Record your starting point
A clear starting point to understand how your company works today.
What you will create
Self-assessment of all eight areas with available evidence and gaps
Follow the steps. Use the template. Review your work.Understand the task
You need to separate execution problems from preferences for particular tools. A picture grounded in examples reveals dependencies between functions and prevents familiarity with AI from being mistaken for sound business organisation.
When to act
Use at the start of the roadmap, including in small teams where people hold several roles.
When to defer
Do not postpone the basic record; postpone a conclusion about a function when evidence or its operator is unavailable.
80/20 · Start with the essentials
- Someone familiar with each function who can explain a work handover.
- Sanitised examples of inputs, outputs and difficulties, without copying client documents.
- Separate states for confirmed evidence, reported practice and information not yet checked.
Step by step
Bring together the people responsible for the eight functions and ask each person to describe how they receive, carry out and hand over work today.
Record the tools used, owners and examples of outputs. Note anything you could not check, without treating recollection as evidence.
Separate process organisation from AI use: an area may have good manual controls and no current need for automation.
Choose a recent situation that represents a recurring difficulty and describe its observed effect without inventing a financial value.
See how it applies
Fictional example: Horizon Properties receives enquiries through two channels but cannot identify who owns some replies.
Answering with what the company intends to do and hiding gaps the team encounters in daily work.
Your starting template
Copy this starting point into your document and fill it in as you follow the steps.
Function: [ ]. Current way of working: [ ]. Owner: [ ]. Available evidence: [ ]. Gap to check: [ ].
Execution support
Details that matter
- Ask who covers an absence; the named owner may depend on someone else every day.
- At fictional Horizon Properties, distinguish property acquisition, prospect enquiries and document support, even when one agent performs all three.
- Record manual routines that work well too; they help you preserve useful controls when considering future changes.
Tools for this action
Choose based on the task. This course does not include subscriptions, consulting or external services.
Existing spreadsheet
Brings functions, evidence and gaps together without buying an assessment system.
A shared table with an owner, evidence and review may be sufficient.
A1 · Consulting
Can facilitate interviews and separate symptoms from causes when accounts of the work conflict.
Process mapping and improvement under a separate scope.
Explore the toolLinks in this edition do not include affiliate commission.
If you need help with execution
Who to hire: Process consultant experienced in small teams.
Brief to copy
Request an assessment of the eight functions based on demonstrations of work, with no purchase recommendation before the problem is established.
Request these deliverables
- Map of functions and dependencies.
- Evidence and sources for identified gaps.
- Unanswered questions with named owners.
How to accept the work
- Conclusions separate reports from verification.
- Operators recognise the work described.
- Missing evidence is explicitly identified.
What to expect and measure
A starting point the team can challenge and correct.
- Before starting
- Keep the first dated version, even when incomplete.
- Measure
- Count functions with sufficient evidence and gaps still awaiting a check.
- Review
- Return to unanswered questions when reviewing priorities.
This is an A1 operational self-assessment, not a maturity certification.
Sources and rationale2
The workflow and prioritisation are A1 methods. Each source supports the point stated below.
- NIST — Are We Making Progress?
Self-assessment and workforce participation; the states and examples are A1 editorial work.
Checked on 2026-09-11 - GOV.UK — Creating an experience map
Visibility of stages and dependencies between functions.
Checked on 2026-09-11
Review your work
Every area has an owner and a justified status; unknown information is marked unverified
Reading is the first step. Apply the criteria to your own work.