An AI workflow assessment determines which parts should stay rule-based, where an AI agent adds useful judgment, which systems the work must read or change, and where a person should stay in control. Answer six questions to get a transparent architecture recommendation—without a readiness score or an email gate.
Choose the closest description in each dimension. You can change any answer and recalculate. The same six answers always produce the same recommendation.
Think about branches and exceptions before execution starts.
Focus on the decision between receiving context and choosing the next action.
Describe the strongest access needed for this part of the work.
Choose the highest material effect created by this workflow.
This is about authority, not whether the workflow uses AI.
Think about whether the route can change after intermediate results.
0 of 6 questions answered
Architecture draft
0 of 6 boundaries placed. Recommendation unresolved.
Predictable work stays deterministic. Judgment gets one deliberate home. System-changing actions and human authority remain separate boundaries.
Answer the predictability question to place the deterministic boundary.
Answer the interpretation question to determine whether reasoning has a role.
System access determines whether the workflow only answers, reads, or changes state.
The final boundary decides whether the work returns, continues deterministically, or needs mission state.
The surface reflects selected responsibilities only. The deterministic classifier remains authoritative for the final recommendation.
Architecture draft ready.
Recommended architecture
Read the recommendation
The labels below are not a ladder from “basic” to “advanced.” They describe different shapes of work. A deterministic process is often the better design when judgment is unnecessary.
Pending approval
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A Pathway is the right starting point when steps and branches can be defined in advance. It can still read or update systems, and a sensitive action can still require human approval. System access or approval alone does not create a need for an AI agent.
Use an Agent when the next action depends on interpreting context rather than following a complete set of fixed rules. Keep validation, routine handoffs and predictable downstream work deterministic where possible.
A Mission becomes relevant when an Agent works toward an evolving goal across several steps and the work may pause, fail, resume or require a person to intervene. Mission state is an operating layer around the Agent; it is not another name for the Agent itself.
A Hybrid architecture keeps known steps in a Pathway and introduces an Agent only where interpretation is useful. If the Agent proposes a consequential action, action policy and human approval can control whether that action runs, asks or stops.
A Thinkway is a reusable way for an Agent to approach a recurring kind of reasoning. It can make an Agent’s method more repeatable, but it does not replace the deterministic process structure of a Pathway.
Createting Workflow Architecture Classification
This is Createting’s decision framework for one workflow. It is not an industry-standard maturity score and it does not decide whether a project is ready to deploy. It separates six questions that change the system you actually need.
Can the route be described before work starts? Stable steps and known branches favor a deterministic process. A changing route makes later questions more important.
Does the next step require judgment? Classifying, comparing, synthesizing context or choosing among valid actions is where an Agent can add value.
Does the work only answer, read context, or change another system? Access changes implementation and control requirements. Write access alone does not mean an Agent is necessary.
What changes if the action runs? An informational answer, a reversible operational update and a consequential external action should not be treated as the same kind of work.
Who is allowed to decide? Some actions can run automatically; others should ask only under defined conditions; some must wait for a person. Approval can exist in a deterministic workflow too.
Is this one action, a known sequence, or an evolving goal? Long-running work that changes course after results or failures may need Mission-level state and operator control.
Once these six boundaries are clear, the recommendation becomes much easier to explain.
Practical answers
An AI workflow assessment examines how a real process behaves before choosing an AI architecture. This assessment looks at predictability, interpretation, system access, external effects, human authority and execution shape, then recommends a Pathway, an Agent, an Agent in a Mission, a Hybrid architecture or further clarification.
Keep steps deterministic when their rules, branches and outputs can be specified reliably in advance. This includes validation, routing and system updates that do not benefit from contextual judgment. Deterministic does not mean uncontrolled: a known action can still require approval.
Use an AI agent when the job genuinely requires interpreting context, comparing options, synthesizing information or choosing the next action in ways that fixed rules cannot fully describe. An agent should solve the judgment problem—not replace every ordinary workflow step.
Tool access matters when the workflow must read records or create a real change such as updating, sending, booking or creating something in another system. Access affects permissions, validation and outcome checks; it does not by itself determine whether the decision needs an Agent.
Human control matters when the organization decides that a particular action must not run automatically, or only may run under defined conditions. In Createting, the relevant action can be prepared first and the control layer can determine whether it runs, needs approval or stops.
The classifier uses deterministic rules across the six answers. It first checks whether the answers are complete and internally coherent, then separates rule-driven work from contextual judgment, identifies whether the route is a known sequence or an evolving goal, and adds system-effect and human-authority requirements without treating them as proof that an Agent is needed.