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What is this manual process really costing you?
- Time
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- Hours, cost, errors
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- Stored
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What it costs you each year
This process takes about 322 hours a year including rework, costing £9,660. Errors account for £460. Automating 70% of it would release 225 hours, worth £6,762 a year.
- Hours a year
- 322
- 460 runs, including rework
- Cost a year
- £9,660
- at £30 an hour
- Cost of errors
- £460
- 5% of runs redone
- 70% automation releases
- £6,762
- 225 hours, about 0.1 full-time people
- Time spent doing it£9,200 (307 h)
- Fixing and redoing errors£460 (15 h)
- Released by 70% automation£6,762 (225 h)
This process takes about 322 hours a year including rework, costing £9,660. Errors account for £460. Automating 70% of it would release 225 hours, worth £6,762 a year.
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The working
How the numbers work
Runs a year. Per working day is multiplied by 230, per week by 46 (a year less holidays and bank holidays), and per month by 12.
Hours a year = people x minutes per run x runs a year, divided by 60.
Cost of errors. Each run that needs fixing is treated as doing the work again, so rework is your error percentage of the base hours. Real rework is often worse: it lands on senior people, and some errors reach customers.
Cost = hours x your hourly cost. The default is £30 an hour; change it to your own. Use the full cost of a person, not just their pay: employer National Insurance, pension contributions and holiday all count.
70% automation. Most processes keep a human step: an approval, an exception, a judgement call. Taking 70% of the total hours out is a realistic target to test, not a promise. Full-time equivalents use 1,725 hours a year (46 weeks at 37.5 hours).
Questions
Before you rely on it
Is 70% automation realistic?
For repetitive, rules-based work such as re-keying, matching and routine approvals, it is a sensible target to test. Some processes reach more, some less. A Free Automation Proof shows the real figure on your own process before you spend anything.
What hourly cost should I use?
The full cost of the people who do the work: salary plus employer National Insurance, pension and holiday, divided by the hours they actually work. If several roles are involved, use a blended figure.
Does releasing hours mean cutting jobs?
Usually not. The time tends to go to work that was being squeezed out: customers, quality, growth. The figure shows the capacity you get back; what you do with it is your call.
Do you keep my numbers?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you ask for an email copy, and then only what is needed to send it, as the privacy notice explains.
Related reading and next steps
Read next
Is this process worth automating?
The quick tests I use to decide whether a process will pay back, before anyone writes a line of code.
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