Automation decision calculator

Should You Automate This Process?

Estimate the financial return, test whether the workflow is ready, and receive a practical recommendation—not every repetitive process should be automated immediately.

Strategic benefits are shown separately and never used to inflate the financial ROI.

Process volume

Describe the total workload for this process. Staffing is estimated from the time required versus a standard workday or workweek.

Tasks per week for this process

tasks

Daily volume assumes 5 working days per week.

Average manual time per task

min

Typical handling time from start to done, excluding waiting.

Fully loaded hourly labor cost

Include salary, taxes, benefits, and overhead when possible.

Labor cost per week — Hours × fully loaded hourly cost

Time spent per week — Tasks × average minutes per task

Employees needed — Based on available working hours

Automation readiness

Check whether the workflow is stable, documented, rule-based, digital, and clearly owned before designing the solution.

Is the process documented? The team can explain the steps, inputs, outputs, and exceptions.

How stable are the steps? The workflow does not change significantly every few weeks.

Are decisions based on clear rules? Most decisions can be expressed as conditions instead of subjective judgment.

Are the inputs already digital? Data enters through forms, emails, databases, files, or software systems.

How frequently do exceptions occur? Exceptions require special handling outside the normal workflow.

Is there a clear process owner? One person can approve decisions, resolve ambiguity, and own the result.

Strategic benefits — not included in financial ROI

Faster customer response Better compliance and auditability Improved employee experience Easier scaling without additional headcount More consistent data Reduced dependency on one employee

Proposed automation

Describe a realistic solution, including the work it can handle, the human review it still needs, and its ongoing costs.

Tasks that can be automated

Expected adoption rate

Human review per automated task

min

One-time implementation cost

Monthly software cost

Monthly maintenance and support

Internal troubleshooting per month

hrs

Conclusions

Review the recommendation, compare scenarios, and copy a complete assessment for your team or an automation specialist.

Recommendation

Calculating…

Financial attractiveness —

Automation readiness —

Financial projection

Hours saved per month

—

Monthly net benefit

—

After software, support, and oversight

First-year net benefit

—

Benefits minus all first-year costs

First-year ROI

—

Net benefit ÷ first-year investment

Estimated payback

—

Time required to recover setup cost

Annual benefit before costs

—

Labor savings before operating costs

Current process snapshot

Monthly task volume—

Manual hours per month—

Current labor cost per month—

First-year investment—

Strategic benefits: none selected. These benefits are displayed separately and do not change the ROI.

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Step 1 of 4 Process Volume