Where the hours go
Operations audit
Two weeks with the people doing the work. Every process mapped as it actually runs, every line costed against the hours it returns, and a ranked list of what to automate, what to assist and what to leave alone.
Operations audit · Findings
A laptop showing the findings from an operations audit: twelve processes mapped, 1,360 hours a year at €35 an hour, six of them listed with the hours each eats and a verdict of automate, assist or leave alone, and six more in the report.
Demonstration figures. Four of the twelve are left alone, because an audit that recommends building something in every row is a sales document.
How it works
Step 01
We sit with the team while they work
Not a survey and not a workshop. We watch the job being done, ask what happens when it goes wrong, and time the steps as they run.
Step 02
The work gets mapped as it is done
Every handoff, every spreadsheet, every re-key of the same figure. The map includes the workarounds people built for themselves, which is usually where the hours are hiding.
Step 03
Every line is costed against the time it gives back
We cost the time a step takes today at your own rates, then estimate what is left after automation or assistance. The ranking is on that number, not on which idea is most interesting.
Step 04
You get a 90-day plan and a session with your leadership
The ranked list is presented to the people who can fund it, with the tooling recommendation and the order to work in. The plan is written so somebody other than us could deliver it.
What is included
- Process map built from watching the work, not from a survey
- Every line costed against the hours it returns, at your own rates
- A leave-alone column, which is usually the longest
- Model-agnostic tooling recommendation
- A 90-day plan written so anyone could deliver it
- Findings session with the people who can fund it
- Sized to one team, one department or a multi-site operation
Questions
- What if the answer is that we should not automate anything?
- Then that is what the report says. The ranked list has a leave-alone column and it is often the longest one.
- How much of our team's time does it take?
- Roughly a day per person spread across two weeks, mostly in short conversations at their desk. We work around the job.
- Can we use the plan without you?
- Yes. It is written to be handed to anyone, including another supplier or your own IT person. Nothing in it depends on our software.
Talk to us
Tell us what the work looks like now. We will say whether Operations audit is the right line for you, and what it would cost.
Send us the detail