The Governed Workflow

The course

About this course

Not AI literacy and not a demo. A half day in which each person takes one recurring piece of their own work, a reconciliation, a lead sheet, a forecast tab, a report pack, a vendor tracker, and turns it into a process that runs the same way every time: input, transformation, output, human check. The method is taught once, together, on one finance example everyone can follow, so every screen is in the same state. Then each person applies the same six steps to the file they brought. By the end, the team has ranked its recurring processes by hours, frequency, and how rule-bound they are, and chosen the two to start with. Runs on whichever AI tool your organization allows, Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT, or another. The pattern is what you keep when the tools change.

Who it is for

Finance and operations staff: accounting, FP&A, AP and AR, finance systems, and the ops, HR, and procurement teams around them

Format

Hands-on half day. Everyone brings one recurring task and one file, and leaves with the card to run it again.

What the team leaves with

Outcomes

• One of your own recurring processes run through the pattern on your own file, with the one-page card to run it again: input, what I do to it, output, who checks it, how often, how long.
• The trust model in plain terms: what these systems are and are not, why the ERP stays and the spreadsheet layer shrinks, and what never goes in.
• The shared example, an AP sub-ledger to GL reconciliation, done together step by step, with a planted wrong answer and the ten-second check that catches it, so everyone has seen the method work before applying it.
• A ranked list of the team's recurring processes, by hours, frequency, and how rule-bound they are, with the two to start with and an owner for each, in the hands of the manager who booked the course.

Outline · 2.5 hours

How the session runs.

Usually 9:30 to 12:00 or 2:00 to 4:30. Other times are fine.

1. 0120 min

   What this is, and what it is not

   • What these systems do reliably and where they guess. The ERP stays; the spreadsheet layer shrinks.
   • The pattern: input, transformation, output, human check. Deterministic where it must be, AI where it helps.
   • The data question, answered from the guide we sent ahead.
2. 0230 min

   The method, once, together

   • The AP sub-ledger to GL reconciliation on a shared practice file, every screen in the same state: the tie stays in the query, AI drafts the timing-versus-error explanations and the approval email.
   • Writing the process card that becomes the instruction.
   • A planted wrong answer, and the ten-second check that catches it. Fix the card, not the prompt.
3. 0350 min

   Your process, on your file

   • Each person fills in a card for the task they brought and runs it: lead sheet commentary, forecast tab, report pack, vendor expiry tracker, close checklist. Same six steps, whatever the file.
   • Pairs swap: you run your neighbour's card on their file. If a second person can reproduce it, it is a process. If not, the card is missing a line.
   • Six starter tasks on the shared data for anyone whose file does not fit.
4. 0420 min

   The control layer

   • What never goes in, and how you tell.
   • Who approves, where the log lives, and how you would defend the output to an auditor.
   • The harvest: one that worked, one that half-worked, one that was the wrong job for AI.
5. 0530 min

   What to start with

   • The team lists its recurring processes and ranks them by hours, frequency, and how rule-bound they are.
   • Pick the two to start with and name who owns each. Start with the high-volume, rule-bound ones the auditor will not ask about.
   • The manager who booked the course leaves with the list.

Bring

What to bring

• A laptop and a login for whichever AI tool your organization allows for work. Setup instructions come ahead of the course.
• One recurring task and one file it uses. A sanitized or practice version is fine.

If IT blocks the tool, tell us on the call and we plan around it.