AA Essentials study plan

Define automation and distinguish it from manual and semi-manual workflows in your own words

Classify ten real workplace tasks as rule-based, judgment-based, or hybrid

Map the basic components of an automation (trigger, action, condition, output) onto one familiar process

List three benefits and three risks of automating a repetitive task

Compare batch, event-driven, and scheduled automation patterns using concrete examples

Identify where human-in-the-loop checkpoints belong in a workflow

Explain idempotency and why repeated runs can cause duplicate side effects

Sketch a simple decision tree for a multi-branch process

Define core AI terms (model, training data, inference, prompt) without notes

Distinguish classification, extraction, and generation tasks and match each to a workplace use case

Describe what makes a good versus poor input to an AI step

Identify two failure modes (hallucination, bias, drift) and one mitigation for each

Write and iteratively refine three prompts for a single extraction task

Evaluate AI output against a five-item accuracy checklist you define

Explain why AI steps need validation before triggering downstream actions

Decide when a rule-based approach beats an AI approach for the same task

Build a working two-step automation (trigger plus one action) in a no-code tool

Add a conditional branch and test both paths

Introduce one AI step into the automation and validate its output before the next action

Document the build so another person could recreate it

Add error handling or a fallback path to your automation

Run five test cases including at least two edge cases and log the results

Instrument the automation with basic logging or notifications

Refactor one step to remove a redundant action

Identify the stakeholders and approval gates for deploying an automation in an organization

Explain data-handling and access-control considerations for automations touching sensitive data

Draft a rollback and monitoring plan for a deployed automation

Estimate time saved per month for a candidate process and show your assumptions

Assemble a governance checklist for reviewing proposed automations

Revisit Domain 1 fundamentals and correct any earlier misconceptions

Present your end-to-end automation and its business case in a five-minute walkthrough

Build a personal list of weak areas and a follow-up review schedule