S/13 · Services
Workflow automation
The busywork between your tools, done on its own.
We connect the tools your business already uses and automate the steps your team repeats by hand: copying data, chasing approvals, filing invoices, building reports. Only where it saves real time, with a person in the loop where judgement matters.
- Connects
- CRM, accounting, email, messengers
- Runs on
- Your own server, every run logged
- First workflow
- Live in 2–3 weeks
- 01
Someone copies the same data from one system into another every day.
- 02
Approvals sit in someone’s inbox until you chase them by phone.
- 03
Someone spends Monday morning building the same report.
- 04
Invoices and forms are typed in by hand, and mistakes turn up a month later.
- D/01
Process mapping
Before building anything we sit with the people who do the work and write down each step, who does it and how long it takes each week. Then we pick the steps where automation saves the most time, and say plainly which ones should stay with a person.
Included
- Each process written down step by step, with who does it
- Minutes per week for every step, measured with the team
- A shortlist ranked by time saved and effort to build
- The steps that should stay manual, and why
process-map · example-distribution.xlsx Step Who Min / week Automate? Copy web orders into the CRM Sales 320 Yes Type in supplier invoices Accounts 240 Yes, with review Chase approvals by phone Managers 150 Yes Build the Monday sales report Operations 120 Yes Check credit for new customers Finance 90 No, needs judgement - D/02
Integrations between your tools
We connect the tools you already pay for so data is entered once and reaches every place it is needed. Each connection uses the tool’s official API or webhooks where it has them, retries when the other side is down, and records what it sent.
Included
- Connections through official APIs and webhooks
- Web forms, email inboxes and spreadsheets as triggers
- Telegram, WhatsApp and Bale for alerts and replies
- Retries and a record of every message passed between tools
docs/integrations.mmd - D/03
Approvals & handoffs
Purchase requests, leave, discounts and refunds go straight to the person who decides, in the messenger or inbox they already check. One tap approves or declines, the next step starts on its own, and anything left waiting gets a reminder and then moves up a level.
Included
- Routing rules by amount, team or type of request
- Approve and decline buttons in Telegram, Bale or email
- Reminders and escalation after a time you set
- A record of who decided what, and when
bale · @example_approvals_bot Purchase request PR-2291 from Neda K. (warehouse): 40 cartons of packing tape, $612. It is over the $500 limit, so it needs your approval. [Approve] [Decline]
Approve
Approved by you at 10:42. Neda has been told, and PO-1187 is drafted in accounting.
Reminder: PR-2290 has waited 2 days for Farid M., so it now comes to you. [Open request]
- D/04
Document flows
Documents that arrive by email, upload or scan are read, checked against your orders and records, and filed where they belong. AI reads the messy ones, and anything that does not add up, like a total that differs or new bank details, is held for a person to look at.
Included
- Reading PDFs, scans and photos, with OCR and AI where needed
- Checks against orders, contracts and earlier invoices
- Filing to accounting, storage or the customer record
- A review queue for anything unclear or out of the ordinary
runs/invoice-intake/4812.log $ run invoice-intake #4812 · trigger: email
← [email protected] · inv-88213.pdf
read: Nova Supplies · $1,284.00 · due 18 Nov
✓ matches PO-1179 · 3 lines · totals agree
! bank details differ from last invoice
→ draft bill saved · held for review (sara)
- D/05
Scheduled & triggered jobs
The jobs someone does at the same time every day or week run on a schedule, and the ones that follow an event start the moment it happens. A new order, a payment or a form starts the next step without anyone watching for it.
Included
- Scheduled reports, delivered as PDF, sheet or message
- Bank and payment reconciliations, with the leftovers flagged
- Stock, price and contact syncs between systems
- Jobs that start on a new order, payment or form
schedule · Monday 2 Nov 06:00
Stock sync
→ warehouse → shop · 2,140 SKUs
07:30
Bank reconciliation
→ 312 payments matched · 4 to check
09:00
Weekly sales report
→ PDF to managers on Telegram
All day
New web orders
→ into the CRM as they arrive
17:00
Overdue approvals
→ 3 escalated to managers
- D/06
Monitoring & plain-language rules
Each workflow comes with a short page that says in plain words when it runs, what it does and what happens when a step fails. Every run is logged, failures reach a person within minutes, and your team can change a limit or a recipient without calling us.
Included
- A one-page rule for each workflow, in plain language
- A log of every run, searchable by date and record
- Retries, then an alert to a person when a step keeps failing
- Limits, recipients and schedules your admins can change
rules/purchase-approval.md Purchase approval
Live · last changed by Sara M. · 28 Oct
When
- Someone submits a purchase request in the web form.
Then
- Under $500: approved on its own and logged.
- $500 or more: sent to the team’s manager in Bale.
- No answer in 24 h: a reminder. After 48 h: to the director.
If a step fails
- Retried 3 times, then an alert to #ops with the request attached.
Last 30 days
- 214 runs · 211 finished first time · 3 after a retry.
- 01
Map the work
We sit with your team, write down each step and measure where the time goes.
- 02
Pick what pays
We agree on the few workflows that save the most time, and what stays with a person.
- 03
Build one at a time
Each workflow runs next to the old way first, until the team trusts it.
- 04
Hand over the rules
Plain-language rules, run logs and alerts your team can read and change.
The first workflow is usually live within two to three weeks, so you see time saved before we build the rest. A typical set of three to five workflows takes six to eight weeks, added one at a time.
- Week 1
We map the processes with your team, measure the minutes per step and agree on what to automate first.
- Week 2
Access to your tools, the first workflow designed and its rule written in plain language.
- Week 3
The first workflow live, running next to the old way until the results match.
- Weeks 4–7
The remaining workflows, one at a time, each checked with the people who used to do the work.
- Week 8
Handover: rule pages, run logs and alerts, and a short session for the admins who will change them.
The workflows
Every workflow and any code behind it in your repository, exported and versioned.
Your own server
The workflow engine and its database running on your infrastructure, not on someone else’s account.
The process map
Each process written down with the time it took before, and the time it takes now.
A rule page for each workflow
What it does, when it runs and what happens when a step fails, in plain language.
Run logs and alerts
The history of every run, and alerts that go to your team as well as to us.
Support, if you want it
Changes to rules, new workflows and fixes when a connected tool changes its API, on a monthly plan.
- n8n
- Temporal
- Go
- PostgreSQL
- Webhooks & queues
- REST & GraphQL APIs
- Telegram & Bale bots
- OCR
What happens when a step fails?
It is retried a few times, and if it still fails a person gets an alert with the record attached. Nothing is lost: the run waits where it stopped and can be resumed once the problem is fixed.
Can we change the rules ourselves?
Yes. Limits, recipients and schedules can be changed by your admins, and every rule is written in plain language so they know what they are changing. Bigger changes we make with you.
Do we need to replace our tools?
No. We connect the CRM, accounting software, inboxes and messengers you already use. If a tool has no API we will tell you what the options are, including a bot that uses it the way a person does.
How long does it take?
The first workflow is usually live in two to three weeks. A set of three to five workflows takes six to eight weeks, and each one starts saving time as soon as it is live.
What do you need from us?
A few hours with the people who do the work today, access to the tools we connect, and one person who can decide what gets automated and what stays manual.
Tell us what you are building.
Every project starts with a consultation: you bring the idea and everything you know, we turn it into a design you can build on.
Book a consultation