Planning checklist
Workflow Automation Assessment
A structured assessment for deciding what to automate, what judgment to preserve and what an operational dashboard must expose.
Published by SpeedInno · Material review 15 August 2026
Quick checklist
Review these items first. Marking an item is not proof of readiness; retain the decision, evidence and accountable owner described in the detailed guidance below.
- Trigger and outcomeName what starts the workflow, the required result and the responsible owner.
- States and handoffsMap assignment, review, approval, waiting, completion and exception states.
- Rules and judgmentSeparate deterministic rules from decisions that require accountable human judgment.
- Records and integrationsIdentify authoritative data, duplicate entry and actions in connected systems.
- Routing and alertsDefine recipients, escalation, deduplication and what happens when delivery fails.
- PermissionsLimit actions and approvals by role and record context.
- Operational viewShow state, owner, aging, exceptions and available actions from live records.
- MeasurementChoose process signals that can be observed without claiming an unevidenced outcome.
How to use this resource
- 1.Work through it with the people who own the workflow, data and release decision.
- 2.Attach evidence or a named open question to every material answer.
- 3.Separate confirmed facts, assumptions, risks and decisions that require approval.
- 4.Finish with an owner, next decision and review date, not a checked document only.
Use four decision states, not a misleading percentage score
Confirmed
Evidence exists and the accountable owner accepts it.
Assumption
A working belief is recorded with a validation action and date.
Risk
The uncertainty can materially change scope, safety, cost or release.
Not applicable
The rationale is explicit and has been reviewed; it is not simply unanswered.
Map the current workflow
Automation should expose responsibility and exceptions, not encode an unclear process.
Trigger and outcome
Name what starts the workflow, the required result and the responsible owner.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of trigger and outcome, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
States and handoffs
Map assignment, review, approval, waiting, completion and exception states.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of states and handoffs, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Rules and judgment
Separate deterministic rules from decisions that require accountable human judgment.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of rules and judgment, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Records and integrations
Identify authoritative data, duplicate entry and actions in connected systems.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of records and integrations, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Design safe automation
Make status, failure and recovery visible to the people doing the work.
Routing and alerts
Define recipients, escalation, deduplication and what happens when delivery fails.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of routing and alerts, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Permissions
Limit actions and approvals by role and record context.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of permissions, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Operational view
Show state, owner, aging, exceptions and available actions from live records.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of operational view, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
Measurement
Choose process signals that can be observed without claiming an unevidenced outcome.
Questions to resolve
- What is the verified current state of measurement, and which source supports it?
- What must be true at the next approval or release point, and what is explicitly outside the decision?
- Which exception, dependency or failure condition could invalidate the current answer?
- Who can approve the answer, who performs the work and who responds when it fails?
Evidence to retain
- A current-state artifact, observation or system record, not recollection alone.
- The selected decision, alternatives considered and the reason for the trade-off.
- An accountable owner, dependency owner and review or expiry date.
- Observable acceptance evidence and a recovery or escalation path where failure matters.
How to turn the checklist into an implementation decision
1. Establish the baseline
Record what exists, how it was observed and where evidence is incomplete. Keep reported behavior separate from reproduced behavior. This prevents the future design from treating assumptions or one person’s workaround as an approved requirement.
2. Define the target and boundary
Describe the capability or decision the next phase must enable, the users and records it covers, and the adjacent work it deliberately does not replace. A clear exclusion is useful only when its operational consequence and owner are understood.
3. Resolve the highest-consequence uncertainty
Prioritise questions that can change architecture, data purpose, security, migration, acceptance, commercial scope or launch readiness. Test or decide those before polishing lower-risk screens and convenience features.
4. Create traceable delivery evidence
Link each accepted requirement to its decision source, implementation boundary, test or review method and release owner. When the requirement changes, update the connected artifacts instead of leaving contradictory copies in documents, tickets and code.
Expected output
The result is a bounded automation candidate, exception model and operational view, not a claim of enterprise BI or data-warehouse consulting.
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