In week two of a build we spend most of our time on one conversation. Where does the line sit? A price variance on an invoice: at what size do we post it, and at what size do we hold it? A short payment from a customer: when do we apply it, and when do we ask?
It sounds like a detail. It is the design.
The number already exists
Most processes already run on tolerances, whether or not anyone wrote them down. The AP clerk knows which vendors get some latitude on freight. The collections lead knows when a short payment is worth chasing. The rules exist. They live in people's heads, in an old policy document, or in the habit of whoever has done the job longest.
Our job in week two is to get those numbers out of heads and onto a page that the process owner signs.
Every guardrail has two edges
There is the point below which the agent acts on its own, and the point above which it has to stop. Between the two, it prepares the case with its sources and a person decides. We recommend setting the first edge tight at the start. The log will show you when it's safe to widen it, and you widen it on evidence.
The owner holds the number
The person who owns the process sets it. We don't. It goes into configuration your team can change without calling us. If the business changes on a Tuesday, the tolerance can change the same day.
When nobody sets it
If nobody sets the number, the builder sets it by accident, somewhere in the code, where nobody will find it until it goes wrong. That is how a lot of automation ended up hard-wired in the first place.
People spend a long time choosing a model. The number a person sets deserves at least as much thought.
You can try it on 200 sample invoices in the Lab. Drag the line and watch what posts on its own, what goes to a person, and what slips through.