IBM

Foundations and High-Impact Process Identification

IBM

Foundations and High-Impact Process Identification

Starweaver

Instructor: Starweaver

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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Intermediate level

Recommended experience

3 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Intermediate level

Recommended experience

3 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

  • Differentiate AI-powered automation from traditional RPA and position IBM watsonx Orchestrate within the IBM Business Automation portfolio.

  • Apply discovery techniques and a value-versus-feasibility framework to identify and prioritize high-impact automation candidates.

  • Design an AI-augmented future state with human-in-the-loop checkpoints, exception paths, and operational metrics.

  • Construct a defensible business case with ROI estimates, risk framing, and adoption planning.

Details to know

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Recently updated!

October 2026

Assessments

20 assignments¹

AI Graded see disclaimer
Taught in English

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the IBM Business Process Automation with AI Assistants Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
  • Learn new concepts from industry experts
  • Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
  • Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
  • Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 5 modules in this course

In this opening module, you will build an accurate mental model of how work is automated today and what changes when AI assistants enter the picture. You will trace the automation continuum from manual work through rule-based RPA to AI-augmented and agentic workflows, see where traditional RPA breaks down, and tour IBM watsonx Orchestrate and the broader IBM Business Automation portfolio at a business-user level. The lab has you place your own function on the continuum and explore watsonx Orchestrate hands-on in its self-service free trial.

What's included

15 videos21 readings5 assignments4 peer reviews1 discussion prompt

In this module, you will acquire the analytical discipline that underpins everything that follows. You will learn to decompose any business process into the six elements automation acts on — triggers, inputs, decisions, actions, exceptions, and outputs — capture it with a lightweight mapping notation, and judge whether the process is genuinely ready for AI augmentation. The lab has you map and classify a provided invoice-exception process and write a readiness assessment.

What's included

9 videos13 readings4 assignments3 peer reviews1 discussion prompt

In this module, you will take on the practical work of finding and qualifying the right processes to automate. You will run structured discovery interviews, conduct non-intrusive observation, and interpret process mining output at a business-analysis level, then move from a long list of candidates to a defensible prioritized shortlist using a value-versus-feasibility framework you can defend in front of stakeholders. The lab combines a simulated interview, a mining reconciliation, and a scoring exercise.

What's included

14 videos18 readings5 assignments4 peer reviews1 discussion prompt

In this module, you will turn a chosen process into an AI-augmented future-state design and then into a fundable business case. You will decide where humans stay in the loop and at what confidence thresholds, design exception paths so the assistant fails gracefully, estimate ROI you can defend, and frame risk and adoption honestly so decision makers can act. The lab produces a complete future-state map and a business case for a process from earlier labs.

What's included

15 videos18 readings5 assignments4 peer reviews1 discussion prompt

In this final module, you will assemble everything from Modules 1 through 4 into a cumulative project: a Process Opportunity Portfolio. The deliverable is a discovery summary, a prioritized shortlist with scoring rationale, a future-state design with human-in-the-loop checkpoints and exception paths, and a business case with a recommendation on which process should advance into the build phase. The module closes with a wrap-up featuring an SME interview, a day-in-the-life view of an Automation Business Analyst, and a bridge into Course 2's hands-on build work.

What's included

3 videos14 readings1 assignment1 peer review

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Instructor

Starweaver
642 Courses1,312,279 learners

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IBM

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¹ Some assignments in this course are AI-graded. For these assignments, your data will be used in accordance with Coursera's Privacy Notice.