. Recheck corrected records. Retry without creating another handover; keep a manual route.
- Full cost and ownership
- Check existing software first. Include setup, subscriptions, admin review and upkeep. Confirm account ownership, export and a support contact before proceeding.
- Pilot and decision
- Test a small agreed set of fictional jobs, including missing paperwork, duplicates and a rejected approval. Compare accuracy and elapsed time with the baseline before a live pilot.
Does this process need AI?
Not necessarily. The first version of this example can use ordinary rules and people. Software can flag a missing field or a repeated job reference; a person reviews the supporting evidence and approves the handover.
AI may help when useful information arrives in varied emails or documents. Treat extracted fields as suggestions until they have been checked. If ownership or completion is unclear, improve the process first. This guide concerns business administration, not machine control or safety-critical plant systems.
Compare process improvement, automation and AITest the exceptions before handover.
A successful ordinary case is only the beginning. Test what the people doing the work will see when something goes wrong, including whether an alert actually reaches its owner.
A document is missing or belongs to another job
Keep missing records incomplete. A presence check may pass the wrong attachment; a person must reject it, record why and send it back to the right owner.
The same job arrives twice
Recognise the existing job reference and update the same handover. A retry must not create another handover or duplicate an invoice.
A system times out after saving
Check whether the destination already received the record before repeating the action. Give someone a visible recovery route.
The approver rejects the paperwork
Record the reason, assign the correction and send it through review again. A reminder alone does not resolve the exception.
The owner is absent or access expires
Test backup ownership, access renewal and the manual fallback. Make sure the team can continue without the original builder.
The work gets faster but less reliable
Count corrections, failed attempts and review time as well as speed. Compare the same start and finish before claiming an improvement.
Choose a small test with a clear decision.
Choose a recurring process with accessible inputs and a responsible owner. Measure hands-on effort, elapsed time, missing records and rework before the pilot. Agree the test boundary, the result that would justify continuing, and when to stop or investigate.
Count setup, software, usage, staff review and ongoing maintenance. Time made available is not automatically cash saved. Confirm account ownership, data export, handover and support before committing to a build. Start with fictional or approved non-sensitive examples; a live pilot needs the responsible people and access in place.
Bring one workflow to the conversation.
You can use the worksheet yourself. If the process, integrations or controls need help, bring the completed worksheet to Aitsa. The initial conversation is free; detailed investigation, mapping and implementation are agreed separately.
A proposal defines the intended result, scope, responsibilities, fee, acceptance checks and support. There is no universal delivery duration or guaranteed saving.
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Sources and further reading
Prepared by Aitsa Integration. Updated 13 September 2026. These primary sources support the guidance; requirements and provider terms can change.
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