Automation Intake and Scoping (Onboarding)

Automation Intake and Scoping (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Inventory the client's manual steps before naming any platform

   Walk one full cycle of the target process with the person who runs it today, and log every handoff, approval, and re-entry of the same data. A process with 14 manual steps across three owners is a different build than the client's description of it as 'copying rows over.'

2. 02

   Score each candidate workflow on volume, error cost, and exception rate

   A step that runs 40 times a day with a $200 error cost justifies build time; a step that runs twice a month does not. Flag any workflow where exceptions exceed roughly one in five runs, because those need a human review gate rather than full automation.

3. 03

   Confirm the platform can reach every system in the chain

   Check connector coverage for the client's actual stack, not the demo stack. A visual builder with 3,000+ integrations still fails if the client's ERP only exposes a private API, and a developer-first platform such as Pipedream may be the only path when custom code is required.

4. 04

   Map the exception path and who owns it after launch

   Write down what happens when a trigger fires with missing or malformed data, and name the person at the client who resolves it. Automations that fail silently into a queue nobody watches are the most common source of retainer disputes.

5. 05

   Set monitoring and alerting expectations in writing

   Agree on what gets logged, where failures surface, and how fast the client hears about a broken run. A workflow touching billing or lead routing needs an alert on failure; a weekly internal digest may only need a log.

6. 06

   Document platform limits that will constrain growth

   Record task quotas, execution timeouts, and per-run pricing so the client understands the ceiling before volume doubles. CPU-metered platforms and task-metered platforms scale very differently, and that difference belongs in the scope document.

7. 07

   Model expansion from the process inventory, not from the category

   List the remaining validated workflows with their volumes and rank them by payback. Presenting a roadmap grounded in the client's own process list converts better than a generic pitch about automation potential.