For finance and operations leaders
The annual cost of a process your organization still performs manually
Data entry, document matching, chasing approvals, and moving data between systems rarely appear as budget line items: they are paid for as salaries. Using your team's hours, headcount, and fully loaded hourly cost, this calculator estimates the monthly and annual cost of the manual process, the savings from automation, and the corresponding project scope.
The calculator
Enter the details of one process
The fields start with sample values. Replace them with your own operational data. Calculations happen on this page; the values you enter are not sent to a server. If you are unsure which process to measure, our guide to nine commonly automated processes, assessed by volume, cost of errors, and risk helps you rank the candidates.
Stated assumption: automation is assumed to cover 70% of the process's manual time. Your team retains the remainder for exceptions and decisions requiring judgment. The estimated savings do not include reduced errors, making this a conservative figure.
What the process consumes over twelve months at the current rate.
Based on 70% of manual time, excluding avoided errors.
The calculation
How the calculator uses your numbers
All the math is visible. You can reproduce it in a spreadsheet before presenting it to a committee.
Process cost
Weekly hours × people × fully loaded hourly cost × 4.33 weeks per month, plus reported errors multiplied by their unit cost.
Suggested scope
Determined by total team hours: fewer than 10 hours per week, 10 to 25 hours, or more than 25 hours.
Savings and payback
Savings equal 70% of time costs. Payback is not estimated here; it is calculated using the quote for the assessed scope.
What replaces manual work
An end-to-end workflow, with decisions still in your team's hands
We build the complete process, with controls and traceability, from data intake through recording in your systems. The platform that runs it is chosen using our criterion-by-criterion comparison of Power Automate and n8n.
Scopes
The calculator's three scopes
The range returned by the calculator depends only on total team hours. Costs are quoted after the scope assessment. When the scope includes an AI agent, it is structured using the six factors that determine investment in an agent.
Simple unit
Processes under 10 hours per week · 1 to 2 weeksOne focused workflow: one input, one process, one output. It provides an initial verifiable milestone before committing to a larger program.
Standard unit
Processes from 10 to 25 hours per week · 2 to 4 weeksA workflow with approvals, validations, and connections to systems of record, including logging and exception handling.
Multi-agent team
Processes over 25 hours per week · 4 to 8 weeksMultiple workflows and agents coordinated across an entire department. Feasibility is confirmed during the assessment.
Frequently asked questions
What a committee usually asks before approval
How reliable is the calculator's result?
It is an indicative estimate based on the numbers you enter, not a quote or a promise of results. A firm figure comes from the executive assessment, which reviews your specific process and systems.
Why assume 70% of the time?
A well-designed workflow handles repetitive work, while your team retains exceptions, approvals, and decisions requiring judgment. This conservative assumption is stated openly; your process's actual percentage is defined during the assessment.
What does the suggested scope include?
Development, testing, and a documented handoff, with verifiable milestones. Payments follow milestones, and each project is quoted after a scope assessment covering complexity, integrations, volume, security, and support. The structure is described in our approach.
Is monthly managed operation available after the project?
It is optional and scoped to the monitoring and continuous improvement your organization needs. The structure is described in managed operations. Your own team can also operate it: the handoff is documented, and access remains under your organization's ownership.
What if the return does not justify automation?
We say so honestly. If estimated savings do not justify the quoted investment, that process should not be automated first. The assessment looks for a process with a reasonable return. If none has one, we report that too.
Does the data I enter leave my browser?
No. Calculations happen on this page, and the values you enter are not sent to a server. Our information-handling practices are described in security and governance.
You have a ballpark estimate. The firm figure comes next.
The executive assessment reviews your actual process, volumes, and systems to define what to automate, what to retain, and the scope.