Don't automate the process you have. Automate the one you need.
Automation makes a process faster — including its unnecessary steps. Why the redesign has to come first.
The most common automation request we hear is some version of: 'We do this manually today — can you make the system do it?' It's a good instinct. But copying a manual process into software usually preserves every workaround that made the manual version painful.
Map where work waits
Before designing a workflow, we map where a request actually spends its time. In most approval processes, the work itself takes minutes; the waiting takes days. Waiting happens at hand-offs: between people, between departments, and between systems.
Automation that doesn't remove hand-offs just moves the waiting somewhere else.
Remove steps before adding rules
Many approval steps exist because information was once missing or unreliable. When a form validates budget codes and attaches the right documents, a second reviewer checking the same thing may no longer be necessary.
Each removed step is a step that never needs to be configured, maintained or explained.
Then automate — and measure
Once the process is simpler, automation becomes straightforward: route by rules, notify the right person, escalate when deadlines pass, and record every decision. Measure cycle time from the start so the next round of improvement is based on data rather than impressions.