Phase 1 · Assess
What the Assess phase actually involves.
A fixed-scope audit. Four weeks, one fee agreed up front, one process that is already costing you money in manual hours. I start here every time, because I will not know what is worth automating until I have watched the work happen.
It answers three questions: where does the work actually go, what does the manual work really cost, and what is worth automating first.
Fixed fee, quoted on request. You keep everything the audit produces, either way.
01 / What this is
Four weeks spent finding out where the hours go
Most operations teams know roughly which process is slow. Almost nobody can say what it costs per month, which steps cause it, or which fix would pay back first. The audit is four weeks of measuring that properly, before anyone spends money building anything.
The audit is not overhead. It is the difference between solving the real problem and building something impressive that fails.
01
Where does the work actually go?
The map as it really runs — not the version in the process document. Every handoff, every queue, every approval, every detail typed in twice, every workaround, with the people and systems each step depends on.
02
What does the manual work really cost?
The hours each step takes, per week and per month, priced at what the people doing it actually cost you. A number you can hold any build, any supplier and any hiring decision against.
03
What is worth automating first?
The steps worth automating, in order, most value for the least work first — including the ones that are not worth touching, and the reason why.
02 / The four weeks
Map, measure, rank, recommend
The order matters. Nothing is measured before the process is mapped, and nothing is recommended before I have checked it with the people who do the work.
Four weeks is the standard. Where the operation is more complex — more sites, more systems, more handoffs — it takes longer, and I’ll tell you that before we start.
Week 1
Map
Kick-off with the process owner, then I sit with the people who do the work and map the process as it runs today, end to end. Including the handoffs, the work that gets redone, and the spreadsheets nobody documents.
Week 2
Measure
I measure the hours each step takes, per week and per month, and what those hours cost you — using your own rates for the people doing the work.
Week 3
Rank
I check what I found with the team, then put the steps worth automating in order — what each one is worth against the work it takes to build, what is realistic to build, and what should be left alone.
Week 4
Recommend
I present the findings and a recommendation, including a straight answer on whether a build phase is worth doing at all.
03 / What you keep
Three things you keep, and they are yours
Everything the audit produces is handed over in full. Nothing is held back to win the next phase.
01
The process as it runs today
Mapped end to end at the level of the individual tasks: every handoff, every queue, every approval, every detail typed in twice, the manual steps marked, and the person who owns each one named.
02
What the manual work costs
The hours each manual step takes per week and per month, which roles carry those hours, and what they cost — worked out in your numbers, at your rates.
03
What is worth automating, in order
Every step that could be automated, in order by what it is worth against the work it takes to build, each with an estimate of the build and of the gain. Most worth doing first.
The document itself
Phase 1 output · Order intake, freight booking
07 steps · 31.5 h/wk · 03 on the list
01The process as it runs today
How it runs, not how it is written down
01
Enquiry received and read
Ops coordinator
Shared inbox
Handoff · Shared inbox → TMS
02
Details typed into the TMS
Ops coordinator
TMS
03
Rate request sent to carriers
Pricing
Carrier portal
Handoff · Pricing → carrier portal
04
Quote assembled and sent
Pricing
Rate sheet + mail
05
Booking confirmed, carrier allocated
Ops coordinator
TMS
Handoff · Ops → customs portal
06
Documentation and customs check
Compliance
Customs portal
07
Status updates to the customer
Customer service
Mail + phone
02What the manual work costs
Hours per week, by step and role
| Step | Hrs / wk | |
|---|---|---|
| 01Enquiry received and readOps coordinator | 3.5 | 11% |
| 02Details typed into the TMSOps coordinator | 6.0 | 19% |
| 03Rate request sent to carriersPricing | 4.5 | 14% |
| 04Quote assembled and sentPricing | 5.0 | 16% |
| 05Booking confirmed, carrier allocatedOps coordinator | 4.0 | 13% |
| 06Documentation and customs checkCompliance | 3.0 | 10% |
| 07Status updates to the customerCustomer service | 5.5 | 17% |
| Total · 4 roles | 31.5 |
31.5 h/wk · 1,449 h/yr at 46 operating weeks
The hours above are what those roles are spending today. In the week-4 session they are priced at what those roles actually cost you — your numbers, not mine.
03What is worth automating, in order
Most value for the least work first
R1
Enquiry detail captured and written straight into the TMS
Do this firstSteps 01–02 · Ops coordinator · 6.0 h/wk in scope
WorthHighEffort to build LowR2
Carrier rate requests and quote assembly
Do this nextSteps 03–04 · Pricing · 9.5 h/wk in scope, only partly paid back
WorthMediumEffort to build MediumR3
Proactive customer status updates
Leave alone for nowStep 07 · Customer service · 5.5 h/wk in scope
WorthLowEffort to build High
Put in order by what each step is worth against the work it takes to build — and it names what not to build, with the reason. A step can look automatable and still be the wrong place to spend money.
04 / Human-led, in practice
AI does the building. I decide what gets built, and I answer for it running.
AI is doing more of the building than any one person could do alone. What it does not do is decide. What gets automated, in what order, and whether it should be automated at all comes from watching your operation, and from running and rebuilding the workflows myself. The tools are AI's. The judgement and the accountability are mine.
- A human decides what gets automated
- A human answers for it running
- The tool is AI — the accountability is mine
05 / What I need from you
The audit costs you four weeks of access, not just the fee
A named point of contact
One person who can make decisions and answer questions without checking with anyone above them. Usually the operations lead who owns the process.
Access to the people who do the work
A few hours each during weeks 1 and 2. If I cannot sit with them, I end up mapping the process as someone remembers it, which is the version that is already wrong.
Real examples of the work
The work as it actually arrives — documents, tickets, emails, spreadsheets. Redacted is fine.
A decision-maker in the week 4 session
The person who can say yes or no to what comes next, in the room when the findings are presented.
If those are not available, the audit produces a document nobody acts on
That is the honest version. A process mapped from second-hand descriptions, with no sample work and no decision-maker at the end, gives you a plausible-looking document that changes nothing. I would rather say that now than deliver it.
06 / What happens at the end
You decide what to do with it — there is no obligation to continue
Act on it with your own team
The map, the cost figures and the list of what to automate first are written to be used inside your business: by your own operations team, by an in-house developer, or by someone else you hire. If your team can take it from there, that is a good outcome.
Or I scope a build from that list
If the steps at the top of the list are worth building, I scope Phase 2 — Automate: an eight-week build of the workflows with the best payoff, including the connections it needs where the work leaves your own systems, quoted as its own fixed scope.
07 / Pricing
Fixed fee, quoted on request
Phase 1 is quoted as one fixed fee for the four weeks, agreed in writing before the audit starts. No day rates, no timesheets, no extra charges as the work goes on — the fee covers the mapping, the measuring and the recommendation, whatever the audit turns up.
It is quoted on request rather than published, because the scope depends on the process. Phase 2 and the Support phase are each quoted separately, and only once there is something real to price.
08 / Next step
Have a process you suspect is costing you hours?
Book an intro call and describe how the process runs today — the volume, the handoffs, who does the manual work. I will tell you whether the audit is worth doing, and quote the fixed fee.
Prefer email? olaolu.matty@matty.consulting