Lesson 5 · 20 min
After the redesign, eight steps are left at Horizonte. The question now is not "where do I put the agent?" but: who does each one? A person, a simple rule in the system, an agent, an integration, or someone (or something) operating the screen. Each answer has a different cost, risk, and upkeep. In this lesson you decide step by step, with the reason written down.
Start the lesson
Objective: decide, step by step, whether it stays with a person, simple automation, an agent, an API integration, or Computer Use, with the reason for each choice.
Go down the ladder only when the step above does not solve it. Click each step.
Order of choices for getting into a system: service door or connector, flow with a connector, screen automation, Computer Use (Copilot + Agents for Business, INEMA). Each step down is more fragile and more expensive to maintain.
Four questions, in order. The examples use Horizonte's version 2.0 (fictional study company).
Apply the test from lesson 3: would two well-trained people, with the same information, always give the same answer? If not, the decision stays with one person, with a name. The system or the agent prepares the information; the person decides.
Requirements stay too: the invoice, the value approval that the policy gives to someone, the registration of a new customer.
Discount between 5% and 10%: Patrícia decides. New customer: Juliana checks the CNPJ and registers them. Product shortage: Juliana works out with the customer whether to deliver partially or wait.
If the answer is always the same and the data is already in a system, you don't need an agent. A rule in the system does the same thing every time, costs little, and anyone can check it.
An agent where a rule would do brings a cost per run and a chance of variation where nobody wanted any.
"Discount up to 5% and order up to R$ 5 thousand go through; the rest goes to Patrícia" is a fixed rule in the app. So is the draw of the 10 Monday orders and the picking notice.
An agent is worth it when the input is free text, each case is a little different, and the work takes several steps to reach the result. It receives the redesigned process and an authority limit, never "do it like the team does."
Microsoft (Work Trend Index 2026, a vendor survey of 20 thousand people in 10 countries, 05/2026) calls the 16% who use agents in multi-step flows and redesign their work Frontier Professionals.
Understanding "I want the usual, but with more disinfectant," checking the customer's history, and building the order: that's Hora. Writing out her authority limit action by action is course G3.
When data needs to go from one system to another, ask in this order: does the system have a service door (API) or a ready-made connector? If not, is the screen stable enough for screen automation? Computer Use comes last.
You don't build any of this. You ask IT or the vendor the right questions and decide with the answers: cost, who maintains it, what happens if it fails, what record is kept.
Taking the order from the app to the ERP: Rafael asks the GestorPlus vendor whether there is a service door. With no door, screen automation with a record of each entry. Computer Use only if the screen changes, with finance confirming before saving.
The chart says who does each step and why. The request to IT carries the right questions for the integration steps. The tabs show Horizonte.
EXECUTOR CHART · process: <...> · version <2.0> · owner: <name> · date: <...> Executors: PERSON · SIMPLE AUTOMATION · AGENT · INTEGRATION (API/connector) · SCREEN (screen automation / Computer Use) | # | Step | Executor | Reason (judgment? fixed rule? free text? system with no service door?) | Responsible person | If it fails, who notices and how | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | <...> | <...> | <...> | <name> | <...> | COUNT: person <n> · simple automation <n> · agent <n> · integration <n> · screen <n> STEPS THAT DEPEND ON AN ANSWER FROM IT OR THE VENDOR: <# and question> WHAT DOES NOT GO TO AN AGENT, EVEN IF IT COULD: <step · reason>
REQUEST TO IT / VENDOR · step: <...> · from <system A> to <system B> Requested by: <name> · Date: <...> · Answer by: <date> 1. Does <system B> have a service door (API) or a ready-made connector for this operation? 2. If not: does the screen used in this operation change often? When did it last change? 3. Who maintains the integration when it breaks? Within how long? 4. How much does it cost per month and per run (including attempts that fail)? 5. What happens to the case if the integration fails midway? Who is notified? 6. What record is kept of each operation (who, when, what, value)? 7. Does the integration use its own access, with only the permissions for this operation? DECISION (manager fills in): <API · connector · screen automation · Computer Use · stays with a person> · reason: <...>
You are an operations consultant. Below is the chart where I decided who executes each step of a redesigned process. Don't change anything; point out: 1. Steps handed to an agent that look like a fixed rule (a simple automation would be enough). 2. Steps that require judgment or are a legal requirement, handed to a system or agent. 3. "Through the screen" steps that might have a service door (a question to ask). 4. Steps with no responsible person or without saying who notices the failure. Chart: """<paste the chart>"""
Order via WhatsApp → invoice · v2.0 · Horizonte, fictional study company
| # | Step | Executor | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reply to the customer | agent (Hora); Juliana takes over what it doesn't know | free text, every conversation is different |
| 2 | Build the order only with a complete customer record | agent builds it; app rule checks the record; new customer: person (Juliana) | building is reading the list; a complete record is a rule; a new customer is a requirement |
| 3 | Policy and exceptions queue | simple automation + person (Patrícia; above 10%, Carlos) | the range is a fixed rule; granting the discount or not is judgment |
| 4 | Check availability | person, with the order on screen | physical stock rules |
| 5 | Pick and update stock | person; the stock update notifies on its own | physical work; the notice is a rule |
| 6 | Take the order to the ERP | API integration, if there is one; otherwise screen automation with a log | system to system; depends on the vendor's answer |
| 7 | Check and issue the invoice | person (finance) | tax requirement |
| 8 | Send the invoice to the customer | simple automation, in the conversation | fixed rule, always the same |
Count: agent in 2 steps, simple automation in 4, integration or screen in 1, person deciding or executing in 6. No step is "the agent does everything."
The Horizonte chart for version 2.0; then the one for your process.
Take the version 2.0 you made in lesson 4 and fill in the executor chart without looking at the tab. For the step that takes the order to the ERP, also fill in the request to IT. Run the check prompt.
Done when: every step in v2 has an executor and a one-sentence reason, at least 3 steps stay with a person with the why (judgment or requirement), no fixed-rule step was given to an agent without a reason, and the request to IT has the 7 questions.
Make the chart for the redesigned version of your process. For each integration or screen step, send the request to IT or the vendor, with a date for the answer.
Done when: the chart covers every step of your v2, each with an executor, reason, responsible person, and who notices the failure, and the requests to IT were sent with an answer date.
Lab piece: IT inventory, with Horizonte's systems (fictional study company).
5 questions. The explanation appears after your attempt.
Question 1 of 5
"Orders above R$ 5 mil go to the manager" is always the same and the amount is in the app. Who applies this rule?
Question 2 of 5
The customer writes "I want the usual, but with more disinfectant and without the multipurpose cleaner." Who turns that into an order?
Question 3 of 5
The ERP has no known integration with the app. What is the first question to IT?
Question 4 of 5
When Computer Use is the right choice, what comes with the decision?
Question 5 of 5
What does Microsoft call Frontier Professionals in the Work Trend Index 2026?
Choose an option. The explanation appears after you try.