The Automation Audit
120 minutes
Module 14 · Program Capstone
The Automation Audit
Everything you learned. Applied to your work.
Charter Oak Strategic Partners
Capability without
a plan evaporates.
Four phases. One deliverable.
Inventory
List every recurring process. No filtering. Volume is the goal.
Score
Rate each against five criteria that predict automation success.
Rank
Sort by total score. Highest-scoring = best automation candidates.
Plan
Assign to 30-day sprints. Quick wins first. Advanced last.
Inventory.
List every recurring process. How often. Who does it. How long. Pain level 1-5.
Most teams find 10 on first pass. 20 with prompting. The real number is usually 40+.
If anyone says “I do not have recurring tasks”:
What do you do every Monday morning?
What do you do before every meeting?
What do you do at the end of every month?
What do you do every time a new employee starts?
What do you do every time a customer complains?
What do you wish you could hand to someone else?
Five scoring criteria.
Repeatability
Same steps every time? High: Weekly report from the same template = 5. Low: Creative campaign = 1.
Structured Input
Starts with structured data? High: CSV or form = 5. Low: Vague client email = 1.
Clear Rules
Decision rules explicit? High: Written procedure = 5. Low: Gut feeling = 1.
Error-Prone
Mistakes happen often? High: Copy-paste between systems = 5. Low: Rarely wrong = 1.
Time Value
Person overqualified for this? High: VP compiling a report = 5. Low: Perfect match = 1.
What the scores mean.
Prime
Automate first. High repeatability, structured, rule-based. Cowork Skill or Claude Code handles this today.
Strong
Automate soon. One or two criteria lower. May need input standardization first.
Moderate
Partial automation. Claude handles structured portions; human handles judgment calls.
Backlog
Requires redesign or genuinely needs human judgment. Not a priority now.
Assign each process a tool.
One-off tasks, quick analysis, ad-hoc generation. No persistent context needed.
Ongoing work with documents and background that carry across conversations.
File-based workflows, document creation, scheduled recurring tasks.
Building reusable tools, scripts, automations. Output gets run.
High-volume, system-integrated, real-time processing. Output gets processed at scale.
Ask yourself: does the output get read, run, or processed at scale?
Calculate the annual impact.
(minutes per occurrence) × (occurrences per year) ÷ 60 = annual hours saved
30 min/day × 250 = 125 hrs/year
30 min/week × 52 = 26 hrs/year
60 min/month × 12 = 12 hrs/year
Five processes at 30 minutes weekly. That is 130 hours per year. Three full working weeks returned to your team.
The 90-day plan.
Quick Wins
Highest score, lowest complexity. Build momentum. Prove value.
1-3 processesCore Automations
High score, moderate complexity. Connect data sources. Build infrastructure.
2-4 processesAdvanced Workflows
Integration, cross-team coordination. Harder problems. Credibility earned.
1-3 processesBuild your audit. Present it.
Inventory
20 min
Score
25 min
Rank + Plan
30 min
Present
20 min
The audit is your deliverable. Take it back to your desk. Share it with your manager. Use it to justify implementation.
The journey.
You learned to prompt. Single tasks, structured requests, predictable output.
You learned to design. System prompts, chain-of-thought, compound workflows.
You learned to build. Cowork, Claude Code, Skills, scheduling, the API.
You learned to prioritize. The audit turns everything into a plan with numbers.
Total time savings in this room:
____
hours per year
Mastery is knowing what
to delegate and what to keep.
Your audit is the starting line. Execute the plan. Measure the results. Audit again in 90 days.