Highly advisable as this ensures you get the right /compatible python libraries loaded.
Alternatively you could import the plams packages:

from scm.plams import *
init()

You can find a hands-on demonstration of how to write and execute a PLAMS workflow in our video tutorial series.

For more simple examples and recipes to get you started, take a look into the PLAMS manual.

Let us know if you have issues setting up your own workflows. We would also like to hear if you would like to contribute a useful python workflow script to help out others!

A good example of a multi-step PLAMS workflow with DFTB and BAND is given in our recent video tutorial.
Download: workflow.py

For several simple and more advanced workflows, take a look at the Examples section of the PLAMS manual.

Another common PLAMS application is the post-processing of calculation results. A good example of this is found in the analysis section of the Battery Discharge tutorial.
Download: LiVoltageProfile.py