Handling Exceptions and Edge Cases in Console

Overview

Console Playbooks are designed to handle both standard workflows and situations that require additional review or manual intervention. By using conditional logic, approvals, and routing, teams can account for exceptions and edge cases without maintaining separate workflows.

This article outlines how to design Playbooks that handle non-standard requests while maintaining visibility and control.

What an exception means in Console

In Console, an exception is a request that cannot follow the standard automated path. Exceptions are not a separate request type or flag; instead, they are handled through Playbook design.

Exceptions typically fall into a few different categories:

• Requests that require additional context before proceeding

• Requests that fall outside normal access rules

• Requests that need manual review or approval

Console is built to proactively identify and escalate exceptions, ensuring edge cases don’t slip through the cracks. 

Using intake questions to identify use cases

Console can ask follow-up questions during intake to gather additional information about a request. These questions help determine whether a request can proceed automatically or should be treated as an exception.

Intake questions can be used to:

• Collect extra details for sensitive or unusual requests

• Route requests differently based on employee responses

• Ensure required information is captured before review

By collecting this information upfront, Playbooks can handle edge cases without additional back-and-forth.

Routing exceptions through approvals

Approvals are a primary mechanism for handling exceptions in Console. When a request meets certain conditions, Playbooks can require approval before any action is taken.

Approval-based exception handling allows teams to:

• Route sensitive requests to specific approvers

• Require additional review for non-standard requests

• Block downstream actions until approval is granted

Approval rules are enforced consistently across all matching requests.

Routing exceptions to operators 

When a request cannot be completed automatically, Playbooks can route it to an operator for manual handling. The request remains within a single thread, preserving context and visibility.

This allows teams to review and resolve edge cases manually, maintain a clear record of how exceptions were handled, and ensure employees receive updates without leaving the original request.