Workflow capture
Describe how one type of matter really runs, stage by stage, in your own words. Get a process diagram for the team to agree, and files a workflow builder, or an AI workflow generator, can build from.
Watch how it works 55-second video and step-by-step guide
- Start from scratch, or choose a worked example and Load example to see how it works.
- Describe the type of matter: its name, the team, versions that run differently and how many a month.
- Set the results this type of matter must achieve, before any steps. Common results are filled in to start you off: edit them, add your own or delete any that do not fit.
- List who is involved, then add stages and steps: when each stage is done, who does each step, which results it delivers, whether to keep, change or add it, and timings.
- Your diagram draws itself as you go, with a lane for each role and the improvements listed underneath.
- Download BPMN, draw.io (which opens in Visio), a plain-English brief, structured data or an image.
- Prefer to talk it through? Copy the prompt into your firm’s approved AI assistant, then paste its answer back to draw the diagram.
1. The type of matter
2. The results that matter
Start here, before any steps. When a matter of this type is finished well, what must be true for the client, the firm and anyone else involved? Write each one as a result, not an activity: "completion on the agreed date, with every payment reconciled", not "send the completion statement". Three to six is usually right.
We have started you off with five results most types of matter share. Rewrite them for this type of matter, add your own, and delete any that do not fit.
3. Who is involved
Each person or role becomes a lane in the diagram. Include the client or the other side if they have steps of their own.
4. Stages and steps
Rename, reorder or add stages to suit the work, and say when each one is done. For each step, say what happens, who does it and whether it works today. Open "results, timing, rules and notes" to link the step to the results it delivers, and for deadlines, steps that must be finished before work moves on, and why it matters.
5. Your diagram
Add some steps, or load the worked example, to see the diagram.
- Keep
- Change
- Add
- Check, approval or "nothing moves on"
- → 1,3Results the step delivers
- ?No result linked
- Done by the system
- ○ Waiting on someone else
- ◆ Not approved goes back for rework
Check against the results
Improvements to deliver
6. Take it further
Download the workflow in the format you need. Every file is created in your browser.
- The open standard for process diagrams. Opens in BPMN modelling tools and many workflow and automation platforms, with lanes, stages and layout intact.
- Edit the diagram in the free diagrams.net (draw.io), which can also export it to Visio (.vsdx) and PDF.
- A plain-English specification: the results first, then stage by stage, with the improvements to deliver. Give it to whoever builds your workflows, or to an AI workflow generator.
- Everything you entered, in a structured format. Save it to carry on later, or give it to an AI workflow generator.
- A sharp image of the diagram for documents and presentations.
Worth asking: can your practice management system build workflows from a standard process file, or from a clear brief like this? It's a good question to ask your vendor, and to include in any selection.
See what is possible: the example pack has five worked workflows (residential purchase and sale, estate administration, debt recovery and a settlement agreement), each as a diagram, BPMN, draw.io, brief and data file.
Prefer to talk it through? Use your own AI assistant
Many people find it easier to describe how a matter runs than to fill in boxes. Copy our prompt into an AI assistant your firm has approved, such as Microsoft Copilot. It will interview you one plain-English question at a time, then give you the workflow in our format. Paste its answer below and we draw the diagram.
- Copy the prompt and paste it into your firm's approved AI assistant. If you have started here, the prompt includes what you have entered so far.
- Answer its questions, then tell it you have finished.
- Paste its answer below and select Draw it. Check the steps, then download the files you need.
Your conversation happens in your own AI tool, under your firm's own agreement with that provider; nothing passes through us. Use only a tool your firm has approved for firm information, and leave out client names and other confidential details.
Workflows that fit the way your firm works
Capturing one workflow is a start. We review how each team works, agree the results that matter, and align your practice management system to deliver them, with workflows your people actually follow. Independently of any vendor.
This tool is provided free for general guidance. The example is fictional. Check any workflow against your own procedures, regulatory duties and professional judgement before you build it.