Baseline formula
(time per occurrence x burdened hourly rate x monthly volume) + (error rate x cost per error x monthly volume)
This keeps labour and failure cost separate so each input can be challenged independently.
Baseline calculator
Understand the work before you change it.
Build a first-pass operational baseline from time, volume and rework. Keep the inputs visible and test your own assumptions about a future workflow.
Explore the calculator- Observed inputs
- time, volume and rework
- Your assumptions
- no supplier figures prefilled
- Browser-only
- nothing is submitted
Interactive model
Start with what the work costs today.
Use observed time and system volume where possible. The model runs locally and does not save or submit your inputs.
The people doing the work
Fully burdened at 1.45× = — a year, over 1,700 productive hours = — an hour.
The work itself
What going wrong costs
The automation
Share of volume automated70%
Starts at 70% as an adjustable scenario; capped at 85% because some cases need judgementEnter the five baseline inputs to calculate the current process cost. Results remain blank until the baseline inputs are complete.
What this process costs you today
—
per month · — a year
Labour
—
Enter inputs
Errors & rework
—
Enter inputs
If 70% of the volume is automated
Enter all five current-process inputs first. Those fields are blank; the 70% coverage control is an adjustable starting scenario, not a result or promise.
The remaining — hours a month stay with your team. That is the exception band, and pretending it away is how automation projects lose credibility in month four.
Before you take this to finance
- • Replace the minutes figure with an observed one. Watch the work for an hour; the number will change.
- • Pull the volume from a system, not from memory.
- • Include the switching cost. The task takes twelve minutes; the day says otherwise.
- • Sense-check the error cost. A mis-keyed invoice is rarely a two-minute fix.
Model notes
The assumptions stay visible.
A useful business case separates the observed baseline from the assumptions about a future system. This calculator does the arithmetic; it does not turn estimates into evidence.
Labour basis
The model applies a 1.45x burden factor to base salary and spreads the result across 1,700 productive hours. Review both assumptions with finance for your organisation.
JumpCloud: financial baseline methodologyException band
Coverage is capped at 85% because real workflows retain judgement calls and exceptions. The remaining work stays visible rather than being treated as automatic savings.
OpenNash, workflow discovery practice, 2026Pressure-test the baseline
Bring the inputs, including the uncertain ones.
In a 45-minute working session, we trace one process, separate observed facts from assumptions and identify what would need measuring before a build decision.
You receive the workflow map and a recommended next step, whether or not we work together.
