What to do when you inherit a workflow in BetterCloud

Inheriting an existing workflow can feel a bit like walking into the middle of someone else’s project with no context. This feeling compounds in the world of IT automation and SaaS management, where even small missteps can have wide-reaching impact.

For IT admins stepping into a new role or taking over responsibilities, these workflows often power critical processes: user lifecycle management, access controls, security enforcement, and more. Yet the logic behind them, the original intent, and the edge cases they account for aren’t always immediately clear.

The challenge isn’t just keeping things running. It’s understanding what’s already in place well enough to maintain, troubleshoot, and confidently build on top of it. Without that clarity, workflows can quickly become brittle, outdated, and even risky.

The good news: you don’t need to untangle everything.

Here’s how to take control of inherited workflows in BetterCloud methodically, safely, and without overwhelm.

TIP: We should also mention BetterCloud has an incredible support team that can help you as well. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for help!

Step 1: Don’t freak out

We’re starting here because it matters more than it sounds.

When you first go into the workflows dashboard, it’s easy to feel like you’ve inherited a black box. There are triggers you didn’t configure, actions you don’t fully understand, and logic paths that may not be documented anywhere.

Resist the urge to immediately “fix” things.

Instead, treat this as a discovery phase. Your goal isn’t to optimize yet, but to understand. Many workflows, even if imperfect, are actively supporting business-critical processes. Making rapid changes without context can introduce more risk than leaving things as-is temporarily.

Think of this step as stabilizing the environment before making improvements. 

Step 2: Audit your workflows with three key questions

Before making any changes, you need a clear picture of what you’re working with. Start by reviewing your workflows and asking three simple but powerful questions…

Is it active?

Not every workflow you inherit is still active or serving a purpose. Identify which workflows are active and which are not.

This helps you quickly reduce noise and focus on what matters. Dormant workflows can be set aside to be  documented for later review.

Is it critical?

Next, figure out how much this workflow actually matters day-to-day.

Ask yourself:

• Does this workflow handle onboarding or offboarding users?
• Does it control access to apps or data?
• If this broke, would people lose access or get stuck?

If the answer to any of these is “yes,” treat it carefully.

You don’t want to make quick changes to something that’s quietly keeping your environment running. Start by understanding it first, then make small, safe updates instead of big changes all at once.

Where is it failing?

This is where things get actionable.

Even well-designed workflows degrade over time—especially as SaaS environments evolve. Permissions change, APIs update, and dependencies shift.

Look for failed actions, conditional logic that no longer applies, or integration points that may be breaking.

Understanding failure points gives you a direct path to improvement without guessing.

For a deeper dive into auditing workflows, we have a guide on improving workflows here.

Step 3: Use your dashboard to find the “loudest” failures first

You don’t have to overhaul the entire system on day one.

One of the best ways to manage inherited BetterCloud workflows is to start with the most visible failures. Use the workflow dashboard to identify workflows that are failed, waiting, stopped, or incomplete.

These are the “loudest” issues because they are already interrupting operations or signaling process gaps.

Click into specific workflow instances to understand:

• which step failed
• where the workflow stopped
• whether the problem is logic-related, permission-related, or integration-related
• how often the same issue appears

This level of workflow visibility makes troubleshooting much easier. Instead of rebuilding an entire automation, you can isolate the exact step causing problems and fix only what is necessary.

Step 4: Refactor inherited workflows instead of rebuilding them

Once you identify issues, take an incremental approach.

In most cases, the safest way to improve inherited BetterCloud workflows is to refactor instead of rebuild. That may include:

• updating broken conditions
• reconnecting integrations
• simplifying overly complex branches
• removing outdated steps
• adjusting workflows to reflect current onboarding, offboarding, or access policies

This reduces disruption while improving reliability. Over time, you may decide that a full rebuild makes sense, but that decision should come after you understand the workflow’s purpose and dependencies.

Step 5: Document as you go

A lack of documentation is one of the biggest reasons inherited workflows become difficult to manage.

As you review and improve workflows, document:

• what the workflow does
• what triggers it
• why certain conditions exist
• what integrations it depends on
• what edge cases it handles
• what changes you made and why

Good workflow documentation helps your future team avoid the same confusion. It also turns inherited automations into reusable operational assets instead of tribal knowledge.

Step 6: Align workflows with current business needs

Workflows should evolve with your business.

A workflow that made sense a year ago may no longer match your current SaaS stack, org structure, approval process, or security policy. Once you understand your inherited workflows, you can begin aligning them to current needs.

This may include:

• removing outdated logic
• improving user lifecycle management flows
• tightening access controls
• updating workflows for current SaaS apps
• finding opportunities for additional no-code automation

Because BetterCloud supports no-code user automation for IT, teams can make these improvements without starting from scratch or relying on custom scripting for every change.

You don’t have to figure it out alone

One thing that’s easy to forget when you’re deep in inherited workflows: you’re not on your own.

BetterCloud’s platform is designed to give you visibility into what’s happening, but when things get complicated (or you’re just not sure why something was built a certain way) our support team is there to help.

Whether you’re:

• Troubleshooting a failing workflow
• Trying to understand how a specific action works
• Deciding whether to fix or rebuild something

You can lean on BetterCloud support to get clarity faster and avoid unnecessary trial and error.

Sometimes a quick conversation can save you hours of digging—and help you move forward with more confidence.

Take control without starting from scratch

Inheriting BetterCloud workflows doesn’t mean starting from zero—it means stepping into a system that already contains valuable logic and automation.

If you take a steady approach:

• Understand before changing
• Focus on what’s actively breaking
• Fix things piece by piece

You can turn inherited workflows from a source of stress into something you actually trust.

And if you get stuck along the way, you’ve got the tools (and the support) to help you get there faster.