Templates

AI opportunity audit

This is a worksheet, not an article. In 45–60 minutes it takes you from “we should probably use AI somewhere” to a scored shortlist of the workflows most worth automating — which is exactly what a productive discovery call starts from.

Fill it in with the people who actually do the work. Owners consistently misjudge how long routine tasks take; the person doing the task on Tuesday afternoons does not.

Step 1: inventory your workflows

List every repetitive process you can think of — anything your team does the same way more than once a week. Don’t filter yet; scoring comes next. If you’re stuck for candidates, Identifying opportunities walks through where automation potential usually hides.

#	Workflow	Who does it	Tools involved	How often	Hours/week (all people combined)
Ex.	Supplier invoice entry	Office manager	Email, QuickBooks	~15/week	6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Step 2: score each workflow

Score every workflow from 1 to 5 on four factors. Note that judgment is scored in reverse: a workflow that needs expert judgment on every case scores low, because rule-based work automates best.

Score	Frequency	Time consumed	Error cost	Judgment required
5	Many times a day	15+ hrs/week	A mistake is expensive — client-visible, financial, or compliance impact	Almost none — fixed rules, anyone with the checklist gets the same result
4	Daily	8–15 hrs/week	Mistakes cause real rework or delay	Mostly rules with rare exceptions
3	A few times a week	3–8 hrs/week	Mistakes are annoying but contained	Rules cover most cases; some need a human call
2	Weekly	1–3 hrs/week	Mistakes are minor and easily caught	Frequent case-by-case decisions
1	Monthly or less	Under 1 hr/week	Mistakes barely matter	Expert judgment on every case

Total = Frequency + Time + Error cost + Judgment (minimum 4, maximum 20).

Copy the rubric to share with your team:


AI opportunity audit — scoring rubric (score each factor 1–5)

FREQUENCY — how often does this workflow run?
  5 = many times a day   4 = daily   3 = a few times a week
  2 = weekly             1 = monthly or less

TIME — hours per week, everyone who touches it combined
  5 = 15+   4 = 8–15   3 = 3–8   2 = 1–3   1 = under 1

ERROR COST — what does a mistake cost when it happens?
  5 = expensive (client-visible, financial, or compliance impact)
  4 = real rework or delay
  3 = annoying but contained
  2 = minor, easily caught
  1 = barely matters

JUDGMENT — how much expert judgment does it need? (reverse-scored)
  5 = almost none, fixed rules
  4 = mostly rules, rare exceptions
  3 = rules cover most cases
  2 = frequent case-by-case decisions
  1 = expert judgment every time

TOTAL = sum of the four scores (4–20)
  16–20 = automate first
  11–15 = strong candidate (likely needs a human review gate)
  6–10  = partial automation at best — revisit later
  4–5   = keep it human

Step 3: rank and shortlist

Carry your scores into this table and sort by total:

Workflow	Frequency	Time	Error cost	Judgment	Total /20
Ex. Supplier invoice entry	4	3	4	4	15

How to read the bands:

16–20 — automate first. High volume, rule-based, costly to get wrong. These are first-sprint candidates.
11–15 — strong candidates. Usually worth automating with a human review gate on the judgment-heavy cases. Map one with the workflow design worksheet to see where the gate goes.
6–10 — partial automation at best. Often one step inside the workflow is automatable even if the whole thing isn’t. Park these for a later sprint.
4–5 — keep it human. Low volume or judgment all the way through. Automating these costs more than it saves.

Step 4: put dollars on the shortlist

For your top three workflows, run the hours-per-week numbers through the ROI calculator. That turns “6 hours a week” into a monthly cost and a projected payback — the language a budget conversation actually happens in.

Bring this to your discovery call

A completed audit changes what a discovery call can accomplish. Instead of spending the call building your workflow list from scratch, we start from your scored shortlist, pressure-test the top candidates, and leave you with specific recommendations — and a fixed price in writing if you choose to go further.

If you’re already an Advizr client, bring the audit to your next strategy review or share it with your FDE in Chat — it’s the fastest way to seed the next proposal.

Book a Discovery Call

Next steps

Workflow design worksheet — map your top candidate in build-ready detail
ROI calculator — turn hours into dollars
Opportunity mapping — the leadership view of the same exercise