Choose a task with a recognizable finish
A recurring checklist, repeated incident, readiness check, or site-baseline comparison gives the team a concrete result to inspect. “Automate operations” is too broad to establish acceptance. Name the target, the trigger, and the output.
Identify the people who own the decision
Include the operator who performs the work, the system owner who controls access, and the person who accepts the result. If the workflow changes a customer environment, establish who can authorize that change.
Capture the current approach
Record the steps the team takes today, how often the task occurs, approximate hands-on time, and common exceptions. Treat these as a baseline supplied by your team, not as a claimed product saving.
Pick the smallest useful integration scope
Connect the systems needed for the chosen outcome. A ticket source, relevant knowledge, and one execution target may be enough to evaluate a workflow. Additional integrations can follow when they have a defined purpose.
Test both the happy path and an exception
Evaluate a successful run and a deliberately missing prerequisite or held approval. Useful automation should produce an understandable hold or failure when it cannot safely complete the agreed task.
Write down the expansion decision
Agree in advance on the outcomes that justify more targets or recurring execution. A pilot should leave a clear decision: expand, adjust the scope, or stop. Pricing, support, deployment, and acceptance belong in the written engagement.