Build a workflow by describing it

Describe a finance job in your own words, review the workflow chat builds for you, and correct any step before you test it or deploy it.

At the end of this page you will have a draft workflow that chat built from your description, checked by you step by step.

Before you start

Know the job well enough to explain it to a new colleague: what starts it, what happens, and who signs off.
Have your systems connected, or be ready to connect them when chat asks.

Describe the job

Open chat

Go to Home. The box reads Describe a workflow, use @ to reference workspace data...

Say what should happen

Write the job as you would explain it, in order. Name the systems and the limits. For example:

"When a vendor bill arrives by email, read the vendor, amount and due date. If the amount is over $10,000, ask the controller to approve. Then create the bill in QuickBooks."

Type @ to point chat at one of your tables or dashboards.

Connect anything missing

If the job needs a system you have not connected, chat shows a card so you can connect it there.

Review what chat built

Chat creates the workflow as a Draft and shows a preview. Open it from Workflows > My workflows to see each step in the editor.

Correct it

Ask for changes in plain words, such as "approve over $5,000 instead" or "also post a Slack message to #ap when the bill is created". You can also change any step yourself in the editor.

What to check before you rely on it

Read each step the way you would review a junior's work:

The trigger. Is this the event that should start the job?
The decision. Is the threshold the one in your policy, and does each path go where you expect?
The approval. Are the right people named?
The systems. Does each step point at the right account, such as the right QuickBooks company?

Chat asks before it acts

Chat can deploy or run a workflow for you, but only after you agree. It shows Approve and Deny buttons first. Nothing is deployed or run until you press Approve.

Check it worked

The workflow is listed under My workflows with the Draft status.
Each step in the editor matches what you described.

If something goes wrong

Chat built something different. Tell it what is wrong in one sentence, or fix the step in the editor.
A system will not connect. See A connection stopped working.
The workflow does not start on its own. A draft does not run from its trigger until you deploy it. See Deploy, test and change a workflow.

Build a workflow by describing it

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