Turn the process map into a build plan
Use a before-and-after workflow to remove unnecessary steps, define human decisions, and turn an audit finding into a system the team can actually run.
Workflow design means deciding how the job should run after the change: what information arrives, what the system prepares, what a person decides, and how completion is recorded. Do this before comparing tools. The design tells you which capabilities you actually need.
A useful way to begin is to rewrite one real handoff. The following account-onboarding example is illustrative; it shows the decisions a team should settle before a build.
Describe the current handoff
A salesperson marks a deal won. An operations coordinator then searches the CRM, email and signed order for the delivery requirements. They copy those details into a project template, ask sales about gaps, and send the work to a delivery lead. The lead checks it again before assigning the account.
The immediate temptation is an AI summary of the sales conversation. That might help, but it leaves several questions open. Which source controls the contracted scope? What happens when the CRM and order disagree? Who decides whether delivery can begin?
Use a workflow audit to locate the time and rework before settling the design.
Rewrite the responsibilities
| Step | Proposed system work | Person responsible |
|---|---|---|
| Collect | Retrieve the order and approved CRM fields. | Sales owns completeness of the handoff. |
| Prepare | Draft a brief with a source beside each scope item. | Coordinator checks missing or conflicting information. |
| Decide | Flag gaps; leave unresolved fields visibly blank. | Delivery lead accepts the brief or returns it. |
| Execute | Create one project after recorded acceptance. | Operations owns assignment and recovery. |
Agree on the authoritative source for each field. For example, the signed order may govern scope while an approved customer record governs the contact address. A plausible model answer cannot resolve a disagreement about business authority.
Also define what disappears from the old process. If employees must still create the same project manually “just in case,” include that duplicated work in the rollout plan and measurement.
Test the awkward cases first
Walk through a missing order, an amended scope, two records for the same customer, and a failed project-creation attempt. Decide whether each should pause, request information, or proceed through a defined exception path.
Have the coordinator and delivery lead inspect the proposed brief together. They should be able to answer: can I make my decision from this, and can I find the evidence? Engineering can then test retrieval, field extraction, permissions and retries against a concrete job.
A form workflow can divide responsibility between software that prepares information, employees who verify it, and a dashboard that supports oversight. Design the interface around the operating task.
Measure the whole handoff
Track preparation time, clarification requests, first-pass acceptance and time until delivery can start. Faster drafting is useful only if downstream checking does not consume the gain.
A team with this design already agreed can take the Capacity Generation approach to implementation. For the onboarding example, connect any later revenue acceleration work to observed delivery capacity or time to first invoice. Keep that commercial result separate from the minutes saved preparing the brief.