Measure first: a tracking sheet for manual processes
Before you decide whether a process should be changed or automated: collect a few real baseline figures. The tracking sheet turns them into a simple, reliable baseline.
“This is costing us time all the time” is a good reason to look at a process, but a weak basis for a decision. How often a task really comes up, how long it takes and where it gets stuck are rarely estimated correctly from memory.
The tracking sheet records what actually happens over a manageable period. It does not replace precise time measurement and doesn’t try to. It provides a rough but reliable baseline: for deciding whether a change is worth it, and for comparing later whether it made a difference.
Measure
How to measure
- Period: at least two full working weeks, so that normal fluctuations are included. If the task only comes up a few times a month, correspondingly longer.
- Who records: the person handling the case, straight afterwards. Recording from memory at the end of the week gets inaccurate.
- How precisely: estimating to the nearest minute is enough. You don’t need a stopwatch.
- What to record: every case, including the unusual ones. Exceptions in particular become important later.
- Several people involved: each person keeps their own sheet.
What matters is that work carries on as normal. The sheet should reflect everyday work, not a particularly good day.
What goes in the columns
- Date
- Day on which the case was handled.
- Case
- A single run, briefly named: an enquiry, an invoice, an order.
- Handling · min
- Active working time on the case: reading, searching, typing, checking, writing a query. Interruptions do not count. Estimating to the nearest minute is enough.
- Waiting time · hrs / days
- Time during which the case sits because something is awaited – an answer, an approval, a piece of information. Give a rough figure.
- Transfers · number
- How often details were moved by hand from one place to another: typed up, copied, written out.
- Queries · number
- Every follow-up question to a customer, supplier or colleague because something is missing or unclear.
- Rework · tick
- Did something have to be corrected or redone?
- Exception · tick
- Does the case deviate from the normal process? Record exceptions, don’t leave them out.
- Observation
- What stood out? A few words are enough.
The most common uncertainty is the difference between handling time and waiting time. Handling time is the time someone actively works on the case. Waiting time is the time the case sits because an answer, an approval or a piece of information is missing. A case can involve five minutes of work and three days of waiting. Both matter, but for different reasons.
Evaluate
What the measurement tells you
After two weeks, some questions can be answered with figures instead of impressions:
- How often does the task come up? Number in the period, converted to a week.
- How much active working time does it involve? Total and average per case.
- Where does waiting time occur? How many cases sat, for how long, and what were they waiting for?
- How often are queries needed? Share of cases with a query, and the queries that recur.
- How common are exceptions and rework? Both have a say in how much can be automated later.
- Which steps repeat? The observation column often shows more than the figures.
Minutes per case and cases per year give you a rough projection in hours. How to turn that into a cost-benefit assessment, including the costs after go-live, is covered in the article When is process automation worth it?
What the figures don’t tell you
Two weeks are a sample. Seasonal peaks, holiday periods or a single large order can shift the picture. The measurement shows orders of magnitude and patterns, not exact metrics. For deciding whether a process should be examined more closely or changed, that is usually enough. And after a change, you can measure again with the same sheet.
If you also want to record the content of the process beforehand, start with the Process Profile.
Download
Measure first
- PDF · 4 pages · A4
- Excel version with automatic evaluation (XLSX)
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