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TO-BE design and PDD generation
The Design to-be and Architect process stages in Cartographer, covering automation mode assignment, the future-state process map, and generating the Process Design Document.
Design to-be designs the future state of your process on top of the confirmed AS-IS map. Architect process combines both states into a downloadable Process Design Document (PDD).
Prerequisites
Your AS-IS process map is confirmed and locked. See AS-IS documentation.
Starting Design to-be
Design to-be typically takes about one hour. You can pause at any point and resume in a later session. To start, say: "Continue to Design to-be" or "Let's design the future state."
Assigning automation modes
The first task in Design to-be is assigning an automation mode to each step in your process. Cartographer shows you each step and asks you to select how it will be handled after automation.
| Mode | What it means | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Fully Automated | Runs without human involvement — rule-based, system-to-system | Steps with clear rules where an API or RPA bot handles everything |
| Assisted | Runs alongside a person who triggers or guides it | Steps where a person needs to initiate or review in real time |
| Agent | AI-driven — handles variation or judgment at runtime | Steps with variable inputs, natural language, or dynamic decisions |
| Human Review | Automated with a mandatory human approval step | Steps with compliance, financial, or exception sign-off requirements |
| Manual | Stays fully human | Physical actions, policy judgment, or steps out of scope for now |
Example assignments for a lab charge routing process:
- Receive order file from LIS — Fully Automated
- Validate charge codes against payer rules — Agent
- Route to billing queue — Fully Automated
- Approve exception charges over threshold — Human Review
- Reconcile end-of-day discrepancies — Assisted
If you are unsure of a mode, choose Manual as a conservative default and mark it as provisional. You can change any mode before or after the PDD is generated.
Answering design questions
After the delivery model is set, Cartographer asks a small number of targeted questions specific to your process design. These are not a fixed checklist — only questions that are genuinely needed:
- Trigger — does the process start on a schedule or when an event occurs?
- Human review points — who approves exceptions and how do they receive notifications?
- Error handling — what happens if a system is unavailable or data is missing?
Answer what you know. If something is not yet decided, say so — it is recorded as an open item in the PDD.
Transformation decisions
Cartographer presents a list of proposed improvements and transformations directly in the conversation pane. Consider each recommendation carefully, and approve only the ones you want included in the Future Design.
Each transformation decision is tracked in the transformation decisions table, reviewable at any time on the left pane, with:
- The rationale and evidence behind it
- The proposed change
- Its approval state — accepted or rejected
Prompt the agent to add this table to the PDD.
Confirming the future-state process map
Once the delivery model is set, Cartographer generates a future-state process map, color-coded by automation mode:
| Color | Mode |
|---|---|
| Blue | Fully Automated |
| Teal | Assisted |
| Brown | Agent |
| Dark red | Human Review |
| Green | Manual |
Confirming the future-state map is a mandatory checkpoint. Cartographer does not draft detailed TO-BE step documentation until you confirm the map. A change to the map shape after this point requires re-drafting affected sections, so take the time to get it right.
Iterate on the map until it accurately reflects your design. When you are satisfied, say: "I confirm the future-state map."
Reviewing the drafted future-state detail
With the map confirmed, Cartographer drafts:
- Future-state steps — one entry per step with trigger, inputs, outputs, and assigned mode
- Exception handling — documented only where your TO-BE handling differs from AS-IS
- Benefits — a qualitative narrative covering cycle time, error reduction, capacity freed, and auditability
The benefits section describes qualitative outcomes only. It does not include ROI calculations, cost savings in dollars, or payback period projections. Add a quantified business case manually after download.
Review the drafted detail and request corrections before confirming Design to-be is complete. Once you confirm, say "Design to-be is complete" or "ready to generate the PDD" to move to Architect process.
Generating the PDD
Document metadata
Before generating the PDD, Cartographer resolves four values from what it already knows — your process name, organization name, author, and document version — rather than asking a fixed set of questions:
| Field | How it's resolved | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Process name | From the process you documented | Use the official name as it appears on document covers |
| Organization name | From the wiki, the conversation, or your source documents | Cartographer asks only if it genuinely can't determine this, for example: "Which client or organization should the document name on its cover?" |
| Author | From context, or left blank | Name or names to appear on the cover and header |
| Document version | Defaults to 1.0, or increments an existing draft | Increment to 0.x during review cycles, and promote to 1.0 at final sign-off |
Use a 0.x version number during stakeholder review. Promote to 1.0 only when the document has received final sign-off. You can change any of these values later from the document panel's Edit details.
Choosing a document format
At the start of Architect process, you can choose a document format. If you skip this step, Cartographer generates a standard PDD.
| Format | Best for | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| PDD | Full automation design documentation for developers, architects, and Centers of Excellence | 30–50 pages |
| Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) | Future-state how-to guide for operations teams and training | 15–25 pages |
| Transformation Brief | Executive summary of current-to-future change | 3–5 pages |
To use your own organization's template, generate a PDD in the default format, then attach or paste your target template and ask, for example, "Here is a template for a different PDD format — write the PDD contents into this format and give me the output."
What every PDD contains
AS-IS (Current Process) content, from Define as-is:
- Current-state process overview and narrative
- Current-state process map — real embedded flowchart
- Step-by-step current workflow
- Entities, roles, and systems used today
- Business rules and decision points
- Pain points and current-state gaps
TO-BE (Future Design) content, from Design to-be:
- Future-state process overview
- Future-state process map, color-coded by automation mode
- Step-by-step future workflow with mode per step
- Delivery model table — step, current mode, future mode
- Exception handling changes
- Qualitative benefits narrative
Supporting sections, auto-generated:
- Source attribution — where each fact came from
- Open gaps and deferred items from the Define as-is gap register
- Roles and responsibilities
- Referenced documentation
Reviewing and downloading
After generation, which typically takes two to five minutes, the PDD appears in the Cartographer document panel with:
- A live preview of all sections
- "Refine section" links at the bottom of each section for targeted updates
- Screenshot placeholders where system screenshots would appear, filled from any screen recordings you attached during Define as-is
Result: When you are satisfied with the content, select Download to save a .docx file. The downloaded file always reflects your most recent draft, including any refinements you made in the panel.
Next steps
Continue to Refining your PDD and the quality checklist.
- Prerequisites
- Starting Design to-be
- Assigning automation modes
- Answering design questions
- Transformation decisions
- Confirming the future-state process map
- Reviewing the drafted future-state detail
- Generating the PDD
- Document metadata
- Choosing a document format
- What every PDD contains
- Reviewing and downloading
- Next steps