Digital Automation (Workflow and RevOps) · path guide

Digital Automation: path guide

Read this before you start. It explains what the role is, what you'll be able to do at the end, which core lessons you need, how to set up your tools, what it may cost and how long it really takes.

The role

A digital automation specialist joins up the apps a business already uses (forms, email, payment gateways, accounting, a CRM, spreadsheets) so that routine work happens by itself, correctly, and keeps working when something goes wrong. Most of the job is not clicking nodes together: it is understanding a business process, choosing what is worth automating, handling messy data, and making automations reliable, safe and easy for someone else to look after.

The path also covers RevOps (revenue operations): the process from a first enquiry to money in the bank, and how a shared customer record (the CRM) keeps sales, accounts and support working from the same facts.

Everyday applications

• A shop's payment confirmation that creates the invoice, updates the customer record and tells the packer, in seconds.
• A shared inbox where each email reaches the right team, and unclear ones reach a person.
• A weekly clean-up that keeps a customer list free of duplicates and wrong phone numbers.
• Lead capture from a website form into a CRM, with the right salesperson told straight away.
• Month-end reports assembled automatically from several systems.

What you'll be able to do

By the end of the path you will be able to:

1. PO1 Map a business process and decide, with evidence, what is and isn't worth automating (DA1).
2. PO2 Build multi-step workflows in n8n with branches, loops and readable execution history (DA2).
3. PO3 Choose between n8n, Zapier and Make on cost, data location and lock-in, and move a workflow between them (DA3).
4. PO4 Move data correctly between apps: JSON items, field mapping, IST dates, money in paise and clean phone numbers (DA4).
5. PO5 Write small, tested JavaScript or Python steps where ready-made nodes aren't enough, without hiding secrets in code (DA5).
6. PO6 Make workflows reliable: retries, alerts that reach an owner, safe repeats, durable event handling and run logs (DA6).
7. PO7 Connect any API: read the docs, sign in safely, page through long lists and receive webhooks securely (DA7).
8. PO8 Design the lead-to-cash process around a CRM and measure it (DA8).
9. PO9 Scope, document, hand over and maintain automation for a client, respecting personal data rules (DA9).
10. PO10 Combine all of this in three working, tested automations with a handover pack (DA10).

The coverage of each outcome by lessons, quizzes and the path test is listed at the end of this guide.

How it compares with neighbouring paths

The difference in one line: other paths build the parts; this path makes the parts work together for a real business process, and keeps them working.

Before you start: core lessons to know

The path opens after you pass the final examination. These core modules matter most; revisit them if the entry diagnostic shows a gap:

Setup guide

Tested on 1 November 2026. Versions change, so check each tool's official page when you install.

Install, the low-cost route (no Docker):

1. Install Node.js 22 LTS from nodejs.org. Check: node -v prints v22....
2. Install PostgreSQL 16 from postgresql.org (or your system's package manager). Check: psql --version.
3. Start n8n with npx n8n@2.45.7, then open http://localhost:5678 and create the owner account. n8n's documentation marks npm installs as deprecated from version 3, so for long-term use prefer Docker.
4. Download the starter files from the projects page, then run node sim/server.js. Check: http://localhost:4010/_state shows JSON.

Install, the Docker route: with Docker running, open the starter folder and run docker compose up. This starts n8n (port 5678), PostgreSQL (port 5432) and the practice simulator (port 4010) together; see the starter README.md.

Verify your setup: in n8n, build a two-node workflow (Manual Trigger, then HTTP Request to http://localhost:4010/_state, or http://sim:4010/_state with Docker) and run it. You should see the simulator's data in the output.

Hardware and accounts

• Computer: any laptop from the last 6 to 8 years with 8 GB of memory runs n8n, PostgreSQL and the simulator. 4 GB works without Docker, slowly.

• No paid accounts are needed. The practice simulator stands in for the payment gateway, accounts software, CRM and inbox, so you never need real customer data or a business account. It is a simulation: it behaves like typical services, but passing its tests does not prove a connection to a real provider works. When you connect a real service, use its test mode and read its documentation.

• Optional: a free n8n Cloud trial, a Zapier or Make free plan for DA3's comparison, and a payment gateway test-mode account if you want to try a real provider (some require business details to sign up).

• No phone or second device is needed.

Workload

Times are realistic estimates for a learner who has finished the core programme. They are not measured averages.

At 8 to 10 hours a week that is about 12 to 14 weeks.

How completion works

You complete the path when all of these are true, as shown on your completion record:

• every lesson is marked done;
• every module quiz is passed (70% or more);
• the path test is passed (70% or more);
• the three projects and the capstone are self-checked complete, with evidence links and your explanations.

Projects are self-checked for now: you tick the marking guide yourself and save your evidence on this device. Review by a team is planned for later; until then nothing on this site says a reviewer has approved your work. Progress is saved in this browser only, so download a backup from My progress now and then.

Outcome coverage