Prepare Your Processes for Automation

Before you spend a single dollar on an automation platform, you must first prepare your processes. This guide will show you exactly how. We will walk through a simple, expert-level framework to get your operations ready for successful automation.

The core principle is simple: Standardize, Optimize, then Automate.

Step 1: Identify and Prioritize Your Processes

You cannot automate everything at once. You need a strategic approach. The first step is to figure out which processes are the best candidates for automation.

Start by creating a "Process Inventory." Get your team leaders in a room and list out all the recurring tasks and workflows in their departments. Think about everything from finance and HR to marketing and operations.

Once you have a long list, you need to prioritize it. Use a simple scoring system based on these four key factors:

High Volume: How often is this process performed? Daily tasks are better candidates than monthly or yearly ones.
Repetitive & Rule-Based: Does the process follow the same steps every time? Automation loves clear, logical rules. It struggles with tasks that require human judgment, creativity, or complex decision-making.
Prone to Human Error: Do people often make mistakes doing this task? Data entry, copying and pasting, and manual calculations are classic examples. Robots don't make typos.
High Business Impact: How much time and money does this process consume? Automating a task that saves 40 hours a week is more impactful than one that saves 10 minutes.

Example in Action:

Let’s compare two processes: "Processing Vendor Invoices" and "Designing a New Marketing Campaign."

Factor	Vendor Invoice Processing	New Marketing Campaign
Volume	High (Dozens or hundreds per day)	Low (A few times per quarter)
Repetitive	Very high (Same steps for each invoice)	Very low (Requires creativity, strategy)
Human Error	High (Typing wrong amounts, codes)	Low (It's a creative process)
Impact	High (Affects cash flow, vendor relations)	High (Affects revenue, brand)
Automation Score	Excellent Candidate	Poor Candidate

Based on this analysis, Vendor Invoice Processing is a perfect place to start your automation journey. It’s a high-volume, rule-based task where automation can deliver a clear and immediate return on investment (ROI).

Step 2: Map the "As-Is" Process in Detail

Once you have chosen a process, you must understand it completely. You cannot fix what you cannot see. This step involves mapping out the process exactly as it happens today—the "As-Is" state.

Do not do this alone at your desk. The best way to do this is with a collaborative method like Brown Paper Process Mapping.

How to do it:

Gather the Right People: Invite everyone who touches the process. This includes the person who starts it, everyone who performs a step, and the person who receives the final output.
Use a Big Space: Get a large roll of brown paper and stick it on a wall. Use sticky notes and markers.
Walk Through the Process Step-by-Step: Ask the team to describe each action, decision, and handoff. Write each one on a separate sticky note and place it on the paper in sequence.

Be incredibly detailed. For each step, capture the following:

The Action: What is being done? (e.g., "Open email with invoice PDF.")
The Actor: Who is doing it? (e.g., "Accounts Payable Clerk.")
The Tools: What software or systems are used? (e.g., "Outlook, Excel, SAP.")
The Time: How long does this specific step take? (e.g., "2-3 minutes.")
Pain Points: What goes wrong here? Use red sticky notes for this. (e.g., "Invoice is missing a PO number," "System is slow.")

Example in Action: Mapping an "Employee Onboarding" process.

Your map might reveal a hidden bottleneck. For example:

Step 5: HR sends an email to the IT department to create new accounts.
Step 6 (Pain Point): The IT department cannot proceed until the new employee's manager approves the software list. This approval is done via email and sometimes takes days.
Step 7: The new employee arrives on their first day with no laptop or system access.

This visual map makes the problem obvious to everyone. You can clearly see that the delay is not IT's fault but a flaw in the approval workflow.

Step 3: Analyze and Optimize the Process

Now that you can see the entire process, it is time to improve it. Remember our principle: optimize before you automate. This is where you redesign the process to be as lean and efficient as possible.

A powerful framework for this is ESIA (Eliminate, Simplify, Integrate, Automate). Go through your process map step-by-step and ask these four questions in order:

Eliminate: Can we completely remove this step? Many processes have redundant checks or legacy steps that no longer add value. If a step is not necessary, get rid of it.
Simplify: If we cannot eliminate the step, can we make it simpler? This could mean creating a checklist, using a template, or reducing the number of fields on a form. The goal is to make the work easier for humans.
Integrate: Can we combine several steps into one? Or can we make two different software systems talk to each other to avoid manual data re-entry?
Automate: Only after you have eliminated, simplified, and integrated should you ask: "What parts of this newly optimized process can a machine do?"

Example in Action: Optimizing the "Employee Onboarding" bottleneck using ESIA.

The Problem: Waiting for a manager's email approval for software.
Eliminate: Can we eliminate the manager's approval? No, it's necessary for cost control and security.
Simplify: Can we simplify the request? Yes. Instead of a blank email, we can create a standard onboarding form for managers that lists default software by role. The manager just checks a few boxes.
Integrate: Can we integrate this with the HR system? Yes. When HR marks the candidate as "Hired," the system can automatically send the pre-filled software request form to the manager.
Automate: Now, we can automate. Once the manager clicks "Approve" on the form, the system can automatically create a ticket in the IT department's system with all the necessary information.

Look at the difference. We did not just automate the old, broken email process. We redesigned the workflow to be faster and more reliable first. Now, the automation tool has a clean, efficient process to execute.

Step 4: Standardize and Document the Optimized Process

An automated system needs consistency. It needs one set of rules to follow. If five people on your team perform the same task five different ways, you cannot automate it effectively.

You must standardize the new, optimized process you designed in Step 3.

This means creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). An SOP is a clear, simple document that explains exactly how to perform the process. It is the single source of truth.

Your SOP should include:

The Process Owner: Who is responsible for this process?
The Objective: What is the goal of this process?
Step-by-Step Instructions: A clear, numbered list of actions.
Roles and Responsibilities: Who does what at each step.
Success Metrics: How do we know the process is working well? (e.g., "All new employees have system access on Day 1.")

Train everyone on the new SOP. Ensure they follow it consistently before you introduce any automation. This creates a stable baseline and a culture of process discipline.

Step 5: Define Success Metrics and Run a Pilot Program

You are almost ready to bring in the technology. But before you go all-in, you need to define what success looks like and test your assumptions on a small scale.

First, define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). How will you measure if your automation project is successful? Be specific and measure these metrics before and after automation.

Good KPIs for automation projects include:

Process Cycle Time: The total time from start to finish (e.g., reduce invoice processing time from 5 days to 4 hours).
Cost Per Transaction: The cost to complete the process once (e.g., lower the cost per invoice from $5.00 to $0.50).
Error Rate: The percentage of times the process is done incorrectly (e.g., decrease data entry errors by 95%).
Employee Satisfaction: Freeing up your team from boring tasks often boosts morale. Measure this with simple surveys.

Second, run a pilot program. Do not try to automate the entire accounts payable department at once. Start small.

Choose a limited scope: For example, automate invoice processing for only your top three vendors.
Implement the automation tool: Build the automation for just this small slice of the work.
Measure and Compare: Run the pilot for a few weeks. Track your KPIs and compare them to the old, manual process.
Gather Feedback: Talk to the employees involved. What worked? What was confusing?

A pilot program allows you to prove the value of automation, work out any technical kinks, and build confidence before you invest in a company-wide rollout.

Build Your Foundation First

The hard work is not in choosing the software. The real work is in preparing your foundation. By following these steps—Prioritize, Map, Optimize, Standardize, and Pilot—you build that strong foundation.