Describe the departments and processes to assess. Makeform creates an RPA questionnaire for triggers, steps, systems, volumes, exceptions, inputs, outputs, and ownership.
Route process submissions to Slack, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a scenario, adapt the prompt, or send it to the builder. Examples are starting points, not suitability decisions.
Audience
Department managers nominating processes
Format
Cross-department questionnaire with comparable metrics
Prompt size
279 chars
Example questionnaire structure
Cross-department questionnaire with comparable metrics
Process, owner, department, and purpose
Frequency, volume, handling time, and peak periods
List the normal process steps in order
Which applications and file formats are used?
Suggested routing tags
Discovery complete
Needs walkthrough
Not ready
Ask separately about the normal path and exceptions; repetitive work may still involve frequent judgment or missing-data follow-up.
Step 1
Nominate
owner, purpose, pain, and priority
Step 2
Document
steps, systems, inputs, and exceptions
Step 3
Screen
volume, rules, stability, and feasibility
Step 4
Follow up
walkthrough, evidence, and next decision
Better process discovery
A manual task is not necessarily rules-based, stable, high-volume, or low-exception. Give every department the same discovery frame.
Capture triggers, normal steps, applications, handoffs, outputs, and the completion signal behind each nomination.
Ask what breaks the normal path, how often, who decides, and how work resumes.
Compare frequency, volume, handling time, rework, seasonality, and stability across departments.
One intake, several perspectives
Start with business questions, then reveal follow-ups for analysts, application owners, and control reviewers.
Purpose, impact, pain, peaks, exceptions, and the person available for a walkthrough.
Step order, rules, handoffs, standard-path share, touchpoints, and supporting evidence.
Interfaces, APIs, exports, environments, roles, changes, dependencies, and errors.
Approvals, logs, reconciliations, role separation, exception ownership, and validation.
Questionnaire workflow
Standardize initial discovery, then reserve workshops for candidates needing deeper evidence.
Name the departments, process types, program stage, and required screening information.
Use familiar terms, require core metrics, and reveal relevant technical or exception follow-ups.
Share the link and route responses to the appropriate analyst or tracking sheet.
Check walkthroughs, exceptions, ownership, and system changes before a focused discovery session.
Discovery approaches
The questionnaire gathers a baseline; it does not replace automation decisions, interviews, or walkthroughs.
Field guide
Use six question groups, request ranges when exact metrics are unavailable, and follow up on assumptions.
Ownership and outcome
Capture a plain-language name, purpose, accountable department, performers, approvers, and the person who can demonstrate exceptions.
Steps and decisions
Number the normal steps and identify every decision, handoff, approval, and wait. Separate documented rules from interpretation.
Systems and data
List applications, portals, spreadsheets, inboxes, and documents. Describe data formats without collecting credentials or sensitive values.
Demand and effort
Ask for typical and peak volume, handling time, queue age, staffing, and rework to show how demand varies.
Exceptions and recovery
Name each exception category and ask how it is detected, resolved, and returned to the process.
Controls and readiness
Capture approvals, access roles, logs, reconciliations, change windows, testing, stability, and stakeholder capacity.
Related tools
Use adjacent forms to review business processes, assess organizational readiness, coordinate departments, and collect follow-up requests.
Capture process performance, blockers, ownership, and improvement opportunities beyond automation screening.
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Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for automation teams organizing process discovery across departments.
It is a structured intake for process discovery. It covers ownership, triggers, steps, applications, inputs, outputs, rules, volumes, exceptions, controls, and changes. It creates a common record but does not replace a walkthrough or technical decision.
Ask about frequency, volume, handling time, digital inputs, stability, explicit rules, standard-path share, exceptions, rework, impact, access constraints, planned changes, and the owner who can validate the work.
Request named exception categories, estimated frequencies, causes, detection, resolution owner, required judgment, and restart point. Examples can reveal rules missing from the normal-path description.
A transparent score can sort a large intake, but treat it as a screening signal. Program criteria, system changes, business context, and qualitative constraints still need review.
Yes. Reveal layout questions for scanned inputs, interface questions for multiple systems, and detailed prompts when exceptions are frequent. Branching keeps the initial intake focused.
Do not request passwords, secrets, private keys, or live confidential values. Describe access roles at a high level, redact examples, and follow the organization's approved evidence-sharing process.
Yes. Makeform supports unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and reuse the questionnaire across departments without a response cap. A paid option is available to remove the Makeform badge.
Check ownership, normal steps, demand, exceptions, systems, planned changes, and controls. Clarify gaps, compare candidates with documented criteria, and schedule targeted walkthroughs for deeper discovery.
Build a clearer automation intake.
