I'm going to give the classic non-answer. "It depends".
What do they WANT to automate? Possibilities include but are not limited to:
- Add a feature, with your configurations (i.e., add an IIS role), probably with an application or could even be done with a Task Sequence deployment, depends what and how they want to do that.
- "Make sure that if the <wonderful app> is installed, that <these settings> are set. (Configuration baseline)
- Install <This Application> of <this latest version> if it is missing or is an older version; and confirm it is there every xx days.
- I've even done some fun things where if SQL is installed, and presuming rights are granted the "right way" for SQL, checking SQL configuration, and changing it if it doesn't fit "the required settings based on what someone said once". (Configuration Baseline)