Which Business Processes to Automate First
Not every task deserves automation. Start with work that is frequent, rule-based and annoying, and measure the time it gives back.
3 min read · Evergreen guideMaking Automations Reliable: Error Handling, Logs and Human Approval
Automations break quietly: a changed form field, an expired login, a full inbox. Reliable ones are designed to fail safely and tell someone.
Key takeaways
- Assume every step can fail, and decide what happens when it does.
- Alerts and logs turn silent failures into quick fixes.
- Approval steps protect against costly mistakes.
- Own each automation: someone should be responsible for it.
Why automations fail
- A form or app changes its fields.
- A password, token or connection expires.
- An input arrives in an unexpected format.
- A service is briefly unavailable.
- Two automations act on the same record at once.
None of these is unusual. Reliable automations expect them.
Design for failure
For each step, answer three questions: what could go wrong, how will we know and what should happen next?
- Retry temporary failures a few times with a pause between attempts.
- Stop and alert when a failure continues, so a person can fix it.
- Never lose the data. Save failed items in a queue or sheet so they can be reprocessed.
Alerts that people act on
Send failure alerts to a place someone checks, such as email or a messaging group. Include which workflow failed, which item and the error message. Too many alerts are ignored, so group repeated errors and mute known harmless ones.
Keep readable logs
A log records each run: when it started, what it received, which steps ran and the result. When a customer asks what happened to their enquiry, the log answers in minutes instead of hours.
Avoid duplicates
Automations may run twice, for example when a trigger fires again. Check whether a record already exists before creating one, and use unique identifiers for orders, leads and invoices.
Add human approval where it counts
- Approve AI-written messages before they reach customers, at least until the quality is proven.
- Approve payments, refunds and discounts above a set limit.
- Approve changes to important records.
Protect data and access
Use accounts you own and control, give automations only the permissions they need, keep credentials out of shared documents and remove access when people leave.
Maintain and review
- Name every workflow clearly and record what it does, who owns it and which apps it touches.
- Check the logs regularly.
- Test again after changing a connected app.
- Retire workflows you no longer need.
Our Business Process Automation packages include error alerts, logs and approval steps, and a monthly monitoring add-on is available. For hosting, see Cloud Services.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to let AI write messages automatically?
Start with a human reviewing each message. Once you trust the quality for a specific, low-risk type of message, you can automate that type while keeping review for the rest.
Who should own an automation?
One named person, typically the owner of the business process it supports, who knows how it should behave and who gets the alerts.
