Reporting
Gather recurring data, prepare the report and highlight the exceptions. The interpretation and the next decision stay with the person who knows the business.
Give your people their time back.
We automate the copying, chasing and checking that fills an operations team’s week. Clear rules carry the routine, AI prepares the groundwork, and your people keep the decisions.
Purchase approval · PO-4471
- Request receivedSupplier portal: Settled
- Budget code checkedMatched: Settled
- Previous orders3 found, attached: Settled
- Delivery addressMissing — asked: Needs a look
- ApprovalWaiting on Priya: A person decides
Most of the week isn’t the work. It’s the work around the work.
Between the systems a team already runs sits a layer of moving, checking and reminding that nobody designed and everybody does. That layer is what we take on, one workflow at a time.
You can usually hear it in how people describe their week.
- “I chase it.” Someone keeps a mental list of what has not come back yet.
- “I copy it across.” The same information is typed into a second system every day.
- “I check it first.” A person reads every item to find the few that need them.
Where it helps
The repeated work between decisions.
Customer and supplier follow-through
Check records, prepare routine updates and track what is missing. Stalled progress or a changed commitment goes to someone who can resolve it.
Approvals and internal requests
Assemble the supporting information, apply the agreed routing and keep track of the next step. Approval authority stays where it belongs.
An approval, ready for the approver.
Illustrative approval workflow — not client data
- Request arrivesFrom a form, an inbox or a system
- GatherRecords, history and supporting documents
- CheckRequirements met, exceptions flagged
- A person approvesA personWith the pack already assembled
See it run: Tina sketches this workflow, step by step, and shows which parts a person keeps.
What we do
- A current-state workflow with a baseline for effort, volume and rework
- A target workflow saying what to automate, what to augment and what to leave with people
- The build itself, at an agreed scope, with documentation and a named owner
- Connections between the systems you already run, rather than a new one to learn
- Exception routes for missing information, failed steps and uncertain AI output
- Measures that check the time returned and whether the standard is holding
What stays with your team
- The judgement the workflow supports
- Approvals and overrides
- Anything a customer will feel
AI prepares. People decide. Routine actions run only within limits you agree.
A request, carried to the person who decides.
Illustrative architecture — the shape, not a fixed design
What you already run
- Inbox and shared mailboxes
- Your CRM or job system
- Finance system
- Forms and portals
What carries the work
Power Automate runs the sequence and the retries
Dataverse holds the state, so nothing is lost mid-run
AI Builder reads documents where the format varies- Exception route anything uncertain stops here, with a reason
What stays with people
- The approval itself
- Anything a customer will feel
- Overrides, with a record
Microsoft product icons are used under Microsoft’s icon terms for architectural diagrams. Product names belong to their owners.
Usually built with
- Power Automate
- Dataverse
- AI Builder
- APIs & webhooks
Python
Technologies we work with. Product names and logos belong to their owners, who do not endorse Boring Future.
The evidence. Each with where it came from.
Boring Future delivery
Field → office
Delivered by Boring Future for SJ Roofing. No time saving is claimed for this workflow.
Roofers Edge, for SJ Roofing.
- The problem
- Field activity, photographs and timesheets reached the office by whatever route was to hand, and the next step waited on someone assembling them.
- What was built
- A connected workflow carrying field activity, photographs and timesheets through to management review, invoicing and operational visibility.
- What changed
- Work reaches the next person with its context intact. People still capture the reality of the job and make the calls.
The same project is shown on Custom AI & automation builds and Trades & field services: one piece of work, not 3 separate cases.
Where we stop
- Actions stay inside the permissions and rules agreed in the scope.
- Review points stay wherever the work needs judgement or approval.
- A workflow nobody owns is not automated; it is made someone’s problem faster.
- If the process itself is wrong, automating it only makes the wrong thing quicker.
How it works
- Free conversationFree
- Discovery & Design£2,500 + VAT, fixed
- CompleteFixed scope and fee
- OperateOptional, monthly
Running a business of 5 to 50 people? Essentials starts with a £395 + VAT half-day session
Questions. Anything else, just ask.
Ask us directlyDoes workflow automation always need AI?
No. Predictable tasks usually need clear rules and a dependable connection. AI earns its place where information has to be interpreted or prepared. We make that choice after looking at the work, not before.
Can you work with our existing tools?
That is the starting point. We assess the systems, data, access and interfaces in Discovery before agreeing what gets built. Microsoft 365, Power Platform, CRMs, service-management tools, APIs and Python are all possible parts, chosen for the requirement.
How much does an automation project cost?
The first conversation is free. Discovery & Design is £2,500 + VAT, fixed, over two to three weeks for one priority workflow. Complete is quoted at a fixed scope and fee from that design, and any ongoing Operate support is agreed separately.
How do you measure whether it worked?
We take a baseline in Discovery and compare the delivered workflow against it: time returned, how often exceptions fire, and whether the standard is holding. If it has not moved, that is worth knowing too.
How long does a workflow take to build?
Discovery is two to three weeks. A first workflow is usually built in weeks rather than months, because it is scoped to one trigger, one team and one outcome.
What happens when something changes?
Change is expected. A workflow should fail loudly rather than quietly produce the wrong answer, and the exception route tells a person what needs their attention.
Is this suitable for a small business?
Yes. For businesses of 5 to 50 people our Essentials packages start with a half-day workflow session at £395 + VAT.
Where it’s used. Where to go next.
The work still gets done. Your people just stop being the glue.
Start a free 30 to 45 minute conversation. No deck, no obligation.