Automating manual processes
Build Concierge turns the everyday admin behind a service business into automated workflows that run in seconds. This guide walks through the basics of how it works. Watch the TWD Case Study to see how they do it.
A quick note on terminology You'll see some of the diagrams in this article label the first step of a workflow as a "Trigger". We've recently renamed this to "Starting Action" in the platform to make it clearer. Where you see "Trigger" in a diagram, read it as "Starting Action".
Give your team time back, every day
The Workflow Builder in Build Concierge is where you set up automations. It is a no-code visual tool designed to automate and simplify the manual operations that currently happen across your business.
The goal is simple: give your team time back every day, reduce repetitive admin, improve accuracy, and deliver a stronger customer experience. Build Concierge removes the human work that does not need a human, helping your team avoid the mistakes caused by manual copying, checking and re-keying information.
This guide explains the basics. By the end, you will know what a workflow is, what makes one tick, and the kinds of jobs Build Concierge is built to take off your team's plate.
What is a workflow?
A workflow is a set of steps that describes how work moves from start to finish. In Build Concierge, the automations you create in Workflow Builder are process workflows: repeatable processes that follow the same structure most of the time.
A process workflow is a repeatable sequence of steps that runs in the same way each time. It is built for consistency and used for ongoing, standardised tasks: creating a new customer contact, sending an automatic reply, logging a job, or updating a record in your job management system.
A project workflow maps the steps needed to complete a single, one-off task. Every project is different, so the workflow may adapt to fit.
Process workflows keep daily operations consistent. Project workflows guide unique jobs from start to finish. The automations you build in Workflow Builder are usually process workflows because they follow the same steps every time.
Examples of manual processes that can be automated
Turning an incoming work order into a job.
A work order arrives by email, often with an attachment. Someone in the office opens the email, reads the work order, checks the attachment, finds the customer and site details, copies the job information into the job management system, adds the PO number, deadline and notes, checks whether the job is urgent, creates the job and lets the right team know it is ready.
Reviewing an engineer job card.
After an engineer completes a job card, someone in the office reads the notes, checks what was completed, looks for follow-on work, reviews photos and materials, decides whether a quote is needed, creates the quote, adds notes back onto the job and sends an update to the right team or customer.
Both happen the same way every time. Both are exactly what Build Concierge is built to automate.
Anatomy of a workflow
Every workflow needs a Starting Action to begin it and at least one action to follow. Conditions are added when the process involves a decision.
Starting Actions, actions and conditions
Every workflow is built from three things. Two are required, one is added when the process needs to make a decision.
- A Starting Action is the event that begins the workflow. It tells Build Concierge: start this process now. Examples include a work order email arriving, a new lead coming in, or an engineer marking a job card as complete. Every workflow needs a Starting Action.
- An action is what Build Concierge does next. Read an email, search for a customer, create a job, send a confirmation, notify the team. Each action has an outcome, and some actions have more than one outcome, which is where the workflow branches.
- A condition is a decision point. Is the job urgent? Which postcode area is it in? Does the customer already exist? Not every workflow needs a condition, but if the manual process involves a decision, the workflow does too.
A simple condition in practice
Imagine a job request comes in by email. The job needs to go to the right team depending on the postcode. A condition handles that decision.
- Condition: Does the postcode start with "SW"?
- Outcome 1: Yes. Send the job to the South West team.
- Outcome 2: No. Check another postcode area or send it to a different team.
This allows the workflow to make the same call a person would normally make manually. Conditions can also check whether a job is urgent, whether a PO number is included, whether the customer already exists, whether the request is inside or outside working hours, or whether follow-on work is needed.
- The principle is the same in every case: if your team makes a decision when they handle the process today, the workflow needs a condition to handle it tomorrow.
"The teams that get the most out of Build Concierge are the ones who start small. Pick one process your team runs the same way every day, automate that, see it work, then build from there. The biggest mistake is trying to automate everything in the first week."
The Benefits of Automation
- Hours come back to your team every day, freed from copy-and-paste admin.
- Accuracy goes up because the same details get captured the same way every time.
- Customers feel the difference through faster response, faster scheduling and fewer dropped balls.
- Your team stops being the bottleneck when work comes in outside office hours.
- People focus on the work that needs a human, not the work that doesn't.
About the author
Andy Davenport is Chief Product and Solutions Officer at Build Concierge. He works with service businesses to turn their operational processes into automated workflows.
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