Utilizing AI-First Workflows with Human Escalation in Console

Overview

Console Playbooks are designed to automate common workflows while intentionally involving humans at key points when review, judgment, or manual action is required. Human involvement is not a fallback or override. It is a structured escalation layer built directly into the request lifecycle through intake, approvals, routing, and resolution.

This article walks through where humans can be involved as a request moves through a Playbook from start to finish.

Step 1: AI-led request intake with human-provided context

The request lifecycle begins with AI as the first responder. Employees initiate requests through Slack or Microsoft Teams, and Playbooks can ask follow-up questions to collect additional context.

These intake questions allow AI to gather human-provided information in order to:

• Determine how the request should be handled

• Clarify ambiguous or non-standard requests

• Collect required information before automated actions proceed

By collecting this information upfront, Playbooks can determine whether a request can continue automatically or requires further human review.

Step 2: Policy-based approval checkpoints

After intake, Playbooks can require approval before taking any action. These approval steps serve as structured review points, pausing the workflow only when human judgement is required. 

Approvals allow designated reviewers to:

• Review request details and context

• Approve or deny the request

• Enforce internal policies before actions are taken

Approval logic is defined directly in the Playbook and applied consistently across all matching requests, ensure review is intentional and applied only where it adds value. 

Step 3: Escalation to operators when necessary 

Some requests cannot be completed automatically, even after approvals. In these cases, Playbooks can route requests to an operator for manual handling.

When a request is routed to an operator, the full request history and context is preserved, the operator can review intake responses and approvals, and manual actions can be taken outside of automated steps. 

This ensures complex or unusual requests are handled correctly without breaking the workflow.

Step 4: Human interaction during request resolution

Throughout the lifecycle of a request, humans may continue to interact with it. Operators can respond to questions, provide updates, or request additional information as needed.

All communication remains within the same request thread, ensuring continuity for the employee, visibility for the IT team, and a clear record of how the request was resolved.