Standard operating procedure · GB7A · AI GBS & Global Business Services

Idea to Production

Transactional procedure owned by Automation Factory in AI GBS & Global Business Services. 9 numbered steps, 2 of them a person deciding and 7 of them agent work … more

AI GBS & Global Business Services manual Service view

Procedure code

GB7A

Transactional

Rule versions in force

v3.4 · v2.2

2 governing rules stacked over it

In force since

2025-11-07

Earliest effective date across those rules

Last reviewed

2026-07-12

Latest review date across those rules

Rules approved by

Head of Automation

Rule health

1/2

1 under review · 0 superseded

There is no document register behind this header. The version, the dates and the approver names are read off the governing rules this procedure runs inside, which is the closest thing the estate holds to a document control record. Nobody wrote these procedures. There is no document library behind this page and no Word file anywhere in the estate. Every procedure below is generated from rows this platform already holds: the line and its ordered stations, the owning team and the person accountable for it, the policy items bound to that team, and the governance gates seeded against the function. The steps, the owners, the gates, the approvers, the dwell times and the volumes are read straight off those rows. The sentences that join them together are generated. Read a procedure as the estate describing itself, not as a document somebody signed.

Purpose and scope

What this procedure is for and where it stops

To run idea to production to one repeatable standard inside Automation Factory, part of AI GBS & Global Business Services. more

Entry condition

Runs transactional. Starts when an upstream system posts an event.

Exit condition

The unit clears monitor. more

In scope

Every unit of idea to production raised inside Automation Factory, from the trigger below through to the final step.
7 of the 9 steps, which run without a person present.
2 decisions that stop the line until a named person releases it.

Out of scope

Anything outside the envelope set by the owning team. It leaves the line at a gate and becomes the named approver's decision.
Work that belongs to another function. This line records no handoff, so nothing leaves it mid-flow.
The 1 step carried on the shared AI GBS spine. They are done for this line but not by this function.

Who owns it

Runs the line

Automation Factory Orchestrator

Accountable person

Head of Automation

The end of the escalation path. Above them sits GBS Chief of Staff for the function.

That team’s remit

Owns automation work end to end inside AI GBS & Global Business Services. more

That remit describes the whole team, not this one procedure, so its counts are larger than the ones on this page.

Autonomy

68% now · ceiling 80%

Build and test are agentic. more

The procedure, step by step

9 numbered steps · 2 of them stop for a person

A step is one station on the line. more

No.	Step	Who does it	What happens	System of record	Time on the step	In flight
01	Mine opportunity Agentworkflow	Opportunity Mining Agent	Opportunity Mining Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Enterprise Data Warehouse	3.0 hrsstandard 4.5 hrs	30
02	Score feasibility Agentworkflow	Feasibility Scoring Agent	Feasibility Scoring Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Group ERP — Financials	1.4 hrsstandard 3.3 hrs	40
03	Business case Agentworkflow	Build Agent	Build Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Core HR and Payroll	2.1 hrsstandard 4.3 hrs	32
04	Approve HumanpolicyDecision	Head of Automation Releases: Head of Automation	Work stops. Head of Automation reviews what the line has produced and either releases the unit or sends it back. Nothing downstream of this step runs until that decision is made.Holds until: Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the automation decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.	Group ERP — Financials	3.2 hrsstandard 7.7 hrs	4
05	Build Agentworkflow	Deployment Agent	Deployment Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Source-to-Pay Suite	2.2 hrsstandard 3.6 hrs	21
06	Test Agentworkflow	Regression Monitor Agent	Regression Monitor Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Invoice Capture and AP Automation	50 minstandard 1.1 hrs	22
07	Control review HumanpolicyDecision	Head of Automation Releases: Head of Automation	Work stops. Head of Automation reviews what the line has produced and either releases the unit or sends it back. Nothing downstream of this step runs until that decision is made.Holds until: Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the automation decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.	Group ERP — Financials	53 minstandard 1.7 hrs	9
08	Deploy GBSgbs	Test Harness Agent	Test Harness Agent performs this step unattended on the shared AI GBS transaction spine, outside the function, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Group ERP — Financials	1.2 hrsstandard 1.4 hrs	36
09	Monitor Agentworkflow	Build Policy Agent	Build Policy Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Planning and Consolidation	30 minstandard 54 min	37

The swimlane

The same steps, laid out by who is holding the work

Three lanes: a person deciding, an agent working, and the shared services spine. more

Person2 stations and 27% of the dwellAgent6 stations and 65% of the dwellShared spine1 station and 8% of the dwell5 crossings between lanes

Human

decides

Agent

does the work

GBS

shared spine

System

attributed by rule

Enterprise Data Warehouse

Group ERP — Financials

Core HR and Payroll

Group ERP — Financials

Source-to-Pay Suite

Invoice Capture and AP Automation

Group ERP — Financials

Planning and Consolidation

Click any station to see who does it, what it costs in time, the rule that gates it and the system attributed to it.

Run the procedure

One unit walked along that swimlane on the happy viable agentified path

Press run and a single unit enters at station 01. Each station takes exactly the dwell this platform records for it and is held by whoever the estate says holds it. more

speed

worked clock

00:00

allowance clock

00:00

stations cleared

0/9

the happy path, worked time0 min of 15 hrs

the same run against its allowance0 min of 29 hrs

Human

decides · 2

Agent

does the work · 6

GBS

shared spine · 1

run log

Nothing has happened yet. more

where the worked time goes15 hrs a unit

Person4.1 hrs · 27%Agent9.9 hrs · 65%Shared spine1.2 hrs · 8%5 crossings between lanes

what makes this path viable

The lanes are the recorded lanes. 2 of the 9 stations stop for a person and every one of them still does on this run.
Every one of the 2 decisions is still taken by the people who hold them. The happy path is that each one is released first time, not that it is skipped.
The owning team is held to a 80% autonomy ceiling and this run sits at 73% unattended, inside it.
6 systems are attributed across the stations, and 0 of them are connected. Nothing in this run has been watched executing against a real system of record.

what would have to change

Nothing moves. 73% of the worked time already runs unattended and the owning team is held to a 80% ceiling, so the next decision cannot be handed over until somebody raises that ceiling.

stays with a person

04 Approve — Handing this over would put 107% of the worked time in the unattended lane, past the 80% ceiling this team is held to.
07 Control review — The last decision on the line. Something on every procedure ends with a person, so this one is never offered.

what this run is, and what it is not

This is a run, not a forecast. more

Happy means nothing goes wrong: no station raises an exception, no gate sends the unit back, no rework loop fires and nothing sits in a queue between stations. more

The second clock is the allowance. more

A decision may be handed to the agent lane only if two things hold … more

The run reads the station rows only. more

What this run does not model: arrival patterns, contention between procedures for the same person, shift patterns, weekends, learning curves, and the cost of anything. more

Run it again, going wrong

The same unit, the same stations, broken the way the estate already records breaking

This is the same unit on the same stations, breaking. more

No break below was chosen. more

One play head, two tracks, the same scale. The clean run stops when it runs out of stations; the other one keeps going.

As written

9 stations, nothing waiting, nothing sent back

0 min of 15 hrs

now Mine opportunity · Opportunity Mining Agent · 3.0 hrs

As the ledger has it

the same stations, plus 3 categories the estate already counts

0 min of 31 hrs

now Mine opportunity · Opportunity Mining Agent · 3.0 hrs

personagentshared spinework the break addsnobody working it

What breaks, and where it is counted

No break below was chosen. more

What the two runs say together

3 counted categories land on this procedure. more

What this run cannot claim

These breaks are shown together on one unit so the shape of a bad day fits on one screen. more

Two clocks run. Worked time is the sum of the time the work is actually being done … more

Roles and responsibilities

9 named parties

The responsibility grid is assigned by a rule, not lifted from a chart. more

Party	RACI	Steps	Duty	Escalates to
Automation Factory Orchestrator orchestrator	Runs the line	0	Sequences this line, holds its timetable and decides what has to surface to a person. more	Raises to Head of Automation when a unit falls outside the envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Opportunity Mining Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 86% clean · 13% overridden	Responsible	1	Watches automation factory continuously. more	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Feasibility Scoring Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 96% clean · 4% overridden	Responsible	1	Executes the automation factory step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Build Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 90% clean · 2% overridden	Responsible	1	Executes the automation factory step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Head of Automation person	Accountable and responsible	2	Holds 2 decisions on this line. more	Accountable to Head of Automation for the decisions held here.
Deployment Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 92% clean · 4% overridden	Responsible	1	Executes the automation factory step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Regression Monitor Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 86% clean · 16% overridden	Responsible	1	Watches automation factory continuously. more	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Test Harness Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 98% clean · 5% overridden	Responsible	1	Runs the repeatable portion of automation factory inside the shared transaction spine at spine cost and spine controls.	Escalates to Head of Automation when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Build Policy Agent agent A2% autonomy · ceiling A3% 90% clean · 15% overridden	Responsible	1	Holds the rules that bind every other agent in automation factory. more	Escalates on any decision that would breach a live policy version, with the clause cited.

Decision points and escalation

2 places this procedure stops

04 · Approve

3.2 hrs

Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the automation decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.

Head of Automation

07 · Control review

53 min

Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the automation decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.

Head of Automation

Handoffs out of this procedure

Nothing leaves this procedure for another function. It completes inside Automation Factory.

The rules this procedure runs inside

2 governing rules

Automation Factory Decision Envelope

under review

GB7-POL-200 · envelope · vv3.4

Agents in this lane may act without a human when the automation sits inside the stated value, risk and confidence envelope. more

Approved by Head of Automation · in force 2025-11-07 · reviewed 2026-06-21

Binds Feasibility Scoring Agent, Build Agent, Test Harness Agent, Deployment Agent, Benefit Realization Agent

LATAM · US

Automation Factory Evidence Standard

active

GB7-POL-201 · evidence · vv2.2

Every autonomous decision writes inputs, the rule version applied, the model and prompt version, the output and a reversal path. more

Approved by Head of Automation · in force 2025-12-16 · reviewed 2026-07-12

Binds Feasibility Scoring Agent, Build Agent, Test Harness Agent, Deployment Agent, Benefit Realization Agent

EU · UK · US

Systems this procedure touches

6 named · 0 connected

System attribution is a rule, not a reading. more

System	Vendor	Domain	Criticality	Steps	Connection
Group ERP — Financials	SAP S/4HANA	ledger	critical	4	modeled
Enterprise Data Warehouse	Snowflake	analytics	critical	1	modeled
Core HR and Payroll	Workday HCM	hcm	critical	1	modeled
Source-to-Pay Suite	SAP Ariba	procurement	critical	1	modeled
Invoice Capture and AP Automation	Basware	procurement	high	1	modeled
Planning and Consolidation	Anaplan	ledger	high	1	modeled

0 of the 6 systems on this procedure is connected to the platform, and none of the twenty-six in the estate register is. 5 of them are marked as taking a write back, which is a property of the system, not a live path from here.

How it performs

End to end

15.3 hrs

Summed from the time each step sits, standard 28.5 hrs — running at 54% of the standard.

Touchless

73%

Agent share

78%

A week

6,593

In flight

231

Effort a week

246 human minutes · 671 agent minutes

Volume multiplied by the time on each step. more

Assurance over this procedure

4 governance gates sit above it

The twenty-four controls and eighteen exception classes in this platform are held at estate level … more

Gate	What trips it	Who releases it	Clock	Waivable
Autonomy level increase approval	Any move of an agent or workflow to a higher autonomy band	Business owner and risk	5 business days	No
New data class processing approval	Any service processing a data class not already approved	Risk and privacy officer	5 business days	No
Outsourcing or service removal approval	Any material operating-model, sourcing or service-portfolio change	GBS executive committee	10 business days	No
Agent recertification oversight	Quarterly evaluation of every agent against its published certification criteria	Agent governance board	Quarterly	No

Next to it on the same team

Automation Factory

Regression Response

GB7B

Portfolio Rebalance

GB7C

Automation Portfolio Position

GB7D

All of AI GBS & Global Business Services

What this document is and is not

These procedures describe the modeled estate. more

Actions

What is waiting on a person

What one procedure document gives you, and what to check before you treat it as the standard.

151

named approvers appear across the library

Every decision point on every procedure carries a job title, not a queue. more

143

steps in the library hand their unit to another function

A handoff is where a procedure stops being one team’s problem. more

controls exist in the estate, and they belong to no procedure in particular

Controls and exception classes are held estate-wide. more

Operations

What this desk is allowed to start

A surface that only reports is not operable. more

Trigger and bound

A procedure document prints purpose, scope, entry and exit, the numbered steps with the actor on each, the roles and their RACI position, the swimlane, the decision points and escalation, the handoffs, the governing rules with version and approver, the systems by rule and the timings. more

Live observability

What the record shows right now

The whole library, by lane, so a single document can be read against the estate it came from. more

Current distribution

2,748 steps

Agent, inside the function1,38951%

Agent, on the shared spine85131%

Person deciding at a gate50818%

Is policy and strategy coming to fruition

Whether the written intent is holding here

Half. The document is complete and every actor on it is measured more

Not holding on the record

A procedure here carries a version, an approver, an in-force date and a last-review date. more