Tool

What is manual process costing you?

Before quoting anyone a build, we ask them to measure the hours currently spent moving data between systems. Often that number makes the case on its own — and sometimes it shows the problem is not worth solving with software yet. Both are useful answers.

Your numbers

Estimates are fine. The shape of the answer matters more than the precision.

People involved 4

How many people touch this process

Hours each, per week 6h

Time spent moving, re-keying or chasing data

Loaded cost per hour R320

Salary plus overhead, not take-home pay

Rework events a month 2

Times a mistake has to be found and fixed

Hours to fix each 3h

Including the chasing, not just the typing

Annual cost of this process

R376k

Hours a year: 1,176
Full-time equivalent: 0.6
Over three years: R1.13m

Where it goes

Routine handling R353k Rework R23k

Worth a serious look at automation.

This is the range where a focused piece of software — usually integration rather than replacement — tends to pay for itself inside two to three years. The place to start is the single worst step, not the whole process.

What automation realistically recovers: R207k–R301k a year. Not the full figure — a person still reviews the exceptions. Anyone promising you 100% is selling.

Method: people × hours × 46 working weeks, plus rework, at your stated loaded rate. This is an estimate from your inputs, not a quotation.

Discuss what this would take

A number is a starting point, not a plan.

If the figure above looks large, the next step is working out which part of the process is producing it. That is a conversation, and it is free.

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