“Can this be automated?” is only the first question. The next questions matter just as much: under whose authority, using which facts, within what scope, and with which points of review?
These are not details to add after an automation works. They are part of defining what it means for the automation to work.
A proposal is different from permission.
Intelligence can help translate a person's intention into a procedure. The resulting plan still needs to be checked against the operations a system supports, the records it may use and the approvals the work requires.
During execution, circumstances can change. Access can be removed. A source document can be replaced. An outcome can become uncertain. A useful system needs a considered response to each situation, including the ability to stop and ask.
The aim is not to remove people from responsibility. It is to make their responsibility easier to exercise.
A routine has a scope
“Follow up on this invoice” identifies a particular record. It should not quietly become a routine for every invoice in the company. The selected context is part of the request and needs to remain visible while the procedure is prepared and reviewed.
A reviewer also needs to understand the proposed recipient, timing, conditions and action. A change to any of those details may change the meaning of the routine.
Check authority at the moment of action
An approved plan describes intended work. It does not make every later action valid in every circumstance. Permissions can change between setup and execution. Evidence can be incomplete. An earlier step can have an uncertain outcome.
That is why our technology principles keep current access, defined rules and required review in the execution path. The aim is a procedure people can inspect, with an understandable reason when it stops.
See how this appears in an illustrative construction workflow in A minute with Tierby, or read about the role of source evidence in the process.
From Tiercord Solutions
Written by Tiercord Solutions Inc., the Vancouver company behind the Tiercord construction platform. Read more perspectives.