“Who approved that?”
Phase two started before anyone signed the plan off. Now finance is unwinding it.
operations: The business that runs on rails.
ConvOps runs recurring operations as governed AI agent workflows. Plans wait for sign-off. Phases run strictly in order. Reports have one shape. SOPs run as steps instead of sitting in a wiki.
claude · cowork · chatgpt · phases in order · sign-off before anything starts
new chat
task
step 1 of 6Expense policy rollout
define phases sign-off approvalin order verify complete
the problem
The process lives in people.
The steps are in someone's head or a wiki nobody opens. AI makes it faster to skip them.
“Where did that decision go?”
Why the approval limit is 500 lives in a meeting nobody wrote down.
“What happens when someone leaves?”
The person who knew the month-end close is gone. So is the process.
watch it work
One rollout, plan to done.
A real change, run as a plan from Claude. Then the weekly report, on a schedule.
01you, in Claude
Describe it once.
You describe the change in plain words. ConvOps creates a plan and drafts its phases. The work has a shape before anyone starts.
example
Plan the rollout of the new expense policy. Pilot with finance first.
plan created · 3 phases drafted
Pilot, all teams, retire the old form. Waiting for your sign-off.
02the AI · phases
Phases, in order.
Each phase is its own ordered chunk of work. Phase two stays locked until phase one lands. The engine checks that order, not etiquette.
example
- 1Pilot with financefirst
- 2All teamsafter the pilot
- 3Retire the old formlast
locked · waiting for sign-off
03you sign off
Nothing starts before sign-off.
The plan stops at the approval gate. You read the phases, change them or sign off. Until then, no phase starts.
example
waiting for you
Sign off the expense policy rollout?
3 phases · pilot first · old form retired last
Change itSign off
signed offPhase 1 unlockedPhases 2 and 3 stay locked until their turn.
04the engine
Phase two waits for phase one.
The pilot runs and lands. Only then does phase two open. The order is checked on every advance, whoever is driving.
example
- 1Pilot with financefirst
- 2All teamsafter the pilot
- 3Retire the old formlast
phase 1 of 3 · running
05you, once
The SOP becomes steps.
The expense SOP stops being a wiki page. It becomes a workflow the AI follows step by step, with an approval where a manager decides.
example
Expense process (wiki) · last edited 2 years ago
- Receipt attached
- Checked against policy
- Manager approvesa person decides
- Finance posts it
06the schedule
Every Friday, the same report.
The weekly report runs on a schedule. Each fire creates the task with the whole process attached, so every week has the same shape.
example
every Friday · 16:00next fire · Friday 16:00fired
- Weekly report · week 41drafting
- Weekly report · week 40done
- Weekly report · week 39done
example
Plan the rollout of the new expense policy. Pilot with finance first.
plan created · 3 phases drafted
Pilot, all teams, retire the old form. Waiting for your sign-off.
the workflow
The plan lifecycle, running.
Phases run strictly in order, and nothing starts before you sign off.
workflow · Planrunning · step 1 of 6
- 01
Define
The plan is described, scoped and broken down.
- 02
Elaborate phases
Child phases, each an ordered chunk of work.
- 03
Sign-off
No phase starts until a person signs the plan off.
needs a person - 04
Phases run in order
Each phase must land before the next one opens.
- 05
Verify
The result is checked against the plan.
- 06
Complete
The plan closes only when every phase is done.
what it remembers
Why the rules are the rules.
Kept by the business, not by whoever was in the meeting. Recalled when the work needs it.
Decisions
Claims over 500 need a manager. Set in the Q3 review, with the reason.
why we did it
Where things live
The policy doc, the expense form and the finance sheet. Found once, kept.
where it lives
The record
Field-level history on every task and workflow run. Reviews stop being archaeology.
what changed
Linked to the work
Every memory points back to the plan or task that produced it.
traceable
the difference
Wiki process vs running process.
- SOPs sit in a wiki nobody opens
- Phases start before anyone signs off
- Every report has a different shape
- Reviews mean digging through old chats
Order is a gate
Phases run under a sequential_children gate. The next phase activates only when the one before it is done.
Sign-off is a gate
requires_approval holds the plan. The engine refuses to advance until it is met, and says what is missing.
Recurring by RRULE
Weekly reports run on an RFC 5545 schedule. Each fire creates the task, or resumes the same one where it stopped.
What the audit covers
Field-level before and after on tasks and workflow instances, plus an activity feed. The agent label and the signed-in person stay separate.
start this week
Four moves to your first run.
Connect the AI tool your team already uses, install the workflows, and run one real piece of work through them.
- move 1
Install the Business Ops pack: meeting notes, weekly report, SOP, decision memo
- move 2
Run this week's report through the workflow: same shape as next week's
- move 3
Move one real process into a plan: phases execute in order, after your approval
- move 4
Write the SOP as steps the AI executes, not prose it might read
install these
operations
Meeting NotesTurn a meeting into clean, shareable notes. The AI drives Extract and Distribute, with a checkpoint on the structure.operations
Weekly ReportProduce a weekly status report from inputs to published. The AI drives Gather, Draft, and a review checkpoint.operations
SOP DocumentationDocument a repeatable process as a clear SOP. The AI drives through Draft and a walkthrough checkpoint.universal
Decision MemoMake a decision you can defend later. The AI drives Options and a recommendation checkpoint, then records the call.built on
The parts doing the work.
Workflow enginePhases, order and gates.GovernanceSign-offs and a record.AutonomyRecurring work that starts itself.WorkspacesOne per team, searched together.
ConvOps is the operations layer for AI agents: an MCP server that holds your team's process as workflows, with approval gates, a shared memory and an audit trail. It runs no AI models.
questions
What teams ask.
Can our SOPs become executable?
That is the move: write the SOP as workflow steps with instructions, and the AI executes it instead of maybe reading it. The SOP Documentation template is the on-ramp; the result is process that runs rather than process that sits in a wiki.
How do sign-offs work?
Approval gates hold the run until the accountable human says go, and sequential ordering means phase two cannot start before phase one lands. Both are engine-evaluated, not etiquette.
What audit trail do we get?
A high-level activity feed plus field-level before-and-after diffs on tasks and workflow instances, each row separating the agent's label from the server-verified human. Reviews stop being archaeology.
Does recurring work need someone to start it?
No. Put the weekly report on an RRULE schedule and each fire creates the task carrying the whole process. You govern it at the gates.