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Pre-automation time is the estimated time required to perform a workflow's tasks manually without automation. Setting this value enables Insights to calculate time saved and demonstrate ROI.
Why pre-automation time matters
Pre-automation time is essential for:
- Calculating time saved: Insights uses pre-automation time to quantify the manual effort your automation eliminates
- Demonstrating ROI: Time saved metrics help justify automation investments to stakeholders
- Executive reporting: Pre-automation time enables concrete business value metrics in summary dashboards
Set pre-automation time in Studio
Before you begin
- You must have permission to edit workflows in Studio
- Consider estimating pre-automation time for your most frequently executed workflows first
- Gather information about manual process times from team members who performed tasks before automation
Configure pre-automation time
- Open Studio
- Open the workflow that you would like to set pre-automation time for
- Click
to open the secondary actions menu and select View Metadata - Set the Pre-Automation Time using the time wheel and click Save
Best practices for estimating pre-automation time
Be realistic and consistent
Estimate the time an experienced team member would need to complete the workflow's tasks manually. Don't underestimate to make ROI look better - accurate estimates build stakeholder trust.
Consider the complete process
Include time for:
- Gathering necessary information
- Accessing required systems
- Performing each task
- Verifying completion
- Handling typical issues or retries
- Documentation or logging
Example estimates
Here are example pre-automation times for common workflow types. These are examples only. Your estimates should reflect your organization's specific processes and environments.
| Workflow Type | Estimated Manual Time | Manual steps |
|---|---|---|
| Simple device configuration | 10-15 minutes | Login to device, apply config, verify, document |
| Customer provisioning | 45-60 minutes | Multiple system access, coordination, verification steps |
| Network change deployment | 2-4 hours | Planning, change window coordination, execution, rollback preparation |
Updating pre-automation time
When you update pre-automation time in Studio, only new jobs executed after the change will use the updated value. Jobs that have already completed will continue to use the previous pre-automation time value (or none, if it wasn't set previously).
Implications:
- After updating pre-automation time, time saved calculations will gradually reflect the new value as new jobs execute
- Historical jobs will not be recalculated
- If you're correcting a significantly inaccurate estimate, consider noting the change date for context when reviewing historical metrics
View pre-automation time in Insights
You can see which workflows have pre-automation time configured:
Summary Dashboard - Workflow Highlights table:
- The Pre-automation Time column shows the value from the most recent job
- Filter by Missing Pre-Automation Time to identify workflows that need configuration
At-a-Glance metrics - Time Saved:
- The Time Saved metric seen in the Summary Dashboard and Workflow Details is based on the pre-automation time set in Studio
- The Time Saved metric displays warnings if pre-automation configurations are missing
If pre-automation time is not set
When pre-automation time is not configured for a workflow:
- Time saved metric displays as empty ("
--") for that workflow - The workflow appears when filtering by Missing Pre-Automation Time
- A Set Time link appears in the Pre-automation time column, directing you to Studio to configure the value
- All other metrics (completion rate, runtime, job counts) display normally
Should I set pre-automation time for child workflows?
Yes, configure pre-automation time for both root workflows and child workflows. Setting pre-automation time comprehensively provides accurate time saved calculations at all levels of your workflow hierarchy.
A child job's pre-automation time does not impact the time saved calculation for its parent root job. Time saved for root jobs is calculated solely from the root workflow's pre-automation time. Configure pre-automation time for child workflows to track their individual value independently.