Free tool
Time-savings calculator
Pick a process, put in your own numbers, and see what automating it would give back: hours first, then people-weeks, then money as a range. No email, no sign-up.
Signing, chasing and re-keying each request into a PO. 250 requests at 12 minutes are example figures; time a few of yours.
Example: $25.22 an hour, the BLS wage for office and administrative support, June 2026
Adjust my assumptions
40-hour week, 2,080 paid hours a year. On-costs: x 1.46 total compensation per dollar of wages (BLS, office and administrative support).
Cycle time
Stock (optional)
Quotes won (freight follow-up)
38 hours back a month
11 people-weeks a year (0.22 of a full-time person)
Request to done:
$6,627 to $16,568 a year (expected about $8,284)
At the cautious figure, a one-off fix costing up to $6,627 pays back within 12 months ($13,254 within 24), before running costs.
250 x 9 minutes saved / 60 = 38 hours a month.
This is an illustration with your numbers. A sit-in measures the real ones.
Link copied. It carries your numbers, never your salary.
Opened from a shared link. Salaries are never shared, so add your own to see money.
How this works, and where the defaults come from
- Hours a month = volume x (minutes today minus minutes after) / 60. People-weeks = hours a year / the standard week.
- Money is a band: the ceiling counts every freed hour at the loaded cost of the person; expected counts half of it, because not every freed minute becomes useful work; cautious takes a further 20% off.
- Stock: the yearly carrying saving is counted; the one-time cash released is shown on its own and never added in.
- Payback is shown as a budget: the most a one-off fix could cost and still pay back within 12 or 24 months. No prices.
- Every volume and minute figure is an example. Replace it with yours.
Sources, last checked 12 October 2026:
- Forrester Total Economic Impact method: 50% productivity recapture, 10 to 20% risk adjustment (this study was commissioned by Microsoft)
- APQC open standards benchmark: cycle time from requisition to PO, goods, median 2.0 days
- Carrying cost rule of thumb, 15 to 25% of stock value a year, citing ASCM guidance (MRPeasy, a software vendor, January 2025)
- Freightos (a freight marketplace) survey of the top 20 forwarders, 2018: manual quoting averaged 57 hours from enquiry to quote
- Vietnam employer social, health and unemployment insurance (21.5%) and union fee (2%), statutory rates
- Rodl and Partner, Vietnam statutory base salary and insurance cap from 1 July 2026
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employer costs for employee compensation, June 2026
- GOV.UK, rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK, workplace pension contributions
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025
The method
How the numbers are worked out
- HoursVolume a month x (minutes today minus minutes after) / 60. Batch work can add a fixed time per run.
- CapacityHours a year divided by the standard week gives people-weeks; divided by the hours one person works in a year, it gives full-time equivalents.
- MoneyThe loaded cost of an hour comes from your salary plus the employer costs for your country, shown in the assumptions panel. Then a range: cautious, expected, ceiling.
- Stock and paybackCarrying cost saved a year is counted; cash released once is shown apart. Payback is a budget: the most a one-off fix could cost and still pay back in 12 or 24 months.
Every volume and minute figure is an example. The employer-cost rules and benchmarks are listed with their sources inside the calculator, under "How this works".
Fair questions
About the calculator
Is the result a promise?
No. It is an illustration built from your own numbers. The real figures come from timing the work in a sit-in, before anything is priced.
Why does it show hours before money?
Because hours mean the same thing everywhere. In Vietnam an office hour costs a fraction of a US one, so money alone would make a big saving look small. People-weeks and cycle time tell you what the hours are worth to your team.
Why is there no salary filled in for Vietnam?
Because a guessed salary shown as a default would read like a fact about your factory. Type your own figure and the money range appears.
What is a people-week?
The hours freed in a year, divided by one person's standard week. Twenty-five people-weeks is about half of one full-time person.
Why a range and not one number?
Not every freed minute turns into useful work. The expected figure counts half of the freed time, a convention from the Forrester Total Economic Impact method (used in vendor-commissioned studies); cautious takes a further 20% off; the ceiling counts all of it.
What happens to the numbers I type?
They stay in your browser: the sums run there. Analytics records only which process you picked and a rough size band, never your numbers or your salary. The share link carries your numbers, never your salary.
Want the real numbers? I time the work in a sit-in before anything is priced.