FIRST WORKFLOW PILOT — a one-page working brief
Design Studio editorial guide / 18 October 2026
https://design-studio.co.uk/blog/small-business-automation-first-workflow/

Task and owner:
One sentence describing the problem:
What can we remove or simplify before automating?

START AND FINISH
Trigger (exact event):
Input fields required:
Source of truth (where the original record lives):
Action allowed:
Definition of done:
What the automation must never do:

EXCEPTIONS AND RECOVERY
Missing or invalid data goes to:
Duplicate identifier and how repeat runs are handled:
If a step succeeds but the next step fails:
Person who receives the failure alert:
How we reconcile inputs against completed outputs:
Stop condition:
How to disable the workflow:
Manual fallback and how to avoid doing the same action twice:
Backup/export and restore check:

ACCESS AND DATA
Business-owned account and minimum permissions:
Data that is actually needed:
Who can see the input, logs and outputs:
Retention/review date:

TEST BEFORE LIVE USE
[ ] Normal input   [ ] Missing field   [ ] Duplicate event
[ ] Changed/cancelled request   [ ] Unavailable destination
[ ] Partial success then retry   [ ] Permission removed
[ ] Manual pause and recovery

PILOT
Baseline: number of cases / handling time / errors / waiting time:
Trial scope and review date:
Review effort and exception handling time:
Ongoing subscription/usage and maintenance costs:
Acceptance criteria set BEFORE the pilot:
Observed results (not assumptions):
Decision: keep / simplify / change / stop:

Start with internal draft outputs; keep a person responsible for consequential actions.
This worksheet is editorial guidance, not a compliance assessment or savings guarantee.