Pick a runbook people follow often, describe the outcome it produces in plain English, and let DevAutOps generate the app. Check that every decision a person makes in the runbook has a field in the form, test it against the cases the runbook covers, then point people at the app instead of the document.
Runbooks are written carefully and read in a hurry. Someone follows the steps late at night, skips one, and the result is a little different from last time. The steps were written down because the task repeats, and that is exactly what makes it worth turning into software.
Choose the right runbook first
Start with one that gets followed every week, not the disaster recovery plan you hope never to open. Frequent and low-risk is the right place to begin: you see the benefit quickly, and it is easy to tell whether the app did the right thing.
Good first candidates tend to look like this:
- restarting a service and checking it came back healthy
- granting or removing access when someone joins or leaves
- cleaning up old snapshots or unattached disks
- pulling a cost or usage report for one team
Keep the edge cases honest
Most runbooks have a branch that only happens once a year. If it does not fit the app cleanly, leave that branch manual and automate the common path. An app that handles the usual case the same way every time beats a document that handles every case slightly differently.
Convert it in six steps
- 1Pick a frequent runbook
Choose one that is followed often and has a clear, repeatable outcome.
- 2Describe the outcome
Turn its opening line, usually "when X happens, do Y", into a plain-English description for the Intelligent Builder.
- 3Generate the app
DevAutOps writes the code, builds the form and tests it against a sample input before you rely on it.
- 4Match every decision to a field
Walk through the runbook. Every value a person currently chooses or types, such as the environment or the target, should be a field in the form.
- 5Test the known cases
Run the app against the situations the runbook was written for, and compare the result with what a careful person would have done.
- 6Point people at the app
Link to the app wherever the runbook used to be linked, and archive the document.
Questions
How do I convert a runbook into a self-service app?
Describe the outcome the runbook produces to the DevAutOps Intelligent Builder. It generates the code and a form, which you check against the cases the runbook covers before replacing the document.
Which runbooks should I convert first?
The ones followed often, with a consistent procedure and a low risk if something goes wrong. Frequency is what makes the effort pay off.
What if the runbook has rare edge cases?
Keep the rare branch manual and automate the common path. You can add the edge case later if it turns out to matter.