Your first automation: what you need

An automation runs a fixed sequence of steps by itself. For example: a form on your website is filled in, the details go into a list, the right colleague gets a notification and the customer a confirmation. With tools such as Power Automate, Make or n8n, and the built-in features of your software, you can do this without programming.

Start small

Choose a task that:

• Comes round often.
• Always follows the same steps.
• Does little harm if something occasionally goes wrong.

Good first automations include sending notifications, putting form data into a list or automatically saving attachments into the right folder.

What you need

1. A description of the process in steps: what triggers it, what happens next, where it ends.
2. Access to the programs involved, with an account meant for the purpose.
3. A tool that fits what you already use.
4. Someone to keep an eye on it who knows what to do if it stops.

Where AI helps

• Turning your process into clear steps.
• Explaining how to set it up in a particular tool.
• Adding a step that understands or produces text, such as summarising or sorting an email.

Watch out for

• Test first with sample data.
• Don't let anything irreversible happen automatically at the start, such as payments or emails to customers without a check.
• Personal data flowing through an automation is subject to data protection rules. Keep track of what goes where.
• Document what the automation does, so someone else can understand it.

Test yourself

Prompt to copy