Tool

Automate a process

Is this process worth automating, and how many months until it pays back?

Volume, time per item, automatable share, human review and errors: the net annual gain, the payback month, the minimum profitable volume — and a case ready to present.

≈ 3 min
100% free · no AI · nothing is sent
You leave with: A signable automation case, with a proposed decision

The process, today and tomorrow

Start from an example or enter your own figures. Time per item is best measured by timing five random items: more reliable than an estimate from memory.

Examples:

Process name

Monthly volume

items

Manual time per item

min

Loaded hourly cost

€/h

Roughly gross hourly salary × 1.8, contributions and overhead included.

Target automated share60 %

Items the tool handles on its own; the rest stays manual.

Review per automated item

min

Cost of one error

€

Time to fix, chase, credit note, penalty…

Error rate today3 %

Residual automated error rate2 %

After review. If it exceeds the manual rate, quality becomes a cost.

Build cost

€

Monthly run cost

€/month

Licences, inference, hosting, support.

Ramp-up3 mo

Horizon24 mo

Green light

Paid back within a year, and profitable even in the cautious case. The case stands as it is.

The result

Net annual gain, at run-rate

€33,000

€15,000 — €50,000

After human review, errors and run cost.

Paid back in

10.3 mo

7.2 mo — 20.8 mo

Adoption ramp included.

Hours freed per month

72 h

56 h — 80 h

≈ 0.5 FTE, out of 160 h of handling today.

Cumulative over 24 months

€37,000

€4,100 — €70,000

Build cost deducted.

Minimum profitable monthly volume

375

Below this, the build amortised over 24 months is not covered. You handle 800.

The cumulative result, month by month

Build paid up front, gain ramping in, run cost from month one. Where it crosses zero is the payback month.

Cumulative — centralCumulative — cautious

The annual detail

Cost line items
Line	Estimate
Set-up
Build and deployment One-off: design, integration, testing, go-live.	€25,000
People
Human review of automated itemsoften omitted 2 min per automated item, at the full hourly rate. The line that turns a demo into a reliable process.	€9,500 €7,400 — €11,000
Recurring
Annual run cost Licences, inference, hosting and support, over twelve months.	€5,400
Return
Handling time saved Items handled by the automation × today's manual time, converted to value at the chosen conversion rate.	€46,000 €27,000 — €63,000
Errors avoided Error-rate gap between manual and automated, at the cost of fixing each error.	€2,100 €1,600 — €2,300

What moves the result

Each input moved by 20%, the others held. The longest bar is the figure to check first.

What moves the result

Each assumption is moved ±20% on its own, holding the others fixed. The longest bar is the one worth checking first — not necessarily the one that felt most uncertain.

Manual time€24,000 — €42,000

Volume€25,000 — €40,000

Automated share€25,000 — €40,000

Hourly cost€26,000 — €40,000

Review€31,000 — €35,000

Run cost€32,000 — €34,000

Around the base case: €33,000

The assumptions

Every figure above rests on these. The ones marked “assumption” have no external source: they are modelling choices, labelled so they can be argued with rather than mistaken for measurements.

Share of the planned rate actually achieved: A rate measured on a clean sample rarely holds on the full flow, exceptions included. The central case keeps 90% of the planned rate.
Conversion of freed time into value: Higher than for a general assistant, because the time is concentrated in one team and can be redeployed. Not 100% either: some of it dissolves.
Review at the full hourly rate: Review time is counted without discount: it is certain time, unlike freed time.
Adoption ramp: The gain arrives gradually; the run cost starts in month one.
Working hours per month: 1,600 h a year net of leave — to convert hours into full-time equivalents.

Deliverable

The case to present

Automation business case — Process to automate

Deterministic costing: same input, same result. The assumptions are listed at the end.

Horizon: 24 months
Proposed decision: Green light

Green light

Paid back within a year, and profitable even in the cautious case. The case stands as it is.

The situation today

Volume: 800 items / month
Manual time: 12 min / item
Total workload: 160 h / month
Loaded hourly cost: €55/h
Current error rate: 3 %

The project

Target automated share: 60 %
Review per automated item: 2 min
Residual error rate: 2 %
Build: €25,000
Run cost: €450 / month
Ramp-up: 3 months

The result

Measure	Central	Range
Net annual gain, at run-rate	€33,000	€15,000 — €50,000
Paid back in	10.3 mo	7.2 mo — 20.8 mo
Hours freed per month	72 h	56 h — 80 h
Cumulative over 24 months	€37,000	€4,100 — €70,000
Minimum profitable monthly volume	375	—

The annual detail, at run-rate

Line	Amount	Type
Build and deployment	€25,000	One-off
Annual run cost	€5,400	Cost
Human review of automated items	€9,500 (€7,400 — €11,000)	Cost
Handling time saved	€46,000 (€27,000 — €63,000)	Gain
Errors avoided	€2,100 (€1,600 — €2,300)	Gain

At run-rate, the net gain is €33,000 (€15,000 — €50,000) a year. Over 24 months, build deducted and ramp included, the cumulative result is €37,000 (€4,100 — €70,000).

Conditions for success

Measure today's manual time over two weeks before launch, to have a real baseline.
Define the cases the automation does not handle (exceptions) and who picks them up.
Set the human check: full review at first, then sampling once the error rate is stable.
Track the real automation rate and the residual error rate monthly, not only the volume handled.
Document a fallback to manual handling in case of a vendor or model incident.
Check that the data processed can lawfully be entrusted to the tool (contract, hosting, personal data).

Assumptions

Share of the planned rate actually achieved : 70 % — 100 % — A rate measured on a clean sample rarely holds on the full flow, exceptions included. The central case keeps 90% of the planned rate.
Conversion of freed time into value : 60 % — 100 % — Higher than for a general assistant, because the time is concentrated in one team and can be redeployed. Not 100% either: some of it dissolves.
Review at the full hourly rate : €55/h — Review time is counted without discount: it is certain time, unlike freed time.
Adoption ramp : 3 months — The gain arrives gradually; the run cost starts in month one.
Working hours per month : 133 h — 1,600 h a year net of leave — to convert hours into full-time equivalents.

Sign-off

Process owner

Decision and date

Generated by i-avantage's “Automate a process” tool. Computed in your browser; no data was transmitted.

What the calculation does, what the AI does

Every figure on this page comes from a deterministic algorithm running in your browser: the same input always gives the same result, and nothing is sent to produce it. This tool uses no language model at all: every sentence shown is written into the rule that triggered it.

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