What does manual re-typing cost you per year? Work it out
Manual work between systems costs per year: (volume per week × touches × minutes per touch + volume × error rate × rework minutes) ÷ 60 × working weeks × labour cost per hour. Enter your own process below. You see the hours per week, the cost per year and how many FTE that is straight away.
What this manual work costs you
€44,160
per year in labour cost
- hours per week
- 21.3
- hours per year
- 981
- FTE
- 0.59
20.0 hours of touches and 1.3 hours of rework per week. At a 36-hour working week.
How the calculation works
- Hours per week = (volume × touches × minutes per touch + volume × error rate × rework minutes per error) ÷ 60
- Hours per year = hours per week × working weeks per year
- Cost per year = hours per year × labour cost per hour
- FTE = hours per week ÷ 36
- Payback in weeks = investment ÷ (cost per year × share that can go ÷ working weeks)
Worked example
A company processes 200 orders per week. Each order is touched by hand 2 times, 3 minutes each time: 20.0 hours per week. In 2 percent something goes wrong and rework takes 20 minutes: another 1.3 hours. Together 21.3 hours per week, 0.59 FTE. Over 46 working weeks that is 981 hours, and at €45 per hour €44,160 per year. If half of it can go, the company saves €22,080 per year, and an integration of €2,000 pays for itself in 4.2 weeks.
What the result does and doesn't tell you
The calculator only counts the labour cost of manual work. Waiting time for customers, missed revenue and errors that surface later are not included, so the real cost is usually higher.
The share that can go is an assumption. In one process a single integration removes almost all re-typing; in another, exceptions still need checking. The Process Scan measures that for your process.
Only count touches that add nothing: entering what already exists somewhere, transferring between systems, checking whether two sources match. A substantive review is not waste.
Why this happens at so many companies
Structured exchange between companies is still the exception in the Netherlands. Of companies with 100 to 250 employees, 19 percent receive orders via EDI; for the rest, orders arrive some other way, and that is where the re-typing starts. More figures are in how many Dutch companies use AI and automation. Why the re-typing keeps coming back is in re-typing between systems.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate FTE from hours?
Divide the number of hours per week by the hours of a full-time working week at your company. At a 36-hour week, 18 hours per week is 0.5 FTE. This calculator uses 36 hours; if your company works 38 or 40 hours, the FTE figure comes out slightly lower.
Want to know what can really go in your case?
The calculator works with your estimates. The Process Scan actually measures the process: how many touches there are, where work waits and what an integration or system would return. €995 fixed, half of it credited if we go on to build.
See the Process Scan