Task, process or business domain: scoping an AI agent project
A task, a process or a whole business domain: three project sizes. How to recognise yours, with examples, before asking for a quote.
"We want to automate our purchasing." Behind that sentence, there may be a two-week task or a two-month project. Naming the size of the need correctly is the first step of a successful project.
Three units, from the simplest to the widest
| Unit | Definition | Example | Order of magnitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| A task | a trigger, an action, a result, with no decision along the way | a quote request arrives by email; its details go into the CRM | one to two weeks |
| A process | three to six chained tasks, with decisions, special cases and at least one branch | from the order received to the delivery confirmation, stock shortages included | about three weeks |
| A business domain | at least two processes that share the same vocabulary, the same rules and the same manager | customer relations and support: routine requests, complaints, order tracking | four to six weeks; beyond five processes, timeframe set out in the proposal |
How to recognise your need
You describe an action: it is a task
"Sort incoming requests." "Extract the data from a purchase order." "Follow up a quote that got no answer." No decision, a clear result. That is the format of Task Automation, up to three tasks.
You describe lost time: it is often a process
"Our service schedules take us a day a week." When the problem is put this way, there are several steps, exceptions, a person who knows how to handle them. That is the format of the Process Agent, one or more independent processes, checked on 15 to 30 of your real cases. If it is complex (because of its rules, its special cases or its data), the Process Audit examines it first.
You describe a department: it is a business domain
"Our customer service is overwhelmed." Several processes, under the same manager, with the same rules and the same vocabulary. That is the format of Business Agents: one business domain, from two processes, with its knowledge written down for the agents. They always start with a Domain Audit, which examines the business domain and the rules that govern it.
A simple counting rule
A process has three to six tasks. Beyond six tasks, a process counts as two, for the audit as for the build: a process of eight tasks counts as two processes in a Process Agent, as it does in a Domain Audit. So you can measure the size of your need yourself before asking for a quote.
Why this distinction matters
- For the price: a process requires scoping the decisions and checking on real cases; a business domain also requires writing down the knowledge that runs through it and getting its processes to work together.
- For the result: treating a process like a task gives an agent that stumbles on every exception. Treating a task like a business domain costs too much.
- For what comes next: a well-chosen task belongs to a process, which belongs to a business domain. Starting small already maps out the path.
The "number of agents" trap
Some offers are sold per agent. It is the wrong unit: the same result may take one agent or five, depending on the design. What matters to you is the work taken over and the measured gain. You pay for a result, not for a number of agents.
To go further
The AI agent catalogue follows these levels, with roles added: business domains, roles, processes and tasks. And if your need covers several processes in the same business domain that you want to compare before choosing, the Domain Audit examines them and puts figures on them.