Automation assessment worksheet: choose a workflow worth testing

Scope one automation pilot with observed volume, a manual baseline, exception handling, review effort, and an owner before making a savings claim.

Define a small, observable workflow
Choose one repeated handoff with a clear start and finish, such as turning an incoming invoice into a reviewed record. Describe the output someone actually needs and who accepts it. Avoid starting with a broad goal such as automate finance.

Use permitted, redacted examples when planning with a third party. Keep credentials, personal records, and customer documents out of this public worksheet.
Workflow name and owner: ______
Trigger, input, and accepted output: ______
Systems involved and authorized access: ______
Who reviews the output: ______
What remains outside scope: ______

Measure the existing process
Observe a representative set of cases before estimating savings. Record active handling time separately from waiting time. Include corrections and follow-up work. Record the observation period and sample size so a quiet week is not mistaken for normal demand.
Observed period and number of cases: ______
Cases per week, with seasonal or workload limits: ______
Manual handling minutes per case: ______
Correction minutes and exception share: ______
Current failure modes: ______

Design the review and fallback
Specify the checks that make an output usable: required fields, arithmetic, source references, duplicates, and exceptions. Name the conditions that stop automated progress and the person who resolves them. A plausible-looking answer is not an accepted output.

Keep irreversible actions behind the agreed approval step. A pilot that prepares a draft is different from one that writes to a production system or sends a customer message.
Required checks and acceptance criteria: ______
Exception queue and named reviewer: ______
Approval before consequential action: ______
Manual fallback and stop condition: ______
Retention and deletion expectations: ______

Calculate capacity, then test it
Estimated weekly hours released = cases per week × (manual minutes minus assisted minutes, including review and corrections) ÷ 60, minus weekly maintenance hours. Preserve a negative result; it may mean the workflow is a poor candidate.

Illustrative arithmetic only: 100 cases × (8 minus 3) minutes ÷ 60 minus 1 maintenance hour equals about 7.3 hours of weekly capacity. This is not a Soxoa customer result or a cash-savings promise. Convert capacity to money only with a justified labor-cost basis and a realistic plan for using the time.
Assisted minutes and maintenance hours: ______
Estimated capacity and assumptions: ______
Pilot sample and success threshold: ______
Observed errors, review effort, and decision: ______

Bring a bounded brief to the conversation
Soxoa helps teams assess and implement AI workflows. Bring the completed scope, representative permitted examples, and the baseline to an assessment. Scope and price are agreed before work begins. Expand only after the first workflow meets its acceptance criteria.


Published by Soxoa
Related guide: https://soxoa.com/blog/automation-assessment-worksheet
Product: https://soxoa.com/ai-readiness-assessment