Workflow automation
The retyping, copying, and chasing between your systems, done by software. A person still approves what matters.
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Where the hours go
The same thing gets typed twice
An order arrives by email. Someone types it into the order system, then types it again into accounting. Each copy is a chance for the two to disagree.
Approvals sit in an inbox
A purchase request waits until the one person who can approve it reads their email. Nobody else can tell where it is or how long it has been there.
One person knows how it works
The steps live in their head. When they are out, the work waits or gets done differently.
A missed step shows up late
Nothing flags a skipped step. You find out when the customer calls.
Reports are built by hand
Every Monday someone exports from three systems and pastes the numbers into a spreadsheet.
What would automating it be worth?
Put in your own numbers. The math is short, and you can open it under the result.
It pays for itself in about 15 months.
About 344 hours and $10,313 a year come back once it is running.
- Hours a year it takes now
- 688
- What those hours cost
- $20,625
| Case | Hours saved a year | Saved a year | Pays back in | Net after 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cautious (30%) | 206 | $6,188 | 28 months | $3,163 |
| Expected (50%) | 344 | $10,313 | 15 months | $15,538 |
| Hopeful (70%) | 481 | $14,437 | 10 months | $27,912 |
Show the math
- Hours a year now: people × times a week × 50 weeks × minutes, plus the share that has to be fixed × the time to fix one.
- Hours saved: hours a year now × the share software takes over.
- Saved a year: hours saved × the cost of an hour.
- Pays back in: build price ÷ (monthly savings − monthly care), rounded up.
- Net after 3 years: 36 × (monthly savings − monthly care) − build price.
This counts time as money. It turns into money only if those hours go to work you would otherwise pay for. The build price is yours to guess until we have talked. It is not a quote.
Three processes, before and after
These are common patterns, not client stories.
Setting up a new customer
- Before
- A signed form arrives. Someone creates the customer in the CRM, again in accounting, and again in the scheduling tool, then writes a welcome email.
- After
- The form creates all three records and drafts the email. A person reads the draft and sends it.
Approving a purchase
- Before
- Requests arrive by email. The approver hunts for the quote and replies "ok". Later, nobody can say who approved what.
- After
- A request form routes by amount. The approver sees the quote and the budget on one screen, and the approval is recorded with the order.
The weekly report
- Before
- Monday morning goes to exporting, pasting, and fixing formulas.
- After
- The report builds itself overnight and marks any number that looks off, so a person checks those first.
How a process gets automated
- I watch the work. You walk me through the process as it really happens, exceptions included. If you are in Iowa, I come to you for this.
- We pick the first piece. I map every step and who does it. Then we choose the part with the most repetition and the least judgment. Some steps should stay with a person, and I will say which.
- A person approves every run. The first version does the work and waits. Someone checks each result before it goes anywhere.
- It runs beside the old way. For a while you do it both ways and compare. When the results match, the old way stops.
- Approvals loosen where it has earned it. Routine cases go through on their own. Anything unusual, or anything expensive to get wrong, still stops for a person.
What you get
- A process map. Every step, who does it, and what starts it, written down before I build anything.
- The automation. Running in accounts you own, with the source code.
- Approval screens. Wherever a person has to decide, one screen with what they need to decide it.
- An exception list. Anything the automation cannot finish goes to a list for a person to work through. It does not fail quietly.
- A run log. What ran, when, what it changed, and who approved it.
- Alerts. A message to the right person when a run fails or the exception list backs up.
- A runbook. How to pause it, and how to do each step by hand if you ever need to.
What I can show you
I haven't published a workflow automation project yet, and I won't dress one up. The closest work I can show is the warehouse platform I built for a disaster-relief nonprofit.
At the dock, people scan a donation lot, put it on a cold-chain hold, or block it until a missing photo is added. Whoever takes the next step has to see that hold first, even on the next shift. Automation has the same job. The software does the routine part and stops for a person at the step that matters.
When Zapier is enough
If the whole job is "when a form comes in, add a row and send an email", use Zapier, Make, or Power Automate. You can set one up this afternoon, and it costs far less than anything I would build.
Custom automation earns its cost when the process has rules those tools cannot express, when approvals need a record, when one of your systems has no connector, or when it runs so often that paying per run adds up.
Questions about automating a process
How much does workflow automation cost?
It depends on how many steps and systems are involved, and I give you a range after the assessment. Until then, the calculator on this page shows what a build would have to cost to pay for itself with your numbers.
Do you use AI for this?
Only where it helps. Most automation is plain rules: when this happens, do that. AI earns a place when a step means reading something messy, like a PDF someone emailed.
What happens when the automation breaks?
It stops and tells someone. The failed run goes to the exception list with what it was working on, and the runbook says how to do that step by hand. Monthly care covers the fix.
Can it work with the software we already have?
Usually. If a system has an API, or can import and export files, I can work with it. If it has neither, I will tell you before we start.
Do you come on site?
Yes, anywhere in Iowa. Watching the work for an hour tells me more than a description does. Outside Iowa, we do the same walk-through on a video call.
Start with one process
Describe one process that takes too long. I'll tell you what I would automate, what I would leave alone, and roughly what it costs. If you're in Iowa, I can come see it.