What "measurable impact" should mean for an automation project
How to count the benefit of an automation honestly: what to measure, what to assume, and how to label each number.
Claims about savings are easy to make and hard to trust. A useful measurement is simple and honest about its limits.
Measure the baseline first
Before anything is built, record how long the task takes, how often it happens and how many errors occur. Without a baseline there is nothing to compare against.
Separate four kinds of number
- Measured: observed in the real operation over a stated period.
- Client-reported: told to us by the business, not independently measured.
- Estimated: calculated from stated assumptions.
- Projected: a forecast, not yet observed.
Never present an estimate as a result. We label every figure on this site this way.
Show the arithmetic
A labour saving is the hours saved multiplied by the fully loaded hourly cost. A fair view also subtracts the cost of building the automation and of running it each year. If any of those inputs is missing, say so instead of guessing a return on investment.
State the period
Say when the measurement was taken and for how long. A good week is not a trend.
Read how we document projects on the case studies page.
All insights ยท Discuss a similar project