The calculation
Annual hours released = people × weekly tasks per person × (minutes before − minutes after) ÷ 60 × working weeks. Annual capacity value = hours × hourly cost. Annual net capacity value subtracts annual running cost.
Automation planning tool
Automation value calculator
Test a practical automation scenario before deciding what to build. Every result shows the assumptions behind it.
YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
What could the change be worth?
These are illustrative example inputs. Change them to your own scenario. Capacity released is not automatically a cash saving.
ILLUSTRATIVE ANNUAL NET CAPACITY VALUE
Your result
Capacity value is not automatically cash savings. Adoption, demand and implementation affect the value you can realise.
Calculate to see hours, capacity value, ROI and payback, with your assumptions included in every export.
When to use this
Use this when a repeated task takes team time and you want to compare the current process with a proposed change.
Start with a repeatable task
Count tasks per person per week. Enter the minutes required before and after the change. Use observations from the actual team where available.
Value capacity carefully
Hourly capacity cost converts time into an illustrative value. Released time only becomes cash savings if your operating choices actually reduce costs. It may instead support quality, resilience or additional work.
Include implementation and operation
Enter the upfront investment and annual running cost. The calculator compares first-year net capacity value with the initial investment; it does not account for tax, finance, ramp-up or discount rates.
Make the record useful to the next person.
ROI and payback
Illustrative first-year ROI = (annual net capacity value − upfront investment) ÷ upfront investment × 100. Payback months = 12 × upfront investment ÷ annual net capacity value, only where both are positive. Zero upfront investment has no meaningful ROI percentage.
Worked example
10 people completing 20 tasks each week, reducing a task from 15 to 10 minutes over 46 weeks, release 766.67 hours. At £30 per hour, annual capacity value is £23,000. With £2,000 running cost and £10,000 upfront investment, net capacity value is £21,000, illustrative first-year ROI is 110% and payback is 5.71 months.
Input limits and rounding
Inputs must be finite and non-negative. Limits are shown beside each field. Weeks are capped at 52; arithmetic retains signed time differences and uses unrounded values. Display values use up to two decimal places; exports include raw assumptions and results.
Working prompts to adapt
Our team performs [tasks] each week. We expect a change from [before] minutes to [after] minutes, with [implementation cost] and [annual running cost].