Purpose

The Tasks for Automation Worksheet is used to identify tasks that can be automated using advanced technologies. These include artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). These technologies hold enormous potential to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency by improving the quality of organizational outputs and lowering costs. This tool helps assess the fit of a task and the organization’s readiness to automate the task using these technologies.

How to use this tool

For this worksheet to be properly utilized, the tasks to be evaluated need to be identified. Leaders assigned to complete the evaluation should align on the criteria used to determine the scope and create a list of tasks for the evaluation. After creating this list, leaders or task force members should first assess the degree of uncertainty of the task regarding the inputs needed to complete it. Such activities are more challenging to automate because the future conditions of the organization are difficult to predict. Secondly, assessing the available relevant data can determine the suitability of the task for automation. Activities that produce large amounts of data easily captured by the organization are better candidates for automation. Activities that do not produce capturable data or that do produce data that is not effectively captured are less appropriate candidates for automation. The final step is assessing the effects of automation on existing resources (notably employees). It is important to note the roles that would no longer be needed, potential options for reallocating these resources, and additional resources required to manage automated processes.