Calculating automation rate

The goal of the Document Automation solution is to minimize the manual effort involved in extracting data from documents and ingesting the extracted data into business applications and improve data accuracy.

We measure the effectiveness of the Document Automation solution using automation rate, which represents the number of fields the solution can successfully extract without the need for manual intervention. To determine the automation rate, we calculate the total number of fields extracted correctly and divide it by the total number of fields in the document.

Automation rate = (Total number of fields extracted correctly ÷ Total number of fields to be extracted on the document) × 100

Let us consider the following example use case where a customer is manually processing data from invoices:

  • Document type: Invoice
  • Total number of header fields: 11 fields
  • Total number of table fields: 25 fields (5 rows x 5 columns)
  • Total number of fields: 36

Let us estimate that manual data entry takes 10 seconds per field. Therefore, it takes about 6 minutes to enter this invoice into an ERP system manually. If Document Automation can successfully extract 50% of these fields or have an accuracy or automation rate of 50%, it is likely to reduce the time it takes to enter this invoice by 3 minutes. If the customer processes 100 invoices daily, it will save them 5 hours daily in manual data entry costs.

Using Document Automation for this use case provides the following advantages for the customer:

  • Increases data entry efficiency by 50%
  • Reduces data entry costs by 50%
  • Ensures data accuracy by validating the data extracted from invoices using data validation rules, thereby reducing rework

In conclusion, the Document Automation solution aims to reduce manual data extraction efforts and enhance data accuracy. By measuring the automation rate, users can quantitatively assess their solution efficiency and success in minimizing human intervention and improving overall efficiency in processing documents.