How to calculate savings per process with Run Time Equivalent (RTE)

Definition

Run time equivalent (RTE) expresses the financial value of saved human work. Each process involves the financial amount equivalent to human work. This value represents money saved during every completed process run.

Methodology – how to calculate RTE

For a successful implementation of this methodology, it is necessary to define and compute values: task duration, cost of work and average saving.

Task duration

How many hours in average does the employee monthly spend on processing the task?

Precisely - the number of hours can be calculated precisely based on the employee`s performance, e.g. employee measures in real-time minutes/hours spent on processing the task with the conditions as below:

• The real-time spent on processing the task includes not only the direct performance, but also the preparation and finalization (e.g. opening and closing the software/application/email/necessary documentation…). 
• Minimal time period to track employees time is one moth. Maximum time period up to one year when the seasonal workload increase/decrease needs to be considered (e.g.: discount season significantly increases number of tasks to be performed). 

Estimation - the number of hours can be calculated as time expected to be spent on the tasks processing by employee (qualified estimation).

Cost of work

What is the direct cost of the employee`s work per hour?

• Total gross monthly salary + mandatory insurance monthly paid by employer + average monthly benefit cost (social, healthcare & educational benefits) divided by 176 ( = average number of working hrs per month for full time position (40 hrs weekly) – applicable for Czech Republic). 
• Total cost can include also overhead or indirect costs. 
• When the data of gross monthly salary are not available, the typical salary level should be used based on company salary grading system or relevant salary surveys.

Average saving

Average saving per month = number of hours monthly multiplied by the total cost per hour.

Example

The employee's task is to check new customer registrations in the external registration system every hour and copy them to the business team system. The employee spends 10 minutes every hour by logging into an external system, exporting data and uploading it to a business team system.

We decided to replace his work with a automated process.

RTE represents the financial savings that every single run of the robotic process brings, that is 10 minutes of employee work-related costs. In our case, RTE = 3 USD.

RTE is the fundamental value from which complex savings can be obtained. In our case, we can calculate:

During working hours, the employee performs this activity 9 times in 5 days a week (RTE = 3 USD).

• Every day, the robotic process saves 90 minutes of employee work (9 runs * RTE = $ 27) 
• The robotic process saves 400 minutes of employee work each week (45 runs * RTE = $ 135) 
• The robotic process saves 30 hours of employee work per month (180 runs * RTE = $ 540) 
• Annually saves the robotic process 360 hours of work (2160 runs * RTE = 6480 USD)