Adam HultmanFree planning tool
Workflow automation ROI calculator.
Compare the value of time saved with the cost to build and run an automation. Use your own numbers to estimate first-year return and simple payback before scoping a project.
Use the same currency for every cost. Changing this label does not convert amounts.
A whole number of people doing this same recurring task.
Use an average week, including quiet periods.
Include salary, benefits, and overhead.
Allow for review, exceptions, and correcting mistakes.
Include build, integration, testing, and training.
Include software, model usage, hosting, maintenance, and support.
Add your six estimates
Results include implementation and running costs. Enter 0 if a cost does not apply.
How the estimate works
This model values saved hours at your loaded hourly cost. It assumes 52 working weeks, with savings and running costs beginning immediately and staying constant for 12 months.
- Monthly hours saved
- people × weekly hours × (52 ÷ 12) × (time reduction ÷ 100)
- Monthly time value
- monthly hours saved × loaded hourly cost
- First-year cost
- implementation cost + (monthly operating cost × 12)
- First-year ROI
- ((monthly time value × 12 − first-year cost) ÷ first-year cost) × 100
- Simple payback in months
- implementation cost ÷ (monthly time value − monthly operating cost)
ROI is undefined when total modeled costs are zero. There is no payback when the monthly time value does not exceed operating costs. Payback can extend beyond the first year; the ROI percentage covers only the first 12 months.
The model excludes taxes, financing, discounting, ramp-up delays, and changes in workload. Include training and internal implementation time in the upfront cost, and allow for ongoing reviews and exceptions in the time-reduction estimate.
A worked example
Suppose two people each spend five hours a week preparing a report. At a loaded cost of $60 an hour, a 50% net time reduction returns about 21.7 hours per month, valued at $1,300.
With $6,000 in implementation costs and $100 a month in operating costs, the modeled first-year benefit is $15,600 against $7,200 in total costs. That leaves $8,400 in net time value, a 116.7% modeled ROI, and a five-month payback.
This is a hypothetical example, not a client result or a project quote. The “Try an example” button loads these inputs. If salaries stay unchanged, the immediate benefit is time for other work, not $8,400 added to the bank account.
What to include in the inputs
Measure the recurring work.
Track a representative week. Count the time spent preparing data, chasing missing information, checking results, and fixing errors. Avoid using the busiest week as the baseline.
Leave room for human review.
A draft still needs an editor. An extracted record may need checking. Estimate the time left after automation, including exceptions, before choosing the reduction percentage.
Count what it takes to run.
Software subscriptions, AI model calls, hosting, maintenance, and support can change the result. Try a conservative scenario with lower time savings and higher operating costs.
From estimate to a useful tool
The calculator tests one part of the decision. A build also depends on data access, the cost of mistakes, and whether people will use the result. I help teams work through those questions and build internal tools and AI integrations.
For background, read BDC’s explanation of ROI. The formulas above define this calculator’s specific time-value model.
Built by Adam Hultman, a software engineer in Vancouver.