Advanced · Work and documents · module 110 of 155
Project lesson: your document workflow from start to finish
Combine splitting, extracting, a style guide and checking into one reusable workflow.
After this lesson
You design a complete document workflow with source, schema, draft, checks, approval and archive, and test it with fictional documents.
In view · How it connects
Your document workflow as one chain
Permitted documents, split up and extracted with a fixed schema.
Rules, spot checks and human approval before use.
Prompts, style guide, checks and test results kept together.
Part 1 of 3 · Source and schema
Your preference for less movement is on. Choose each part yourself.
Choose a clearly defined project
Take a recurring task where documents are the source, for example a monthly overview of fictional supplier invoices or a summary of new regulations. Describe the end result: who is it for, in what form and when is it good enough? Check whether you are allowed to process the documents in the chosen tool. Start with three to five fictional or cleared sample documents whose correct result you already know.
Build the chain with the techniques from this area
You process long documents part by part, with a location for each point (lesson 106). You extract data with a fixed schema; unknown fields stay open (lesson 107). The draft follows your style guide (lesson 108) and you test calculations on a small example (lesson 109). Put a check between each step: a spot check, a rule or a manual comparison. Set out what happens in a doubtful case: the step stops and a person decides.
Test, approve and save your way of working
Run the complete workflow on your sample documents and compare the outcome with the correct result. Count how many errors the checks caught and how much time each step took. An authorised person approves the end result before it is used or sent. Keep the source, prompts, schema, style guide, check rules and test results together in a project folder. That way a colleague can take over the workflow and you can test again after a change to a tool.
New practice example
From explanation to a usable result.
A project workflow links source, schema, draft, check, approval and archive. You first test it with examples whose correct result you know.
Fictional practice situationFictional: a youth centre makes a monthly overview of five invoices for the board. One invoice is missing an invoice number; on another, the VAT amount does not match the total.
View a possible solution
This is how it can be done
The extraction step marks the missing invoice number as unknown and puts the invoice among the doubtful cases. The VAT validation rule flags the second invoice. The overview mentions both points. The treasurer confirms or corrects them before the board receives the overview.
Why this works
The workflow does not hide any problems. Doubtful cases go to a person and the check is visible in the end result.
Make it slightly more difficult
Write three test documents for your own workflow: one correct, one with a missing field and one with a calculation error. What does each step do with them?
Extra practice, at your own pace. You do not need to submit anything. This does not count towards an automatic assessment.
Your workplace · learning by doing
Make something. See what changes.
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Present your assignment to Ende.
Read the answer, change one thing, and compare.
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Why this approach works
The workflow does not hide any problems. Doubtful cases go to a person and the check is visible in the end result.
A step further
Write three test documents for your own workflow: one correct, one with a missing field and one with a calculation error. What does each step do with them?
Try & discover · no obligation
Put the steps in a workable order
Move the steps with the arrows. Check whether each step has its necessary input and control.
What does a step depend on?
- Choose documents and end result must precede Check whether you are allowed to process them
- Check whether you are allowed to process them must precede Extract with a fixed schema
- Extract with a fixed schema must precede Check with rules and a spot check
- Check with rules and a spot check must precede Write the overview according to the style guide
- Write the overview according to the style guide must precede Have an authorised person approve it
- Have an authorised person approve it must precede Keep the source, prompts and checks
Move a step and then check the sequence. The arrows also work with your keyboard.
This model checks dependencies, not duration, capacity, or actual execution. With multiple agents, the human decision remains a separate step.
This trial works locally with fictitious data and does not count towards your lesson completion. It starts anew with a new lesson or reload.
A prompt to get you started
Help me design a document workflow for this fictional task: every month, make an overview of five supplier invoices for the team leader. Give the steps from source document to archive. For each step, state the input, what AI does, the format of the result, the check and when the step stops. Include a human approval point before the overview is sent. Do not use real data and do not carry out any action yourself.
Apply it
Your document workflow works in a test with three fictional invoices. You want to use it straight away for all the real invoices of the whole year.
Which approach best fits this situation?
- Use it straight away; three successful tests prove that it works.
- Drop the approval step, because the test was flawless.
- First test with a larger, representative set that includes borderline cases, check whether the real invoices may go into the tool and keep the human approval.
With JavaScript, you can check your approach and receive immediate feedback.
Test your insight
Your workflow finds an invoice without a supplier. What should the workflow do?
- Pick a supplier that comes up often and continue.
- Skip the invoice without reporting it, so that the overview gets finished.
- Mark the invoice as a doubtful case and stop until a person confirms the information.
Extra practice
Work out the workflow for your own project and test it with three fictional documents. For each step, note one error that your check caught or could have caught.
Step 1: collect invoices I am allowed to process. Step 2: extract fields using the schema; unknown stays unknown. Step 3: check rules for VAT and date format, plus a spot check of two invoices. Step 4: write the overview according to the style guide. Step 5: the team leader approves. Step 6: keep the source, prompts, checks and result in the project folder. In my test, the VAT rule caught a shifted comma.
