Decision automation

The delegation of a decision to a rules engine or model. It is justified when the decision is structured, repeatable, traceable and based on reliable data, and when it improves timeliness, consistency, compliance or scale without degrading outcome quality.

The conditions that justify it — a structured, reversible decision with sufficient data — are also the criterion for deciding where not to automate. An irreversible decision with poor data is automated at the cost of discovering its errors late.