Automation Audit Checklist
Use this comprehensive checklist to systematically identify automation opportunities across your organization. Work through each section with your team to uncover hidden time drains.
How to Use This Checklist
- Schedule 30-60 minutes with stakeholders from each department
- Work through relevant sections together
- Check every item that applies to your organization
- Calculate potential savings using the formulas provided
- Prioritize based on frequency and impact
Section 1: Communication Workflows
Email Handling
- Manually sorting incoming emails into folders/categories
- Sending the same response to similar inquiries
- Forwarding requests to appropriate team members
- Following up on unanswered emails
- Creating newsletter or announcement emails
- Sending appointment/meeting confirmations
- Distributing reports via email on a schedule
Internal Communication
- Sharing status updates across teams
- Notifying stakeholders of approvals/completions
- Announcing schedule changes
- Distributing meeting agendas/minutes
- Requesting information from colleagues
- Sending deadline reminders
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 5+ items, email/communication automation could save 5-10 hours weekly.
Section 2: Data Entry and Management
Manual Data Input
- Entering form submissions into spreadsheets
- Copying data between systems (CRM, accounting, etc.)
- Updating contact information across platforms
- Recording meeting notes/action items
- Logging phone call summaries
- Entering invoice information
- Updating inventory counts
Data Maintenance
- Cleaning duplicate records
- Standardizing formatting (dates, phone numbers, addresses)
- Archiving old records
- Backing up data to secondary locations
- Updating status fields as projects progress
- Reconciling data between systems
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 5+ items, data automation could reduce errors by 80% and save 8-15 hours weekly.
Section 3: Document Processing
Document Creation
- Generating contracts from templates
- Creating invoices manually
- Producing standard reports
- Drafting proposals with similar structures
- Creating meeting agendas
- Generating certificates or acknowledgments
Document Management
- Filing documents in correct folders
- Renaming files according to conventions
- Converting between file formats
- Extracting information from documents
- Merging or splitting PDFs
- Adding watermarks or headers
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 4+ items, document automation could save 4-8 hours weekly and ensure consistency.
Section 4: Customer and Client Operations
Lead and Sales
- Entering new leads from website/events
- Sending initial outreach emails
- Scheduling follow-up tasks
- Updating deal stages in CRM
- Sending proposals and quotes
- Following up on proposals
Customer Service
- Routing support tickets to appropriate teams
- Sending acknowledgment of receipt
- Providing status updates on requests
- Following up on resolved issues
- Sending satisfaction surveys
- Escalating unresolved issues
Onboarding
- Sending welcome emails/packages
- Sharing setup instructions
- Scheduling onboarding calls
- Collecting required information
- Providing access to resources
- Checking in during first 30/60/90 days
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 6+ items, customer automation could improve response times by 50-70%.
Section 5: HR and People Operations
Recruiting
- Posting jobs to multiple platforms
- Sending application confirmations
- Scheduling interviews
- Sending rejection notifications
- Collecting references
- Preparing offer letters
Employee Onboarding
- Sending pre-start information
- Creating system accounts
- Distributing equipment/access
- Scheduling training sessions
- Collecting required documents
- Setting up recurring check-ins
Ongoing HR
- Processing time-off requests
- Sending policy reminders
- Distributing pay stubs/tax documents
- Tracking certifications/renewals
- Anniversary/birthday recognitions
- Performance review scheduling
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 5+ items, HR automation could save 10-20 hours per hire and improve employee experience.
Section 6: Finance and Operations
Accounts Receivable
- Sending invoices
- Following up on overdue payments
- Sending payment confirmations
- Updating payment status
- Generating aging reports
- Applying payments to invoices
Accounts Payable
- Entering vendor invoices
- Routing for approval
- Scheduling payments
- Sending payment notifications
- Reconciling statements
- Tracking expenses by category
Reporting
- Compiling weekly/monthly reports
- Gathering data from multiple sources
- Creating visualizations
- Distributing reports to stakeholders
- Comparing actual vs. budget
- Tracking KPIs
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 5+ items, finance automation could improve cash flow visibility and save 8-12 hours weekly.
Section 7: Scheduling and Calendar
Meeting Management
- Finding available times for meetings
- Sending calendar invites
- Sending meeting reminders
- Rescheduling conflicts
- Booking meeting rooms
- Preparing meeting materials
Resource Scheduling
- Scheduling equipment or space
- Coordinating team availability
- Managing on-call rotations
- Scheduling recurring tasks
- Blocking focus time
- Coordinating across time zones
Quick Impact Assessment: If you checked 4+ items, scheduling automation could eliminate hours of back-and-forth coordination.
Scoring Your Results
Count your checked items in each section:
| Section | Items Checked | Impact Level |
|---|---|---|
| Communication | /13 | High if 5+ |
| Data Entry | /13 | High if 5+ |
| Documents | /12 | Medium if 4+ |
| Customer Ops | /17 | High if 6+ |
| HR/People | /17 | High if 5+ |
| Finance | /17 | High if 5+ |
| Scheduling | /12 | Medium if 4+ |
| TOTAL | /101 |
Priority Guide
50+ checked items: Significant automation opportunity. Start with highest-impact areas immediately.
30-49 checked items: Good automation potential. Focus on 2-3 high-impact areas.
15-29 checked items: Moderate opportunity. Target specific pain points for quick wins.
Under 15 items: Either well-optimized or may benefit from workflow analysis.
Savings Calculator Template
For your top opportunities, calculate potential savings:
TASK: _______________________
Time per occurrence: _______ minutes
Occurrences per week: _______
Weekly time: _______ minutes (Time × Occurrences)
Annual time: _______ hours (Weekly × 52 ÷ 60)
Hourly cost (salary + overhead): $_______
Annual cost: $_______ (Hours × Hourly cost)
Automation achievable: _______%
Annual savings: $_______ (Annual cost × %)
Next Steps
- This week: Complete this checklist with key stakeholders
- Next week: Calculate savings for top 5 opportunities
- Within 30 days: Implement one quick-win automation
- Within 90 days: Roll out 2-3 additional automations
- Quarterly: Reassess checklist for new opportunities
Additional Resources
- Workflow Audit Guide - Deep dive into process mapping
- ROI Calculator - Calculate your automation ROI
- Planning a Project - Document requirements for implementation