Guide 03 · Step 1 of 5

Map the work

Before you can automate a task, you have to see it — and most of it is invisible because nobody wrote it down.

Independent guidance from Synergy. ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 22301 are published by ISO/IEC, which has no affiliation with Synergy and has not reviewed this material. Always work from the published text of the standard.

Every SME has processes that exist only in someone's head and in a habit. "Isabelle does the supplier reconciliation on Thursdays" is not a process description — it is a name and a day. You cannot automate it, and you cannot cost it.

The first step is turning habits into steps you could hand to a new employee. That is the same standard an automation needs.

Pick the process, not the tool

Start by listing the ten recurring tasks that consume the most hours in a month. Ask the people who do them, not the people who manage them. The two lists rarely match, and the workers' list is the accurate one.

Write it as a sequence someone else could follow

For your chosen process, write every action in order, including the boring ones: where the data comes from, what format it arrives in, what the person decides, what happens when the input is wrong.

• Input — what starts the task, and what arrives (an email, a PDF, a spreadsheet, a phone call).
• Steps — each action, and whether it is a rule or a judgement.
• Output — what the finished work looks like, and who receives it.
• Exceptions — the cases where the person has to stop and think. These matter most.