--- title: "Four Pilot Workflows: Foster Updates, Profile Review, Applicants, Special Needs" description: "Compare four focused WhiskerMatch pilot workflows: foster update routing, public profile review, applicant review, and special-needs care stories. A pilot starts with one." canonical: https://www.whiskermatch.com/workflows markdown_url: https://www.whiskermatch.com/workflows.md generated_from: "canonical page server-rendered HTML; the HTML page is authoritative" last_modified: 2026-10-04 last_updated: 2026-10-04 publisher: "Veldarium Technology Systems LLC" --- Workflows # Four focused workflows. One pilot starts with one. These are not all being built at once. WhiskerMatch starts with one repeated handoff beside the tools a team already uses. Compare the four workflows [Talk through one workflow](mailto:support@whiskermatch.com?subject=Pick%20one%20WhiskerMatch%20workflow) Current pilot focus ## Choose the handoff that keeps costing time. Each pilot version names its inputs, owner, human decision, success signal, stop line, and what stays in the current stack. ### Foster update routing WhiskerMatch does not replace the foster who knows the animal. It keeps their context from getting lost. - **Today's pain** Useful context lands in texts and group chats, then depends on one person remembering where it belongs. - **What changes** Updates return to the animal record with a source, owner, and explicit next action. - **Inputs** Foster texts, check-ins, photos, observations, and requests. - **Owner** Foster coordinator or named routing owner. - **What may be prepared** A foster coordinator records the update, separates observations from requests, and names missing context. - **Humans decide** Whether the update changes care, behavior context, public wording, or follow-up. - **Pilot version** One foster group, one routing owner, and one weekly review cadence. - **Success signal** Foster updates stop requiring a search through old messages. - **What remains in existing tools** Foster communication channels and the shelter's system of record remain in place. - **Never automated** Behavior conclusions, medical conclusions, or public profile changes. ### Public profile review gate Unknown should stay unknown until someone reviews it. A faster profile is not worth a riskier one. - **Today's pain** A public profile can lag behind current foster or staff context, or change without a recorded reviewer. - **What changes** Drafts stay internal until a named human approves, holds, or requests changes. - **Inputs** Current public copy, approved intake facts, foster updates, and medical or behavior caveats. - **Owner** Named profile reviewer. - **What may be prepared** Draft clear public wording from attached, reviewed source material. - **Humans decide** What is accurate, safe, useful, and ready to publish. - **Pilot version** Three to five profiles with one reviewer and explicit hold reasons. - **Success signal** Correct context reaches the public only after review. - **What remains in existing tools** The existing website, listing service, and publishing tool remain in place. - **Never automated** Publishing, medical claims, behavior claims, or removal of uncertainty. ### Applicant review lane The point is not to score people faster. It is to keep staff from rebuilding the same context before every reply. - **Today's pain** Applications, documents, and questions sit in separate inbox threads without a shared state. - **What changes** Each applicant has a visible review stage attached to the animal record. - **Inputs** Applications, supporting documents, questions, replies, and shelter policy. - **Owner** Adoption coordinator or named applicant reviewer. - **What may be prepared** An adoption coordinator organizes documents, reviews the timeline, and writes routine replies. - **Humans decide** What information matters, what question comes next, and every applicant outcome. - **Pilot version** Five to ten applications with one adoption coordinator and explicit stages. - **Success signal** Fewer ownerless applications and fewer repeated questions. - **What remains in existing tools** The application form, inbox, and final placement process remain in existing tools. - **Never automated** Applicant ranking, rejection, placement decisions, or policy exceptions. ### Special-needs care profile A disabled or medically complex animal is not a harder row in a queue. The care story needs room to be understood. - **Today's pain** Daily care, mobility, medication, foster observations, and adopter education live in separate notes. - **What changes** A Care Story Card keeps approved care context, open questions, and the required human decision together. - **Inputs** Foster observations, routines, approved medical context, mobility notes, and open care questions. - **Owner** Named care-story reviewer with appropriate staff or professional escalation. - **What may be prepared** A care-story reviewer organizes source notes and writes a bounded summary that preserves uncertainty. - **Humans decide** What the animal needs, what requires veterinary or behavior interpretation, and what an adopter should understand. - **Pilot version** One fictional or approved special-needs workflow with a named care-story reviewer. - **Success signal** The reviewer sees daily-life context without reducing the animal to a condition. - **What remains in existing tools** Clinical records, behavior assessments, and placement decisions remain with the responsible people and systems. - **Never automated** Diagnosis, adopter qualification, risk scoring, or placement readiness. ### What stays with a person Review gates that apply to every workflow. Held on every page - A person always decides. Drafts come only from sourced facts. - Photos are context, not decisions. - Medical notes require human and veterinary interpretation. - Unknown stays visible. - Reviewer override remains clear. - WhiskerMatch does not rank adopters as truth. - WhiskerMatch does not diagnose. - WhiskerMatch does not auto-place animals. [Read the full trust boundaries →](https://www.whiskermatch.com/trust) ### Later, after pilot evidence Useful directions, not current scope claims. They should not compete with proving one focused workflow useful and safe. - #### Stray intake with photo context The intake photo stays attached to the source facts, explicit unknowns, current owner, and next human review step. - #### Intake cleanup One structured intake view keeps source, owner, completeness, and unknown fields visible. - #### Medical note handoff The source, review state, plain-language draft, and professional follow-up stay visibly separate. - #### Behavior note handoff Observations stay attributed and the reviewer can compare context before changing care or placement language. - #### Adopter clarification The missing information, approved animal context, question, sender, and response return to the same review lane. - #### Rescue partner referral The referral keeps approved care context, current needs, source notes, and a named sender together. - #### Follow-up ownership Every follow-up keeps an owner, due date, source context, and completion event. - #### Director posture board A bounded posture board shows blockers, owners, due work, and review states. - #### Volunteer reviewer queue A bounded queue presents the current draft, source material, and allowed review actions. - #### Audit and source trail Each material change records the actor, source, timing, and review decision. - #### Reviewer override The human reviewer can edit, hold, override, or stop the prepared work with a visible reason. - #### Pilot feedback loop Feedback is attached to the workflow, expected behavior, owner, decision, and follow-up date. Founder-supported pilot. ## Pick one workflow for a pilot. A busy shelter should not need a perfect process to start. Bring the workflow as it really operates, including the awkward parts. [Bring one workflow](https://www.whiskermatch.com/contact#bring-one-workflow) [Review the pilot scope](https://www.whiskermatch.com/pilot/brief) --- About WhiskerMatch: WhiskerMatch is workflow software for animal shelters and rescues that keeps one reviewed record per animal across intake, foster care, adoption review and public profiles, with people making every placement and publishing decision. ## Sitemap See the full [WhiskerMatch sitemap](https://www.whiskermatch.com/sitemap.md) for every public page, or [llms.txt](https://www.whiskermatch.com/llms.txt) for a short summary.