For automation programs
Map processes before automation
An agent aimed at a gap will invent the missing policy. ThinkPrior maps the current state from your documents first, so you can see which steps are cited, which are inferred, and where the documents go quiet.
- Source · Current stateOperating SOP
- Action StepAs-is map
- GapDocuments go quiet
- Boundary · Designed after the mapAgent
The workflow copies the process it is given. Draw that process first.
01 · Draw the process before a workflow copies it
Why map the process before you automate it?
Automation copies the process it is given.
If that process was never drawn from the real documents, the workflow encodes a guess. ThinkPrior maps the current state from SOPs, transcripts, policies, decks, and recordings first. Gaps stay visible, so the team can see which steps are cited and which steps nobody has explained.
Steps that are cited and stable are candidates. Steps that rest on an inference need a conversation with the people who do the work first. You then decide what is ready to automate.
Copy risk
A workflow encodes the process it is given.
~70%
Cited steps and visible gaps, before anyone automates.
02 · Know where the documents go quiet
What has to be true before an agent is designed?
Before an agent is designed, the team needs to know the steps, the actors, the branches, and the places the documents go quiet.
An agent aimed at a gap will invent the missing policy. The analyst confirms scope and finishes those seams with the people who do the work. Inferred steps are marked so they are not treated as quotations.
Off-system work that lives only in a transcript is on this map. A process-mining log, if you have one, answers a different question about what the system recorded. Teams can use both pictures.
Quiet spots
Know where the documents stop before an agent is aimed there.
Off-system
Work that lives only in a transcript is on this map.
Boundaries
What will the map not do for you?
Pick what to automate. Your team decides which step is worth a workflow and which decision stays with a person.
Design the agent or build the workflow. ThinkPrior stops at the as-is map.
Mine event logs, or finish discovery without an analyst.
Automate the steps the documents support. Close the gaps before any agent runs.