01
Automations built on the wrong work
Effort goes into the impressive idea instead of the recurring task that would pay back, and nobody measured the starting point, so nobody can say whether it worked.
Camderson Academy · CA-AI-002
Build AI automations you would trust with real work.
A practical, self-paced course for professionals who run recurring work. Find the tasks worth automating, design them with people in the right places, build them in a no-code tool and govern them so they keep working.
About 9 hours · 20 written lessons · Intermediate · Self-paced · Certificate of completion · 30-day money-back guarantee
Starting an AI automation is easy. Trusting it with real work is the hard part.
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Workflows that fail quietly
A changed form, a missing field or a confident wrong AI answer, and the automation carries on as if nothing happened until a customer notices.
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Agents with more access than judgment
Tools that can send, update and delete on your behalf, with no approval step, no named owner and no clear way to switch them off.
Learning outcomes
What you will be able to do
Eight practical outcomes, each practiced in an exercise and checked in the final assessment or portfolio.
- Explain the difference between a prompt, an automation, an AI-assisted workflow and an agent, and choose the right level for a task.
- Find and score automation opportunities and build a credible business case from a measured baseline.
- Design a workflow on paper before building it, including human approval and exception handling.
- Write reliable prompts for AI steps that return consistent, structured output.
- Build, test and monitor a multi-step no-code automation in a mainstream tool.
- Configure a custom AI assistant or agent with instructions, knowledge, tools and guardrails.
- Run a risk review covering data, access, actions and accountability, and document the automation for handover.
- Pilot, measure and scale automations with a 90-day roadmap.
The Camderson method
Four frameworks that keep automation under control
The Autonomy Ladder
Ask · Automate · AI-assisted workflow · Agent
Four levels of independence, from you prompting and acting to AI choosing its own steps. Climb only as high as the task needs, because every level up calls for more oversight.
The Four Fits
Frequency · Format · Rules · Risk
Score any task from 1 to 5 on each fit for a total out of 20. Fifteen or more is a strong candidate, 10 to 14 is possible with human review, and under 10 stays manual for now.
TRACE
Trigger · Rules · Actions · Checks · Exceptions
A one-page design canvas you complete before you build, so every AI step, human checkpoint and failure path is decided on paper first.
The Four Questions
Data · Actions · Impact · Ownership
What data does it touch? What can it do? What happens if it is wrong? Who owns it? Each one answered and rated Low, Medium or High before anything goes live.
Design first. Build small.
Curriculum
Inside the course
Seven modules, 20 written lessons with worked examples
01
Automation and Agents Explained
The Autonomy Ladder, what automation can and cannot do safely, and how to choose among today's no-code and AI tools.
02
Finding the Right Work to Automate
Mapping a process step by step, scoring it with the Four Fits, an honest baseline and business case, and one ranked backlog.
03
Designing Workflows With TRACE
Triggers, rules and actions, human checks and exception paths, and prompts for AI steps that return structured output.
04
Building No-Code Automations
Your first AI automation from inbox to organized request, multi-step workflows with branches and approvals, and testing before you trust it.
05
AI Agents at Work
How agents work, building a custom AI assistant, and giving agents tools safely with least privilege, approvals and a kill switch.
06
Governing Automation
The Four Questions Risk Review, a one-page automation record, monitoring, audit trails and what to do when something misfires.
07
Rolling Out and Scaling
Piloting and measuring results, a 90-day roadmap and handover, and preparing your Automation Portfolio capstone.
What is included
Everything you need to design, build and govern it
- 20 written lessons with worked examples, AI step prompts and diagrams, readable at your own pace on any device
- A workbook with an exercise and reflection page for every lesson
- Quick reference cards for the Autonomy Ladder, the Four Fits, TRACE and the Four Questions Risk Review
- The Automation Opportunity Scorecard, a spreadsheet for your process inventory, Four Fits scoring, business case and payback calculator, backlog and 90-day roadmap
- An AI step prompt library with ready-to-adapt prompts for classify, extract, summarize, draft reply, check and route steps
- The Harborline Automation Practice Pack, from a fictional distributor: 40 sample inbound emails, an order exceptions log, six vendor invoices with matching purchase orders, weekly report source sheets and a blank TRACE canvas, so you can build without real company data
- An optional visual companion PDF
- Knowledge checks, a final assessment and the Automation Portfolio, a capstone that takes one workflow from opportunity to go-live plan
- A Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion when you pass the assessment and portfolio
Is this course right for you?
This course is for you if
- You already use an AI assistant at work and want it to take on whole recurring tasks, not just single prompts
- You own or improve processes as a manager, operations or HR professional, consultant or business owner
- Your organization wants automation that is measured, documented and safe to hand over
It is not the right fit if
- You are new to AI assistants and want to learn to prompt well first (start with ChatGPT & AI for Business Professionals, then come back)
- You want AI to make consequential decisions with no human review
- You are a developer looking for API, coding or agent framework instruction
About
About Camderson Academy
Camderson Academy is the education division of Camderson Advisory Services. Camderson helps leaders build organizations that work without them in the room. Everything we teach has been used in a real organization first.
Training a team?
We offer group enrollment for organizations that want a shared, well-governed approach to AI automation. Email connect@camderson.com to talk through your team.
Frequently asked questions
What tools do I need?
An AI assistant you already use at work, such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini, and a free or trial account on one no-code automation tool, such as Zapier, Make or Microsoft Power Automate. Lesson 1.3 helps you choose. No coding is required. If you cannot get access to an automation tool, you can complete the build exercises and the portfolio as a written build specification instead.
My company uses a different automation or AI tool. Will this still help?
Yes. You design every workflow on paper with TRACE before you touch a tool, so the method carries across platforms. The build lessons include notes for Zapier, Make and Power Automate, and the custom assistant lesson covers the same pattern in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude. If your organization has an approved tool, use that one.
How long do I have access?
Your access does not expire. Automation and AI tools change often, so lessons that depend on specific features are reviewed every month and updated when the tools change.
How long does it take?
About 9 hours in total: a little under 2 hours of reading and about 5 hours of hands-on exercises and building, plus the knowledge checks, final assessment and portfolio. Every lesson is written, with no videos, so you can move at your own pace. At a lesson or two a day, plan on about three weeks.
Do I need to take ChatGPT & AI for Business Professionals first?
It is recommended, not required. This course builds on the BRIEF method and the Five Checks from that course and briefly re-explains them when they come up, so you can start here if you already use AI tools with confidence.
Is the certificate accredited?
No. You receive a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion after passing the final assessment and the Automation Portfolio, a capstone in which you take one real or practice workflow from opportunity to go-live plan and a person reviews your work. It is not an accredited credential and does not carry continuing education credits.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes. You are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If the course is not right for you, email connect@camderson.com within 30 days of purchase and we will refund you in full. No questions asked. Your course access ends when the refund is issued.
Is my data safe in the exercises?
The course includes fictional practice files so you never need to use real company or customer information. You are also asked not to connect an automation tool to real systems until your organization has approved it. Lessons 1.2, 5.3 and 6.1 cover data, access and safe actions in depth.
Start building automation you can stand behind.
Self-paced, about 9 hours with hands-on building, and every tool you need to take one workflow from idea to go-live plan.
Backed by our 30-day money-back guarantee.