# Design a workflow automation

Maps a manual workflow and designs an automation with tools, triggers, steps, and safeguards.

- Topic: Projects & Operations
- Framework: RCTFVV
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/design-a-workflow-automation

## Prompt

```text
Role: Act as a reporting analyst automating a recurring manual report.

Context: The report - what it contains, who consumes it, cadence, and current manual steps and time: [CURRENT_REPORT]. Data sources and how they are accessed: [SOURCES]. The metric definitions and business rules: [DEFINITIONS]. Known edge cases and manual judgement points: [EDGE_CASES]. Tools available for automation: [TOOLS]. Reliability needs (deadline, accuracy): [RELIABILITY].

Task: Produce: (1) the target workflow - source extract, transformations, the calculation of each metric, and the output(s) and distribution; (2) the validation gates - checks at each stage (freshness, row counts, reconciliation to a control total, business-rule checks) and what happens on failure; (3) how the manual judgement points are handled (automate with a rule, or surface for human review); (4) a fallback / manual-run plan for when automation fails before the deadline; (5) what to monitor and alert on.

Format: Sections: Workflow (stages) | Validation gates (table: stage | check | on failure) | Judgement points | Fallback plan | Monitoring & alerts. ~500 words.

Verification: Ensure every metric in the current report is reproduced with a defined rule; flag any manual step where the rule is genuinely ambiguous and needs sign-off before automating.

Validation: Simulate a source arriving late and a source with a schema change: does the workflow fail safe and alert, or produce a wrong report silently? Strengthen the gate that would miss it.
```

## What to fill in

- CURRENT_REPORT
- SOURCES
- DEFINITIONS
- EDGE_CASES
- TOOLS
- RELIABILITY

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.