What does this task actually cost?
Repeated data entry, the same report rebuilt every month, chasing updates a system already holds. Put in how often it happens and how long it takes, and see what it costs in a year, then whether changing it is worth what changing it costs.
01 / The task as it runs today
Salary plus employer costs, divided by working hours. £30 is a reasonable starting point for an administrator; use your own figure.
Add mistakes and rework
02 / If you changed it
Upkeep is the part most estimates leave out: licences, fixing it when an input changes, and someone's time handling the exceptions.
What it costs you
£0
0 hours a year
If it’s worth a closer look, a one-process review is a fixed fee from £1,800 and ends in a recommendation, whether or not that’s to build anything.
Nothing you enter here is sent anywhere unless you press the button above, which copies the figures into the enquiry form for you to check and send.
Net, not gross
A saving with no upkeep subtracted is a marketing number. This takes the running cost off before it tells you anything, which is why a change that looks obvious can come out as not worth doing.
Before anything gets built, four questions: can the task be removed entirely, can it be simplified, does software you already own do it, and only then, is automating it worth building and maintaining?
Time released is capacity, not cash
If the person doing the task is still on the payroll, you have bought back their attention, which is usually worth more than the hourly rate suggests. It doesn't appear in the accounts, and I won't pretend it does.
A one-process review is a fixed fee from £1,800, and ends in a recommendation whether or not it's to build anything.