Automation is a powerful tool—but like any tool, it works best when used on the right foundation. We’ve seen it time and again: a company identifies a time-consuming task, gets excited about RPA or AI, and jumps into development, only to discover mid-stream that the process wasn’t as stable, consistent, or well-understood as everyone thought.
Before you bring in bots or AI to help, the business process itself needs to be ready. That means understanding it, improving it, and locking in consistency.
Here’s how to do that the right way—drawing on our experience helping businesses large and small transform their operations with automation.
Step 1: Analyze the Process — Really Analyze It
Before you build anything, you need to know exactly how the process works. This starts with mapping the typical flow: What kicks off the process? What happens next? Who does what, using what systems or tools?
But equally important are the exceptions. Every business process has them: the invoices that don’t match the PO, the customer requests that don’t fit the form, the approval that’s always a little different because the department head prefers a certain way.
For example, a large distributor thought their returns process was consistent. But after interviewing five warehouse supervisors, we got five slightly different answers about how returns were handled depending on the item category, vendor, and whether it involved freight.
You also want to understand the human element: Are different personnel doing the same step in different ways? Why? Sometimes it’s a training gap, but often it’s an intentional adaptation for efficiency—or workarounds for underlying issues.
And don’t forget inputs and outputs. Who supplies the data or materials the process depends on? Are there SLAs (formal or informal) in place? What does success look like at the end of the process? For instance, a customer onboarding process might involve forms from sales, approvals from legal, and system provisioning from operations—each with their own timelines and dependencies.
Step 2: Homogenize the Process — Even If It’s a Little Uncomfortable
Automation can’t handle chaos. If one team runs the process differently than another, your automation will break—or worse, create new problems.
This is where standardization becomes critical. It’s not just about writing up a procedure; it’s about building agreement and buy-in across all the people who touch the process. And that’s not always easy.
Consider a financial services firm where three regional offices each had their own way of processing customer documentation. All three methods “worked,” but only one met the compliance requirements consistently. Getting everyone on the same page can take some tough conversations—but the result will be a stronger, more defensible process.
During homogenization, it’s also a good time to clarify service level expectations with both upstream suppliers and downstream customers. If data from a vendor is always late or inconsistent, you need to address that before automation enters the picture.
Management plays a vital role here. Facilitating conversations, making final calls when needed, and reinforcing that this isn’t about finger-pointing—it’s about improvement.
Step 3: Optimize the Process — Clean Up the Clutter
Once you’ve agreed on what the process should be, it’s time to make it better. Lean Six Sigma principles are especially valuable here.
Look for:
- Redundant steps that could be combined or eliminated
- Gaps in communication where confusion slows things down
- Manual handoffs that could be replaced with integrated data exchanges
- Steps prone to error that could benefit from pre-validation or better checks
- Inefficient timing, such as batching work that could be handled in real-time
For example, a hospital revenue cycle team had multiple people printing, scanning, and manually uploading claim forms—even though their system already had batch export and secure email capabilities. By rerouting a few key steps and adding error-checking early in the process, claim rejections were reduced by over 20%.
The people who live the process every day often know exactly where these pain points are. Invite their input—and be ready to act on it.
Step 4: Test and Refine — Before You Automate
Once changes have been made, it’s important to see how they play out in the real world. This is where a trial period or parallel testing can be incredibly valuable.
Sometimes a process looks great on paper, but subtle issues emerge in daily use: a system doesn’t sync as expected, a vendor resists a new SLA, or the new flow uncovers an old workaround that never got addressed.
One manufacturer ran their old and new inventory control processes in parallel for two weeks. The trial surfaced three minor issues—none of which were obvious during process mapping—that were quickly corrected before they rolled out automation.
This also gives employees a chance to adapt, ask questions, and suggest last-minute improvements.
Step 5: Document the Process — Clearly and Thoroughly
Documentation is often treated as an afterthought—but it’s critical.
It serves three purposes:
- Training – for new employees or cross-training existing staff.
- Compliance – many industries require clear, documented processes.
- Automation design – developers need a detailed map to build from.
Good documentation includes:
- A step-by-step guide (including decisions and exceptions)
- A visual flow diagram with inputs, outputs, and decision points
- Notes on data formats, systems used, and special cases
- Contact info for process owners or SMEs
Even if you never automate the process, this documentation makes your business more resilient and scalable.
Conclusion: Ready the Process Before You Automate the Work
Automation isn’t just about software—it’s about transforming how work is done. And that starts by truly understanding and improving your processes before handing them over to a bot or algorithm.
At Intellevate Solutions, we help clients prepare their processes for automation with an eye toward stability, efficiency, and long-term scalability.
Our consultants bring not only automation expertise but deep knowledge of business process improvement and change management.
Whether you’re ready to automate or just ready to improve, we’re here to help you make the most of the journey.