Catalog / Business processes / Marketing / Market-to-Audience / Conduct Customer Research
reference process · marketing · 20 activities · 16 on the rosterConduct Customer Research
A study manager takes a question the organization cannot answer from what it already holds, decides whether to put it to people in interviews, in a survey or through a panel, and works out with a statistician how many answers the study needs before anybody is asked. The sample is drawn and checked against the consent record, the questions are written at a version and tried on a few people first, and the study goes into the field once the sample and the questions have been signed. The run ends with findings that carry the responses behind them. This process creates evidence that did not exist before by asking people. Reading what customers already did is a separate process.
The walk
The document
One run
Adoption
The activities
What happens in a run
20 activities from a knowledge gap is raised to the findings are delivered with their evidence, one of them a gate a person has to sign. Drag the diagram to move along it.
Conduct Customer Research a knowledge gap is raised → the findings are delivered with their evidence
too few may be contacted a question reads two ways changes requested changes requested too few answers so far the sample fell short a figure does not follow a knowledge gap is raised 1 Take in the Question work out what the study must settle and by when 2 Check What Is Already Kno… whether the record already answers the question 3 Choose the Method interviews, a survey or a panel, and why that one 4 Brief the Study every agent hears the question and the method at once 5 Say How Much Data It Needs how many responses, settled before any are asked 6 Define the Sample who gets asked, how many, and how they are drawn 7 Check Who May Be Contacted the consent record applied to the drawn sample 8 Arrange the Outside Sample what the contact base cannot supply is bought 9 Cover the Cost incentives and outside costs, against what is left 10 Write the Questions every question and everything shown, at a version 11 Try the Questions on a Fe… a handful answer first and the wording is fixed 12 Get Sign-Offs legal and the owner approve before anybody is asked a person signs · never an agent 13 Field the Study invitations go out and the responses come in 14 Watch the Sample Fill how many answered against how many are needed 15 Close the Study asking stops and the responses are fixed 16 Work out the Figures which data holds, each figure with its range 17 Write the Findings each finding with the responses recorded under it 18 Check the Findings Hold every figure read against its data and its method 19 Deliver the Findings the report goes to whoever asked, with its evidence 20 Record What Was Learned what to repeat, what to avoid the findings are delivered with their evidence The roster this process needs
Hover a name to see the activities it holds. A dashed one is a person, and stays one.
The document
The document, with the blanks marked
Everything in amber is yours to fill in: who owns it, when it takes effect, which platforms, which numbers, and who holds each activity. Everything else is the process, and it is the same wherever it is run.
PROCESS: customer research id: <team> /customer-research v1
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a knowledge gap is raised in <your planning process> , or a
study in a standing series comes round again
watch: record=<knowledge gap>
system=<your planning process>
change=<a gap is raised that the record cannot answer>
or watch: record=<standing study>
system=<your study schedule>
change=<a study in the series comes round again>
concurrency: runs overlap - <how many> studies in the field at once.
One study at a time against the same contacts, so the same
people are not asked twice inside <what period>
goal: findings that answer the question the run opened on, each one
carrying the responses it rests on, delivered on the date they
were promised
phases:
take-in-question - human: read the gap and write down what the study
has to settle, for whom, and by when
owner: study-manager after: trigger
automation: <level>
check-known - human: whether the organization's own record or a
source it already holds answers the question
owner: researcher after: take-in-question
by: <days> automation: <level>
choose-method - human: interviews, a survey or a panel, chosen for
what the question needs, written down with the
reason it was chosen over the others
owner: study-manager after: check-known
automation: <level>
brief-the-study - convenes briefing: the question, the method and
the due date, heard by every agent at once
owner: study-manager after: choose-method
automation: <level>
size-the-sample - human: how many responses the study needs, and
what that number was computed from
owner: statistician after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
define-sample - human: who gets asked, how many of them, and how
they are drawn from <your contact base>
owner: study-manager after: size-the-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-consent - runs assessment: the drawn sample scored against
the consent rules in force, contact by contact
owner: consent-manager after: define-sample
automation: <level>
outside-sample - runs collect-and-report: the same requirements put
to every provider that can supply the people the
study needs. The phase closes with nothing bought
when the contact base covers the sample
owner: supplier-manager after: define-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
cover-the-cost - runs allocate-and-reconcile: the incentives and
the outside costs, drawn against <which allocation>
owner: budget-keeper after: outside-sample
automation: <level>
write-questions - human: every question and every piece of material,
in the order it is put to people, at a version
owner: study-manager after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
try-questions - human: a handful of people answer first, and what
they read differently is reworded
owner: study-manager after: write-questions
by: <days> automation: <level>
get-sign-offs - convenes approval: legal and the named owner sign,
as named signers, against a version of the sample
and a version of the questions
owner: <your legal role>
after: check-consent + cover-the-cost +
try-questions
by: <days> automation: never
field-the-study - human: the invitations go out, the interviews are
held, and the responses land as they were given
owner: study-manager after: get-sign-offs
by: <days> automation: <level>
watch-sample - runs roll-call: how many have answered, who has
not, and what the study is waiting on
owner: study-manager after: field-the-study
every: <cadence> automation: <level>
close-the-study - human: asking stops on the date or on the count,
and the responses are fixed at a version
owner: study-manager after: watch-sample
automation: <level>
work-out-figures - human: which responses can be relied on, and each
figure with its method, its exclusions and the
range around it
owner: statistician after: close-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
write-findings - human: what the study found, each finding with the
responses recorded under it
owner: study-manager after: work-out-figures
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-findings - runs layered-passes: the numbers pass, every
figure against the data and the method beside it
owner: statistician after: write-findings
by: <days> automation: <level>
deliver-findings - runs collect-and-report: the findings on their
date, complete or not, with the evidence attached
owner: study-manager after: check-findings
automation: <level>
record-learnings - convenes debrief: what to repeat, what to avoid
owner: study-manager after: deliver-findings
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
spend - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: budget-keeper
from: cover-the-cost until: run close
status - runs roll-call owner: study-manager
every: <cadence>
from: brief-the-study until: deliver-findings
handoffs:
take-in-question -> check-known [the-question]: the gap written as a
question a study can answer, and the date the answer is owed
check-known -> choose-method [what-is-known]: what is already known,
where each part of it came from, and the part of the question
nothing on hand answers
choose-method -> brief-the-study [chosen-method]: the method and the
reason it was chosen over the others
brief-the-study -> size-the-sample [sizing-inputs]: the question, the
size of the difference that would matter to the decision, and the
confidence the study is being run to
brief-the-study -> write-questions [question-brief]: the question as
every agent heard it, and the earlier version of every question a
repeated study reuses
size-the-sample -> define-sample [response-count]: how many responses
the study needs and what that number was computed from
define-sample -> check-consent [drawn-sample]: the drawn sample,
contact by contact, with the source each contact came from
define-sample -> outside-sample [sample-shortfall]: the people the
contact base cannot supply, and what the study needs them to be
check-consent -> get-sign-offs [contactable-sample]: the sample that
may be contacted, the count removed, and the rule behind each
removal
outside-sample -> cover-the-cost [provider-quotes]: what each
provider would charge for the sample, and what it would deliver
cover-the-cost -> get-sign-offs [study-cost]: what the study will
draw, and the allocation it draws against
write-questions -> try-questions [draft-questions]: the questions at
a version, in the order they are put to people
try-questions -> get-sign-offs [piloted-questions]: the questions at
the version the pilot left them at, and what the pilot changed
get-sign-offs -> field-the-study [approved-study]: the approved
sample and the approved questions at their signed versions. A later
change voids the approval and sign-offs run again
field-the-study -> watch-sample [responses-arriving]: the responses
as they arrive, each marked with the version of the questions it
answered
watch-sample -> close-the-study [sample-fill]: the count answered set
against the count the study planned for, said on the day the study
closes
close-the-study -> work-out-figures [fixed-responses]: the responses
fixed at a version, with every response that was removed and the
rule that removed it
work-out-figures -> write-findings [the-figures]: every figure with
the data behind it, the method used, the exclusions applied and the
range around it
write-findings -> check-findings [draft-findings]: the findings at a
version, each with the responses recorded under it
check-findings -> deliver-findings [checked-findings]: the findings
with every figure checked against the data and the method beside
it, and every figure that could not be computed marked as such
deliver-findings -> record-learnings [the-report]: the report, as
delivered
deviations:
check-consent -> define-sample [too-few-may-be-contacted]: the
consent check removes most of the sample, so more contacts are
drawn or the sample is bought
try-questions -> write-questions [question-reads-two-ways]: the pilot
shows a question reading two ways, so it is reworded at a new
version
get-sign-offs -> define-sample [sign-off-changes-to-sample]: a signer
comes back with changes to who is asked, and only that part reopens
get-sign-offs -> write-questions [sign-off-changes-to-questions]: a
signer comes back with changes to what is asked, and only that part
reopens
watch-sample -> field-the-study [too-few-answers-so-far]: fewer have
answered than the study planned for, so it keeps fielding
work-out-figures -> field-the-study [sample-fell-short]: the study
closed short of what it needed, and a person decides whether it
keeps fielding or reports with the shortfall named
any -> work-out-figures [participant-withdraws]: a participant asks
to be withdrawn after the findings are written, so every figure
that rested on what they said is worked out again and the findings
are reissued
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the requester, legal, finance
and the expert>
systems: the study record (write), the questions and material
(write), the response record (write), the calculation record
(write), the survey and interview system (trigger),
the contact database (read), the consent record (read),
the sending system (write), the meeting calendar (write),
the supplier record (write), the budget record (write),
analytics (read)
data: <your consent rules> <version> , the question that opened the
run, the earlier studies in the series at the versions they
ran under, the terms attached to every sample bought from
outside
policy:
nobody is asked anything until the sample and the questions have
been signed
sign-off is a human gate and is never delegated to an agent
an incentive offered to participants is approved by a person before
anything is offered to anybody
every finding carries the responses it rests on, and a finding
resting on fewer responses than the study needed says so
every figure carries its method, its exclusions and the range around
it
responses are kept as they were given, and a response left out of a
count is left out under a named rule
a question in a repeated study is reworded only when <who> agrees,
because the readings before and after the change stop being
comparable
a running test is not stopped early because the numbers already read
well
a participant who asks to be withdrawn is withdrawn, and any finding
that rested on what they said is corrected
a finding is never removed from the report because somebody asked.
<who> decides, and the decision is recorded with the findings
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the question to the delivered findings
completion: <share> of drawn samples that fill to the count the
study planned for
volume: <studies per period>
quality gate: no finding is delivered without the responses under it,
and no figure without its method and its range
Copy
Take it somewhere
Use this process in LangGraph
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current LangGraph documentation, then writes two files: the graph, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
350 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable LangGraph graph:
one Python file with a TypedDict state, a StateGraph, nodes, edges,
conditional edges and a checkpointer.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://docs.langchain.com/oss/python/langgraph/interrupts
interrupt() and Command(resume=), which is how a gate stops a run
https://reference.langchain.com/python/langgraph/graph/state/StateGraph
StateGraph, add_edge, add_conditional_edges, defer
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN LANGGRAPH
11. A phase is a node added with `add_node`, under the phase's own name.
12. The state is a TypedDict. Each handoff key is one field on it.
13. A join is the trap. `add_edge(["a", "b"], "c")` looks right and releases
once: when a backward edge re-enters ONE arm, the joined node never runs
again, and the run ends early reporting success rather than raising. Mark the
joined node `defer=True` and re-check inside it that both inbound handoffs
exist.
14. A gate is `interrupt()` inside the node, resumed with `Command(resume=...)`.
The platform lets anything at all call resume, so require the resumed value to
name a person and a date and refuse anything else. Say in the fidelity note
that this proves only that whoever resumed typed a name, because
`Command(resume=True)` from a scheduled job is indistinguishable from a person
signing.
15. A deviation is `add_conditional_edges` with a routing function named after
the key in brackets.
16. Pass a durable checkpointer rather than taking the in-memory default. The
gates wait days, and the default loses every paused run on restart.
17. Leave every phase body unimplemented, raising until somebody registers an
implementation. The automation level is a blank, so writing a body would
answer on the adopter's behalf whether an agent may do that work.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: customer research id: <team>/customer-research v1
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a knowledge gap is raised in <your planning process>, or a
study in a standing series comes round again
watch: record=<knowledge gap>
system=<your planning process>
change=<a gap is raised that the record cannot answer>
or watch: record=<standing study>
system=<your study schedule>
change=<a study in the series comes round again>
concurrency: runs overlap - <how many> studies in the field at once.
One study at a time against the same contacts, so the same
people are not asked twice inside <what period>
goal: findings that answer the question the run opened on, each one
carrying the responses it rests on, delivered on the date they
were promised
phases:
take-in-question - human: read the gap and write down what the study
has to settle, for whom, and by when
owner: study-manager after: trigger
automation: <level>
check-known - human: whether the organization's own record or a
source it already holds answers the question
owner: researcher after: take-in-question
by: <days> automation: <level>
choose-method - human: interviews, a survey or a panel, chosen for
what the question needs, written down with the
reason it was chosen over the others
owner: study-manager after: check-known
automation: <level>
brief-the-study - convenes briefing: the question, the method and
the due date, heard by every agent at once
owner: study-manager after: choose-method
automation: <level>
size-the-sample - human: how many responses the study needs, and
what that number was computed from
owner: statistician after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
define-sample - human: who gets asked, how many of them, and how
they are drawn from <your contact base>
owner: study-manager after: size-the-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-consent - runs assessment: the drawn sample scored against
the consent rules in force, contact by contact
owner: consent-manager after: define-sample
automation: <level>
outside-sample - runs collect-and-report: the same requirements put
to every provider that can supply the people the
study needs. The phase closes with nothing bought
when the contact base covers the sample
owner: supplier-manager after: define-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
cover-the-cost - runs allocate-and-reconcile: the incentives and
the outside costs, drawn against <which allocation>
owner: budget-keeper after: outside-sample
automation: <level>
write-questions - human: every question and every piece of material,
in the order it is put to people, at a version
owner: study-manager after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
try-questions - human: a handful of people answer first, and what
they read differently is reworded
owner: study-manager after: write-questions
by: <days> automation: <level>
get-sign-offs - convenes approval: legal and the named owner sign,
as named signers, against a version of the sample
and a version of the questions
owner: <your legal role>
after: check-consent + cover-the-cost +
try-questions
by: <days> automation: never
field-the-study - human: the invitations go out, the interviews are
held, and the responses land as they were given
owner: study-manager after: get-sign-offs
by: <days> automation: <level>
watch-sample - runs roll-call: how many have answered, who has
not, and what the study is waiting on
owner: study-manager after: field-the-study
every: <cadence> automation: <level>
close-the-study - human: asking stops on the date or on the count,
and the responses are fixed at a version
owner: study-manager after: watch-sample
automation: <level>
work-out-figures - human: which responses can be relied on, and each
figure with its method, its exclusions and the
range around it
owner: statistician after: close-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
write-findings - human: what the study found, each finding with the
responses recorded under it
owner: study-manager after: work-out-figures
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-findings - runs layered-passes: the numbers pass, every
figure against the data and the method beside it
owner: statistician after: write-findings
by: <days> automation: <level>
deliver-findings - runs collect-and-report: the findings on their
date, complete or not, with the evidence attached
owner: study-manager after: check-findings
automation: <level>
record-learnings - convenes debrief: what to repeat, what to avoid
owner: study-manager after: deliver-findings
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
spend - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: budget-keeper
from: cover-the-cost until: run close
status - runs roll-call owner: study-manager
every: <cadence>
from: brief-the-study until: deliver-findings
handoffs:
take-in-question -> check-known [the-question]: the gap written as a
question a study can answer, and the date the answer is owed
check-known -> choose-method [what-is-known]: what is already known,
where each part of it came from, and the part of the question
nothing on hand answers
choose-method -> brief-the-study [chosen-method]: the method and the
reason it was chosen over the others
brief-the-study -> size-the-sample [sizing-inputs]: the question, the
size of the difference that would matter to the decision, and the
confidence the study is being run to
brief-the-study -> write-questions [question-brief]: the question as
every agent heard it, and the earlier version of every question a
repeated study reuses
size-the-sample -> define-sample [response-count]: how many responses
the study needs and what that number was computed from
define-sample -> check-consent [drawn-sample]: the drawn sample,
contact by contact, with the source each contact came from
define-sample -> outside-sample [sample-shortfall]: the people the
contact base cannot supply, and what the study needs them to be
check-consent -> get-sign-offs [contactable-sample]: the sample that
may be contacted, the count removed, and the rule behind each
removal
outside-sample -> cover-the-cost [provider-quotes]: what each
provider would charge for the sample, and what it would deliver
cover-the-cost -> get-sign-offs [study-cost]: what the study will
draw, and the allocation it draws against
write-questions -> try-questions [draft-questions]: the questions at
a version, in the order they are put to people
try-questions -> get-sign-offs [piloted-questions]: the questions at
the version the pilot left them at, and what the pilot changed
get-sign-offs -> field-the-study [approved-study]: the approved
sample and the approved questions at their signed versions. A later
change voids the approval and sign-offs run again
field-the-study -> watch-sample [responses-arriving]: the responses
as they arrive, each marked with the version of the questions it
answered
watch-sample -> close-the-study [sample-fill]: the count answered set
against the count the study planned for, said on the day the study
closes
close-the-study -> work-out-figures [fixed-responses]: the responses
fixed at a version, with every response that was removed and the
rule that removed it
work-out-figures -> write-findings [the-figures]: every figure with
the data behind it, the method used, the exclusions applied and the
range around it
write-findings -> check-findings [draft-findings]: the findings at a
version, each with the responses recorded under it
check-findings -> deliver-findings [checked-findings]: the findings
with every figure checked against the data and the method beside
it, and every figure that could not be computed marked as such
deliver-findings -> record-learnings [the-report]: the report, as
delivered
deviations:
check-consent -> define-sample [too-few-may-be-contacted]: the
consent check removes most of the sample, so more contacts are
drawn or the sample is bought
try-questions -> write-questions [question-reads-two-ways]: the pilot
shows a question reading two ways, so it is reworded at a new
version
get-sign-offs -> define-sample [sign-off-changes-to-sample]: a signer
comes back with changes to who is asked, and only that part reopens
get-sign-offs -> write-questions [sign-off-changes-to-questions]: a
signer comes back with changes to what is asked, and only that part
reopens
watch-sample -> field-the-study [too-few-answers-so-far]: fewer have
answered than the study planned for, so it keeps fielding
work-out-figures -> field-the-study [sample-fell-short]: the study
closed short of what it needed, and a person decides whether it
keeps fielding or reports with the shortfall named
any -> work-out-figures [participant-withdraws]: a participant asks
to be withdrawn after the findings are written, so every figure
that rested on what they said is worked out again and the findings
are reissued
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the requester, legal, finance
and the expert>
systems: the study record (write), the questions and material
(write), the response record (write), the calculation record
(write), the survey and interview system (trigger),
the contact database (read), the consent record (read),
the sending system (write), the meeting calendar (write),
the supplier record (write), the budget record (write),
analytics (read)
data: <your consent rules> <version>, the question that opened the
run, the earlier studies in the series at the versions they
ran under, the terms attached to every sample bought from
outside
policy:
nobody is asked anything until the sample and the questions have
been signed
sign-off is a human gate and is never delegated to an agent
an incentive offered to participants is approved by a person before
anything is offered to anybody
every finding carries the responses it rests on, and a finding
resting on fewer responses than the study needed says so
every figure carries its method, its exclusions and the range around
it
responses are kept as they were given, and a response left out of a
count is left out under a named rule
a question in a repeated study is reworded only when <who> agrees,
because the readings before and after the change stop being
comparable
a running test is not stopped early because the numbers already read
well
a participant who asks to be withdrawn is withdrawn, and any finding
that rested on what they said is corrected
a finding is never removed from the report because somebody asked.
<who> decides, and the decision is recorded with the findings
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the question to the delivered findings
completion: <share> of drawn samples that fill to the count the
study planned for
volume: <studies per period>
quality gate: no finding is delivered without the responses under it,
and no figure without its method and its range
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in Microsoft Agent Framework
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current Agent Framework documentation, then writes two files: the workflow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
405 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable Microsoft Agent Framework workflow:
one Python file with Executor classes, a WorkflowBuilder, typed edges,
request_info gates and durable checkpoint storage.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/workflows/human-in-the-loop
ctx.request_info, @response_handler, and answering a parked run later
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/workflows/checkpoints
what a checkpoint holds, and allowed_checkpoint_types
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/concepts/workflows/edges
add_edge with condition, add_fan_in_edges, add_switch_case_edge_group
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/concepts/workflows/state
ctx.set_state and ctx.get_state as they actually are today
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN MICROSOFT AGENT FRAMEWORK
11. Write for Python, and read those pages before writing a line. This API has
moved: `set_shared_state`, `RequestInfoExecutor`, `RequestInfoMessage` and
`send_responses_streaming` are all in the training data and none of them exist
any more. The .NET workflow API differs in kind rather than in spelling, so a
file written for one does not port by renaming.
12. A phase is a class deriving from `Executor` whose `super().__init__(id=...)`
takes the phase name verbatim. The id is not cosmetic: a checkpoint stores a
signature over the topology and the executor ids, so an id built from a run, a
timestamp or a counter cannot be resumed into.
13. Give each phase a `@handler` method and move work on with
`await ctx.send_message(...)`. A handler that returns without sending is a dead
end: the branch stops, the run converges, and it reports success. So a phase
you are deliberately leaving unimplemented must still send a placeholder
onward. Do not stub with `raise NotImplementedError`, which fails the run
instead of leaving it runnable.
14. `after: a` is `builder.add_edge(a, b)`. `after: a + b` is
`builder.add_fan_in_edges([a, b], target)`, and the target's handler must be
annotated `list[T]`, because a fan-in delivers one aggregated list rather than
the separate messages. A handler typed for the single value is dropped as a
mismatch with nothing raised.
15. The join is the trap here, and it is the opposite of LangGraph's. The
barrier re-arms: it clears its buffer when it fires and then demands a fresh
message from every source. So a deviation that re-enters ONE arm parks the
run forever waiting for an arm that will not run again, and the workflow ends
IDLE reporting success. Wherever a deviation re-enters one arm of a join,
replace the barrier with an ordinary edge from each arm into a small executor
that records each arrival with `ctx.set_state` and only forwards when every
expected key is present, and say in a comment that putting `add_fan_in_edges`
back reintroduces the stall.
16. A phase that is both a join target and a deviation target needs two
handlers, one annotated `list[T]` for the barrier and one annotated `T` for the
backward message. Write only the list handler and every backward edge into it
is discarded as a type mismatch, silently.
17. `automation: never` is `await ctx.request_info(request_data=...,
response_type=...)` inside the phase, answered by a `@response_handler` on the
same executor whose annotations match those exact types. The run parks at
`IDLE_WITH_PENDING_REQUESTS` and the host answers with
`workflow.run(stream=True, responses={request_id: value})`. If no handler
matches the pair, the framework logs a warning and parks anyway, so the gate
reads as working right up until somebody asks why the approval did not take.
18. A gate is only a gate if the wait survives a restart, so pass
`checkpoint_storage=FileCheckpointStorage(...)` to the builder. Checkpointing
is off by default and `InMemoryCheckpointStorage` reads as configured while
persisting nothing. Register every handoff payload type in
`allowed_checkpoint_types`, or the first restore raises. Anything an executor
keeps as an instance attribute is absent after a restore unless you export it
from `on_checkpoint_save` and read it back in `on_checkpoint_restore`, and it
comes back empty rather than missing.
19. Each line under `deviations:` is `builder.add_edge(source, earlier,
condition=fn)` with `fn` named after the key. Cycles are legal and unchecked,
but raise `max_iterations` well above its default of 100, because several live
cycles will exhaust a budget sized for a straight line and fail with a message
about convergence that reads like a broken graph. Keep the ordinary forward
edge unconditional and add each deviation beside it: a condition that returns
false is dropped with no event, so a forward path expressed as a condition
dies silently on every normal run, which is most of them.
20. Handoff values go in `ctx.set_state(key, value)` and come back from
`ctx.get_state(key)`, untyped and unchecked. A write is visible to its writer
at once and to everyone else only in the next superstep, and two writers of one
key in a superstep keep the last write. Never read a key in the same superstep
another phase wrote it.
21. There are no timers, no deadlines and no scheduled wakes. Nothing in
`run-scoped:` becomes an executor and `by:` has no expression at all, so write
them as comments naming where they start and stop, and say plainly in the
fidelity note that a run can close over an unfinished run-scoped line. Do not
fake a deadline with a sleep inside a handler, which blocks the whole superstep
barrier, and never let an expiring wait release a gate.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: customer research id: <team>/customer-research v1
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a knowledge gap is raised in <your planning process>, or a
study in a standing series comes round again
watch: record=<knowledge gap>
system=<your planning process>
change=<a gap is raised that the record cannot answer>
or watch: record=<standing study>
system=<your study schedule>
change=<a study in the series comes round again>
concurrency: runs overlap - <how many> studies in the field at once.
One study at a time against the same contacts, so the same
people are not asked twice inside <what period>
goal: findings that answer the question the run opened on, each one
carrying the responses it rests on, delivered on the date they
were promised
phases:
take-in-question - human: read the gap and write down what the study
has to settle, for whom, and by when
owner: study-manager after: trigger
automation: <level>
check-known - human: whether the organization's own record or a
source it already holds answers the question
owner: researcher after: take-in-question
by: <days> automation: <level>
choose-method - human: interviews, a survey or a panel, chosen for
what the question needs, written down with the
reason it was chosen over the others
owner: study-manager after: check-known
automation: <level>
brief-the-study - convenes briefing: the question, the method and
the due date, heard by every agent at once
owner: study-manager after: choose-method
automation: <level>
size-the-sample - human: how many responses the study needs, and
what that number was computed from
owner: statistician after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
define-sample - human: who gets asked, how many of them, and how
they are drawn from <your contact base>
owner: study-manager after: size-the-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-consent - runs assessment: the drawn sample scored against
the consent rules in force, contact by contact
owner: consent-manager after: define-sample
automation: <level>
outside-sample - runs collect-and-report: the same requirements put
to every provider that can supply the people the
study needs. The phase closes with nothing bought
when the contact base covers the sample
owner: supplier-manager after: define-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
cover-the-cost - runs allocate-and-reconcile: the incentives and
the outside costs, drawn against <which allocation>
owner: budget-keeper after: outside-sample
automation: <level>
write-questions - human: every question and every piece of material,
in the order it is put to people, at a version
owner: study-manager after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
try-questions - human: a handful of people answer first, and what
they read differently is reworded
owner: study-manager after: write-questions
by: <days> automation: <level>
get-sign-offs - convenes approval: legal and the named owner sign,
as named signers, against a version of the sample
and a version of the questions
owner: <your legal role>
after: check-consent + cover-the-cost +
try-questions
by: <days> automation: never
field-the-study - human: the invitations go out, the interviews are
held, and the responses land as they were given
owner: study-manager after: get-sign-offs
by: <days> automation: <level>
watch-sample - runs roll-call: how many have answered, who has
not, and what the study is waiting on
owner: study-manager after: field-the-study
every: <cadence> automation: <level>
close-the-study - human: asking stops on the date or on the count,
and the responses are fixed at a version
owner: study-manager after: watch-sample
automation: <level>
work-out-figures - human: which responses can be relied on, and each
figure with its method, its exclusions and the
range around it
owner: statistician after: close-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
write-findings - human: what the study found, each finding with the
responses recorded under it
owner: study-manager after: work-out-figures
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-findings - runs layered-passes: the numbers pass, every
figure against the data and the method beside it
owner: statistician after: write-findings
by: <days> automation: <level>
deliver-findings - runs collect-and-report: the findings on their
date, complete or not, with the evidence attached
owner: study-manager after: check-findings
automation: <level>
record-learnings - convenes debrief: what to repeat, what to avoid
owner: study-manager after: deliver-findings
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
spend - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: budget-keeper
from: cover-the-cost until: run close
status - runs roll-call owner: study-manager
every: <cadence>
from: brief-the-study until: deliver-findings
handoffs:
take-in-question -> check-known [the-question]: the gap written as a
question a study can answer, and the date the answer is owed
check-known -> choose-method [what-is-known]: what is already known,
where each part of it came from, and the part of the question
nothing on hand answers
choose-method -> brief-the-study [chosen-method]: the method and the
reason it was chosen over the others
brief-the-study -> size-the-sample [sizing-inputs]: the question, the
size of the difference that would matter to the decision, and the
confidence the study is being run to
brief-the-study -> write-questions [question-brief]: the question as
every agent heard it, and the earlier version of every question a
repeated study reuses
size-the-sample -> define-sample [response-count]: how many responses
the study needs and what that number was computed from
define-sample -> check-consent [drawn-sample]: the drawn sample,
contact by contact, with the source each contact came from
define-sample -> outside-sample [sample-shortfall]: the people the
contact base cannot supply, and what the study needs them to be
check-consent -> get-sign-offs [contactable-sample]: the sample that
may be contacted, the count removed, and the rule behind each
removal
outside-sample -> cover-the-cost [provider-quotes]: what each
provider would charge for the sample, and what it would deliver
cover-the-cost -> get-sign-offs [study-cost]: what the study will
draw, and the allocation it draws against
write-questions -> try-questions [draft-questions]: the questions at
a version, in the order they are put to people
try-questions -> get-sign-offs [piloted-questions]: the questions at
the version the pilot left them at, and what the pilot changed
get-sign-offs -> field-the-study [approved-study]: the approved
sample and the approved questions at their signed versions. A later
change voids the approval and sign-offs run again
field-the-study -> watch-sample [responses-arriving]: the responses
as they arrive, each marked with the version of the questions it
answered
watch-sample -> close-the-study [sample-fill]: the count answered set
against the count the study planned for, said on the day the study
closes
close-the-study -> work-out-figures [fixed-responses]: the responses
fixed at a version, with every response that was removed and the
rule that removed it
work-out-figures -> write-findings [the-figures]: every figure with
the data behind it, the method used, the exclusions applied and the
range around it
write-findings -> check-findings [draft-findings]: the findings at a
version, each with the responses recorded under it
check-findings -> deliver-findings [checked-findings]: the findings
with every figure checked against the data and the method beside
it, and every figure that could not be computed marked as such
deliver-findings -> record-learnings [the-report]: the report, as
delivered
deviations:
check-consent -> define-sample [too-few-may-be-contacted]: the
consent check removes most of the sample, so more contacts are
drawn or the sample is bought
try-questions -> write-questions [question-reads-two-ways]: the pilot
shows a question reading two ways, so it is reworded at a new
version
get-sign-offs -> define-sample [sign-off-changes-to-sample]: a signer
comes back with changes to who is asked, and only that part reopens
get-sign-offs -> write-questions [sign-off-changes-to-questions]: a
signer comes back with changes to what is asked, and only that part
reopens
watch-sample -> field-the-study [too-few-answers-so-far]: fewer have
answered than the study planned for, so it keeps fielding
work-out-figures -> field-the-study [sample-fell-short]: the study
closed short of what it needed, and a person decides whether it
keeps fielding or reports with the shortfall named
any -> work-out-figures [participant-withdraws]: a participant asks
to be withdrawn after the findings are written, so every figure
that rested on what they said is worked out again and the findings
are reissued
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the requester, legal, finance
and the expert>
systems: the study record (write), the questions and material
(write), the response record (write), the calculation record
(write), the survey and interview system (trigger),
the contact database (read), the consent record (read),
the sending system (write), the meeting calendar (write),
the supplier record (write), the budget record (write),
analytics (read)
data: <your consent rules> <version>, the question that opened the
run, the earlier studies in the series at the versions they
ran under, the terms attached to every sample bought from
outside
policy:
nobody is asked anything until the sample and the questions have
been signed
sign-off is a human gate and is never delegated to an agent
an incentive offered to participants is approved by a person before
anything is offered to anybody
every finding carries the responses it rests on, and a finding
resting on fewer responses than the study needed says so
every figure carries its method, its exclusions and the range around
it
responses are kept as they were given, and a response left out of a
count is left out under a named rule
a question in a repeated study is reworded only when <who> agrees,
because the readings before and after the change stop being
comparable
a running test is not stopped early because the numbers already read
well
a participant who asks to be withdrawn is withdrawn, and any finding
that rested on what they said is corrected
a finding is never removed from the report because somebody asked.
<who> decides, and the decision is recorded with the findings
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the question to the delivered findings
completion: <share> of drawn samples that fill to the count the
study planned for
volume: <studies per period>
quality gate: no finding is delivered without the responses under it,
and no figure without its method and its range
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in CrewAI Flows
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current CrewAI documentation, then writes two files: the flow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
410 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable CrewAI Flow:
one Python file with a Pydantic state model, one Flow subclass, @start,
@listen, @router and a durable human feedback provider.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://docs.crewai.com/en/concepts/flows
Flow, @start, @listen, @router, and_, or_, state, kickoff, plot
https://docs.crewai.com/en/learn/human-feedback-in-flows
@human_feedback, the provider protocol, from_pending and resume
https://docs.crewai.com/en/guides/flows/mastering-flow-state
@persist and what persistence actually promises, which is less than it sounds
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN CREWAI FLOWS
11. Build a Flow, not a Crew. A Crew is a team of roles with no graph, no join,
no persistence handle and no gate, and cannot express this document at all.
Each phase is one method on a single `Flow` subclass, keeping its name with
hyphens turned into underscores. A phase that genuinely needs role-based agents
builds its own Crew inside its own method body, and the Flow stays the graph.
12. Declare the state as a Pydantic model bound as the type parameter,
`class NegotiateTheAgreement(Flow[NegotiationState])`, and read and write
`self.state.field`. Never use the untyped dict form: the handoff keys are this
process's memory, and an untyped dict turns a misspelt key into a handoff that
is silently absent. Keep the auto-injected `id` field, which is what every
resume depends on.
13. `after: a` is `@listen(a)`. `after: a + b` is `@listen(and_(a, b))`. Never
write `or_` where the document writes `+`.
14. Check every inbound handoff at the top of the method and raise if one is
missing. `@listen` says when a method may run and says nothing about what is
in hand when it does.
15. The join is the trap, and it is proven rather than theoretical. `and_()`
empties its accumulator the moment it fires, so re-entering BOTH arms works
forever, and re-entering ONE arm after it has fired leaves it holding a single
trigger and waiting for the other for good. The cascade drains, CrewAI prints
that the flow completed, and `kickoff()` returns normally. So for any joining
phase that a deviation can send work back into, do not use `and_()` at all:
make the join a `@router` that both arms trigger, which reads the state fields
and emits its label only when every inbound handoff is present. A router is
re-evaluated against durable state every time and is never suppressed by the
once-fired set.
16. Do not write a phase as `@listen(or_(and_(a, b), "some_label"))`. There is
one accumulator per listener, shared across every branch of its condition and
wiped when any branch satisfies, so the label firing while the join is half
full erases the arm that had already arrived.
17. `automation: never` is `@human_feedback(message=..., provider=...)` stacked
under the method's `@listen`, with a provider whose `request_feedback` raises
`HumanFeedbackPending`. The run then persists, returns that object from
`kickoff()`, and a different process answers later with `from_pending(flow_id,
persistence)` and `resume(text)`. Do not take the default `ConsoleProvider`,
which calls `input()`: that gate exists only while somebody is watching a
terminal, and a run started by a scheduler either hangs or takes an empty
string.
18. Silence must not approve, and the platform's default is that it does. With
`emit=[...]` set, an empty resume collapses to `default_outcome`, or to the
first label when that is unset, with no model consulted and nobody named. Treat
an empty or unrecognised answer as a refusal in your own router. And write the
approver's name and the time onto the state yourself, because
`HumanFeedbackResult` carries the text, the outcome and a timestamp but has no
field for the person, which the specification requires.
19. Each line under `deviations:` is a `@router` named after the key, returning
a label named after the same key, with the target subscribing as
`@listen(or_(normal_trigger, "the_label"))`. Route rather than listen
directly, because a router is re-evaluated on every cycle while a top-level
`or_` listener is suppressed after it first fires.
20. An exception edge is a `try` and `except` around the failing phase's body,
recording the failure on the state and emitting an exception label from a
router. Wiring it as `@listen(or_(x, y))` fires when those phases SUCCEED, so
the clearing phase would run on every healthy run.
21. An unimplemented phase is a method with the document's own sentence as its
docstring and a bare `pass`, which is safe because listeners still fire on a
`None` return. An unimplemented `@router` is not safe: returning `None` emits
no label, every phase below it disappears from the run including the gates, and
the flow reports success. A stub router must return a hard-coded label with a
TODO beside it, or raise.
22. Turn persistence on with `@persist(SQLiteFlowPersistence(...))`, then treat
every phase that performs a real act as something that will run twice.
Persistence saves the state fields and nothing else, so a restart rehydrates
the data and runs the graph again from `@start`: a flow that had already sent a
written refusal sends a second one. Guard each acting phase with a state field
it checks and sets.
23. There are no timers, no deadlines and no cadences, and `run-scoped:` has no
counterpart at all. Put each `by:` value as a named constant, name the
run-scoped lines in the module docstring as unimplemented obligations, and say
in the fidelity note that no deadline in this document is enforced by anything.
These absences produce no diagnostic whatsoever, which is exactly why they have
to be written down.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: customer research id: <team>/customer-research v1
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a knowledge gap is raised in <your planning process>, or a
study in a standing series comes round again
watch: record=<knowledge gap>
system=<your planning process>
change=<a gap is raised that the record cannot answer>
or watch: record=<standing study>
system=<your study schedule>
change=<a study in the series comes round again>
concurrency: runs overlap - <how many> studies in the field at once.
One study at a time against the same contacts, so the same
people are not asked twice inside <what period>
goal: findings that answer the question the run opened on, each one
carrying the responses it rests on, delivered on the date they
were promised
phases:
take-in-question - human: read the gap and write down what the study
has to settle, for whom, and by when
owner: study-manager after: trigger
automation: <level>
check-known - human: whether the organization's own record or a
source it already holds answers the question
owner: researcher after: take-in-question
by: <days> automation: <level>
choose-method - human: interviews, a survey or a panel, chosen for
what the question needs, written down with the
reason it was chosen over the others
owner: study-manager after: check-known
automation: <level>
brief-the-study - convenes briefing: the question, the method and
the due date, heard by every agent at once
owner: study-manager after: choose-method
automation: <level>
size-the-sample - human: how many responses the study needs, and
what that number was computed from
owner: statistician after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
define-sample - human: who gets asked, how many of them, and how
they are drawn from <your contact base>
owner: study-manager after: size-the-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-consent - runs assessment: the drawn sample scored against
the consent rules in force, contact by contact
owner: consent-manager after: define-sample
automation: <level>
outside-sample - runs collect-and-report: the same requirements put
to every provider that can supply the people the
study needs. The phase closes with nothing bought
when the contact base covers the sample
owner: supplier-manager after: define-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
cover-the-cost - runs allocate-and-reconcile: the incentives and
the outside costs, drawn against <which allocation>
owner: budget-keeper after: outside-sample
automation: <level>
write-questions - human: every question and every piece of material,
in the order it is put to people, at a version
owner: study-manager after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
try-questions - human: a handful of people answer first, and what
they read differently is reworded
owner: study-manager after: write-questions
by: <days> automation: <level>
get-sign-offs - convenes approval: legal and the named owner sign,
as named signers, against a version of the sample
and a version of the questions
owner: <your legal role>
after: check-consent + cover-the-cost +
try-questions
by: <days> automation: never
field-the-study - human: the invitations go out, the interviews are
held, and the responses land as they were given
owner: study-manager after: get-sign-offs
by: <days> automation: <level>
watch-sample - runs roll-call: how many have answered, who has
not, and what the study is waiting on
owner: study-manager after: field-the-study
every: <cadence> automation: <level>
close-the-study - human: asking stops on the date or on the count,
and the responses are fixed at a version
owner: study-manager after: watch-sample
automation: <level>
work-out-figures - human: which responses can be relied on, and each
figure with its method, its exclusions and the
range around it
owner: statistician after: close-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
write-findings - human: what the study found, each finding with the
responses recorded under it
owner: study-manager after: work-out-figures
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-findings - runs layered-passes: the numbers pass, every
figure against the data and the method beside it
owner: statistician after: write-findings
by: <days> automation: <level>
deliver-findings - runs collect-and-report: the findings on their
date, complete or not, with the evidence attached
owner: study-manager after: check-findings
automation: <level>
record-learnings - convenes debrief: what to repeat, what to avoid
owner: study-manager after: deliver-findings
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
spend - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: budget-keeper
from: cover-the-cost until: run close
status - runs roll-call owner: study-manager
every: <cadence>
from: brief-the-study until: deliver-findings
handoffs:
take-in-question -> check-known [the-question]: the gap written as a
question a study can answer, and the date the answer is owed
check-known -> choose-method [what-is-known]: what is already known,
where each part of it came from, and the part of the question
nothing on hand answers
choose-method -> brief-the-study [chosen-method]: the method and the
reason it was chosen over the others
brief-the-study -> size-the-sample [sizing-inputs]: the question, the
size of the difference that would matter to the decision, and the
confidence the study is being run to
brief-the-study -> write-questions [question-brief]: the question as
every agent heard it, and the earlier version of every question a
repeated study reuses
size-the-sample -> define-sample [response-count]: how many responses
the study needs and what that number was computed from
define-sample -> check-consent [drawn-sample]: the drawn sample,
contact by contact, with the source each contact came from
define-sample -> outside-sample [sample-shortfall]: the people the
contact base cannot supply, and what the study needs them to be
check-consent -> get-sign-offs [contactable-sample]: the sample that
may be contacted, the count removed, and the rule behind each
removal
outside-sample -> cover-the-cost [provider-quotes]: what each
provider would charge for the sample, and what it would deliver
cover-the-cost -> get-sign-offs [study-cost]: what the study will
draw, and the allocation it draws against
write-questions -> try-questions [draft-questions]: the questions at
a version, in the order they are put to people
try-questions -> get-sign-offs [piloted-questions]: the questions at
the version the pilot left them at, and what the pilot changed
get-sign-offs -> field-the-study [approved-study]: the approved
sample and the approved questions at their signed versions. A later
change voids the approval and sign-offs run again
field-the-study -> watch-sample [responses-arriving]: the responses
as they arrive, each marked with the version of the questions it
answered
watch-sample -> close-the-study [sample-fill]: the count answered set
against the count the study planned for, said on the day the study
closes
close-the-study -> work-out-figures [fixed-responses]: the responses
fixed at a version, with every response that was removed and the
rule that removed it
work-out-figures -> write-findings [the-figures]: every figure with
the data behind it, the method used, the exclusions applied and the
range around it
write-findings -> check-findings [draft-findings]: the findings at a
version, each with the responses recorded under it
check-findings -> deliver-findings [checked-findings]: the findings
with every figure checked against the data and the method beside
it, and every figure that could not be computed marked as such
deliver-findings -> record-learnings [the-report]: the report, as
delivered
deviations:
check-consent -> define-sample [too-few-may-be-contacted]: the
consent check removes most of the sample, so more contacts are
drawn or the sample is bought
try-questions -> write-questions [question-reads-two-ways]: the pilot
shows a question reading two ways, so it is reworded at a new
version
get-sign-offs -> define-sample [sign-off-changes-to-sample]: a signer
comes back with changes to who is asked, and only that part reopens
get-sign-offs -> write-questions [sign-off-changes-to-questions]: a
signer comes back with changes to what is asked, and only that part
reopens
watch-sample -> field-the-study [too-few-answers-so-far]: fewer have
answered than the study planned for, so it keeps fielding
work-out-figures -> field-the-study [sample-fell-short]: the study
closed short of what it needed, and a person decides whether it
keeps fielding or reports with the shortfall named
any -> work-out-figures [participant-withdraws]: a participant asks
to be withdrawn after the findings are written, so every figure
that rested on what they said is worked out again and the findings
are reissued
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the requester, legal, finance
and the expert>
systems: the study record (write), the questions and material
(write), the response record (write), the calculation record
(write), the survey and interview system (trigger),
the contact database (read), the consent record (read),
the sending system (write), the meeting calendar (write),
the supplier record (write), the budget record (write),
analytics (read)
data: <your consent rules> <version>, the question that opened the
run, the earlier studies in the series at the versions they
ran under, the terms attached to every sample bought from
outside
policy:
nobody is asked anything until the sample and the questions have
been signed
sign-off is a human gate and is never delegated to an agent
an incentive offered to participants is approved by a person before
anything is offered to anybody
every finding carries the responses it rests on, and a finding
resting on fewer responses than the study needed says so
every figure carries its method, its exclusions and the range around
it
responses are kept as they were given, and a response left out of a
count is left out under a named rule
a question in a repeated study is reworded only when <who> agrees,
because the readings before and after the change stop being
comparable
a running test is not stopped early because the numbers already read
well
a participant who asks to be withdrawn is withdrawn, and any finding
that rested on what they said is corrected
a finding is never removed from the report because somebody asked.
<who> decides, and the decision is recorded with the findings
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the question to the delivered findings
completion: <share> of drawn samples that fill to the count the
study planned for
volume: <studies per period>
quality gate: no finding is delivered without the responses under it,
and no figure without its method and its range
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in Google ADK
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current ADK documentation, then writes two files: the workflow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
401 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable Google ADK workflow:
one Python file with a Workflow, nodes, routed edges, a JoinNode,
RequestInput gates and a persisting session service.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://adk.dev/graphs/routes/
nodes, tuple chains, Event(route=), JoinNode, back-edges
https://adk.dev/graphs/human-input/
RequestInput and the rerun_on_resume handoff
https://adk.dev/runtime/resume/
ResumabilityConfig, resuming by invocation id, at-least-once tools
https://adk.dev/graphs/data-handling/
Event.output against state, and the selector syntax in instructions
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN GOOGLE ADK
11. Build a `Workflow` from `google.adk.workflow`, and pin `google-adk>=2.0` in
a comment. Do not use `SequentialAgent`, `ParallelAgent` or `LoopAgent`: they
are deprecated in favour of the graph, and they carry their own defects around
state and control flow. The documentation moved to adk.dev, and anything you
remember about nesting agents rather than drawing a graph is out of date.
12. Each phase is one node keeping its name. Take the node kind from how the
phase resolves rather than from taste: a `human:` or `system:` phase is a plain
Python function node, and a `runs` or `convenes` phase is an `Agent`.
13. `after:` gives the edges, written as tuple chains in `edges=[...]`, and the
trigger is the `"START"` keyword. Take the order only from `after:` lines and
never from the order the phases are listed in.
14. `after: a + b` is a `JoinNode`, and it must be guarded, because this is the
worst trap of any runtime here. The join fires when every static predecessor is
marked COMPLETED, nothing ever un-completes a node, and stored outputs are
never cleared. So after a deviation re-runs one arm, the join fires the instant
that arm finishes and hands the next phase LAST PASS'S value for every arm that
did not re-run. It does not stall, it proceeds with stale data, and nothing
logs. Stamp each arm's output with a pass counter or a content hash, and have
the phase after the join compare the stamps and refuse to run when they
disagree.
15. Each line under `deviations:` is a routed back-edge: a router after the
phase on the left returning `Event(route=...)`, named after the key in
brackets, with one arm going back to the phase on the right and one going
forward. An unconditional cycle raises at construction, which is the one place
this model checks your work. Nothing budgets a routed cycle, so add your own
count and stop rather than looping forever.
16. Give every router an explicit `DEFAULT_ROUTE` arm, and route it to a phase
that stops and asks a person. A route value matching no key writes a log
warning, ends that branch, and lets the run finish reporting success with the
rest of the process never having happened.
17. `automation: never` is a `RequestInput` node of its own, never an `Agent`
asking a question. Decorate it `@node(rerun_on_resume=False)` and yield
`RequestInput(message=..., payload=..., response_schema=...)`, so the run
stops, persists, and delivers the person's answer to the node's successor as
its typed input. A resumed workflow runs its tools at least once, so any
irreversible act needs its own duplicate guard.
18. Make the gates durable or say plainly that they are not. Wrap the graph in
`App(..., resumability_config=ResumabilityConfig(is_resumable=True))` and pass
a persisting session service, never the in-memory one. Note in the file that
the command line and the web UI cannot resume a run, so whoever releases these
gates needs an operator surface that somebody has to write.
19. Every `Agent` in the graph gets `mode="single_turn"` and no `sub_agents`.
A non-empty `sub_agents` list silently adds a transfer tool, and a model that
uses it runs a different agent in this node's place while the graph's outgoing
edge fires on schedule regardless: the topology is honoured perfectly and the
work belongs to somebody else.
20. Model failure as a route, not as an exception. A node that raises does not
propagate: the failure is caught, recorded, and shuts the workflow down without
raising to the caller. So a phase that can fail catches its own failure and
returns `Event(route="could-not-finish")`, and the exception phase hangs off
that arm.
21. Keep every blank as a named module-level constant and never interpolate one
into an `instruction=` string. Angle brackets and curly braces are ADK's own
data selector syntax inside instructions, so a blank pasted verbatim stops
being a blank and becomes a selector.
22. `by:` and `not-before:` have no expression, and `@node(timeout=)` is not
one: it is an in-process wall clock that cancels the node and, because failures
are swallowed, ends the run silently rather than recording a missed deadline.
Nothing in `run-scoped:` has an expression either, and it must not be faked as
an ordinary node, because a node has to be reached and has to finish before
anything downstream starts, which is the opposite of what those lines mean.
Leave both out of the graph and name them in the fidelity note.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: customer research id: <team>/customer-research v1
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a knowledge gap is raised in <your planning process>, or a
study in a standing series comes round again
watch: record=<knowledge gap>
system=<your planning process>
change=<a gap is raised that the record cannot answer>
or watch: record=<standing study>
system=<your study schedule>
change=<a study in the series comes round again>
concurrency: runs overlap - <how many> studies in the field at once.
One study at a time against the same contacts, so the same
people are not asked twice inside <what period>
goal: findings that answer the question the run opened on, each one
carrying the responses it rests on, delivered on the date they
were promised
phases:
take-in-question - human: read the gap and write down what the study
has to settle, for whom, and by when
owner: study-manager after: trigger
automation: <level>
check-known - human: whether the organization's own record or a
source it already holds answers the question
owner: researcher after: take-in-question
by: <days> automation: <level>
choose-method - human: interviews, a survey or a panel, chosen for
what the question needs, written down with the
reason it was chosen over the others
owner: study-manager after: check-known
automation: <level>
brief-the-study - convenes briefing: the question, the method and
the due date, heard by every agent at once
owner: study-manager after: choose-method
automation: <level>
size-the-sample - human: how many responses the study needs, and
what that number was computed from
owner: statistician after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
define-sample - human: who gets asked, how many of them, and how
they are drawn from <your contact base>
owner: study-manager after: size-the-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-consent - runs assessment: the drawn sample scored against
the consent rules in force, contact by contact
owner: consent-manager after: define-sample
automation: <level>
outside-sample - runs collect-and-report: the same requirements put
to every provider that can supply the people the
study needs. The phase closes with nothing bought
when the contact base covers the sample
owner: supplier-manager after: define-sample
by: <days> automation: <level>
cover-the-cost - runs allocate-and-reconcile: the incentives and
the outside costs, drawn against <which allocation>
owner: budget-keeper after: outside-sample
automation: <level>
write-questions - human: every question and every piece of material,
in the order it is put to people, at a version
owner: study-manager after: brief-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
try-questions - human: a handful of people answer first, and what
they read differently is reworded
owner: study-manager after: write-questions
by: <days> automation: <level>
get-sign-offs - convenes approval: legal and the named owner sign,
as named signers, against a version of the sample
and a version of the questions
owner: <your legal role>
after: check-consent + cover-the-cost +
try-questions
by: <days> automation: never
field-the-study - human: the invitations go out, the interviews are
held, and the responses land as they were given
owner: study-manager after: get-sign-offs
by: <days> automation: <level>
watch-sample - runs roll-call: how many have answered, who has
not, and what the study is waiting on
owner: study-manager after: field-the-study
every: <cadence> automation: <level>
close-the-study - human: asking stops on the date or on the count,
and the responses are fixed at a version
owner: study-manager after: watch-sample
automation: <level>
work-out-figures - human: which responses can be relied on, and each
figure with its method, its exclusions and the
range around it
owner: statistician after: close-the-study
by: <days> automation: <level>
write-findings - human: what the study found, each finding with the
responses recorded under it
owner: study-manager after: work-out-figures
by: <days> automation: <level>
check-findings - runs layered-passes: the numbers pass, every
figure against the data and the method beside it
owner: statistician after: write-findings
by: <days> automation: <level>
deliver-findings - runs collect-and-report: the findings on their
date, complete or not, with the evidence attached
owner: study-manager after: check-findings
automation: <level>
record-learnings - convenes debrief: what to repeat, what to avoid
owner: study-manager after: deliver-findings
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
spend - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: budget-keeper
from: cover-the-cost until: run close
status - runs roll-call owner: study-manager
every: <cadence>
from: brief-the-study until: deliver-findings
handoffs:
take-in-question -> check-known [the-question]: the gap written as a
question a study can answer, and the date the answer is owed
check-known -> choose-method [what-is-known]: what is already known,
where each part of it came from, and the part of the question
nothing on hand answers
choose-method -> brief-the-study [chosen-method]: the method and the
reason it was chosen over the others
brief-the-study -> size-the-sample [sizing-inputs]: the question, the
size of the difference that would matter to the decision, and the
confidence the study is being run to
brief-the-study -> write-questions [question-brief]: the question as
every agent heard it, and the earlier version of every question a
repeated study reuses
size-the-sample -> define-sample [response-count]: how many responses
the study needs and what that number was computed from
define-sample -> check-consent [drawn-sample]: the drawn sample,
contact by contact, with the source each contact came from
define-sample -> outside-sample [sample-shortfall]: the people the
contact base cannot supply, and what the study needs them to be
check-consent -> get-sign-offs [contactable-sample]: the sample that
may be contacted, the count removed, and the rule behind each
removal
outside-sample -> cover-the-cost [provider-quotes]: what each
provider would charge for the sample, and what it would deliver
cover-the-cost -> get-sign-offs [study-cost]: what the study will
draw, and the allocation it draws against
write-questions -> try-questions [draft-questions]: the questions at
a version, in the order they are put to people
try-questions -> get-sign-offs [piloted-questions]: the questions at
the version the pilot left them at, and what the pilot changed
get-sign-offs -> field-the-study [approved-study]: the approved
sample and the approved questions at their signed versions. A later
change voids the approval and sign-offs run again
field-the-study -> watch-sample [responses-arriving]: the responses
as they arrive, each marked with the version of the questions it
answered
watch-sample -> close-the-study [sample-fill]: the count answered set
against the count the study planned for, said on the day the study
closes
close-the-study -> work-out-figures [fixed-responses]: the responses
fixed at a version, with every response that was removed and the
rule that removed it
work-out-figures -> write-findings [the-figures]: every figure with
the data behind it, the method used, the exclusions applied and the
range around it
write-findings -> check-findings [draft-findings]: the findings at a
version, each with the responses recorded under it
check-findings -> deliver-findings [checked-findings]: the findings
with every figure checked against the data and the method beside
it, and every figure that could not be computed marked as such
deliver-findings -> record-learnings [the-report]: the report, as
delivered
deviations:
check-consent -> define-sample [too-few-may-be-contacted]: the
consent check removes most of the sample, so more contacts are
drawn or the sample is bought
try-questions -> write-questions [question-reads-two-ways]: the pilot
shows a question reading two ways, so it is reworded at a new
version
get-sign-offs -> define-sample [sign-off-changes-to-sample]: a signer
comes back with changes to who is asked, and only that part reopens
get-sign-offs -> write-questions [sign-off-changes-to-questions]: a
signer comes back with changes to what is asked, and only that part
reopens
watch-sample -> field-the-study [too-few-answers-so-far]: fewer have
answered than the study planned for, so it keeps fielding
work-out-figures -> field-the-study [sample-fell-short]: the study
closed short of what it needed, and a person decides whether it
keeps fielding or reports with the shortfall named
any -> work-out-figures [participant-withdraws]: a participant asks
to be withdrawn after the findings are written, so every figure
that rested on what they said is worked out again and the findings
are reissued
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the requester, legal, finance
and the expert>
systems: the study record (write), the questions and material
(write), the response record (write), the calculation record
(write), the survey and interview system (trigger),
the contact database (read), the consent record (read),
the sending system (write), the meeting calendar (write),
the supplier record (write), the budget record (write),
analytics (read)
data: <your consent rules> <version>, the question that opened the
run, the earlier studies in the series at the versions they
ran under, the terms attached to every sample bought from
outside
policy:
nobody is asked anything until the sample and the questions have
been signed
sign-off is a human gate and is never delegated to an agent
an incentive offered to participants is approved by a person before
anything is offered to anybody
every finding carries the responses it rests on, and a finding
resting on fewer responses than the study needed says so
every figure carries its method, its exclusions and the range around
it
responses are kept as they were given, and a response left out of a
count is left out under a named rule
a question in a repeated study is reworded only when <who> agrees,
because the readings before and after the change stop being
comparable
a running test is not stopped early because the numbers already read
well
a participant who asks to be withdrawn is withdrawn, and any finding
that rested on what they said is corrected
a finding is never removed from the report because somebody asked.
<who> decides, and the decision is recorded with the findings
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the question to the delivered findings
completion: <share> of drawn samples that fill to the count the
study planned for
volume: <studies per period>
quality gate: no finding is delivered without the responses under it,
and no figure without its method and its range
```
One run
A simulation of one run
The activities are on the left, whoever is doing the active one is on the right, and the record of the run builds up as it goes.
This run is built from the same rows as the diagram above: the left column is the activity list, the captions are the activity lines, the cast is the roster, and the labels on the wires are what the handoffs say actually passes.
Adoption
What you fill in
54 blanks to fill. Everything else is the process.
this process
from: ref/mkt/customer-research v1
Copy this line into your own document. It never claims this process is running anywhere; it records which draft yours started from, and it is what lets the catalog tell you when this one changes.
The header. Your own id, an owner, and the date it takes effect. One line records where it came from, and that line is what lets the catalog tell you when this reference process changes.
The roster. Which agent takes each activity, and which person takes each of the human ones. The process already names what it needs, so this is a lookup rather than a design exercise.
The numbers. Dates, budgets, cadences, and the targets in the measures block. Nothing here can be a reference value, because a target nobody chose is a target nobody meets.