Order entry cost calculator
Put in your own numbers to see what keying orders by hand costs each month and each year. Nothing is sent anywhere: the maths runs in your browser.
Your numbers
About 19 hours a week.
40 orders × 6 min × 21 days ÷ 60 = 84 hours. 84 hours × A$40 = A$3,360 a month.
This shows what manual entry costs now. It does not estimate savings. A shadow test measures how much of this the agent takes on your own orders. Book a free shadow test
How the calculation works
Three formulas, all in plain arithmetic. The page shows the working under the figures so you can check it.
- Hours a month = orders a day × minutes per order × working days a month ÷ 60.
- Cost a month = hours a month × hourly cost. Cost a year is that × 12.
- Mistakes a month = orders a day × working days × mistake rate. Their cost is that × the cost to fix one, added to the monthly figure.
With the example numbers: 40 orders × 6 minutes × 21 days ÷ 60 = 84 hours a month. At 40 an hour that is 3,360 a month, or 40,320 a year, before any mistakes. These are example inputs, not averages. Change every one of them.
Getting your own numbers
Orders a day
Count a normal week of the orders inbox and divide by five. Count only orders someone keys by hand: emailed POs, PDFs, faxes and spreadsheets. Leave out webstore and EDI orders, which already arrive as data. If Mondays and month ends spike, a whole month divided by working days is a fairer figure.
Minutes per order
Time ten orders from the moment someone opens the email to the moment the sales order is saved. Include looking up the customer, matching their codes to yours, checking prices and fixing anything that will not save. Mix short and long orders. The average of ten is far better than a guess.
Hourly cost
Use the loaded cost, not the hourly wage. A rule of thumb that works for a first pass is yearly salary divided by 1,400. It allows for on-costs and for paid hours that are not spent keying, such as leave and meetings. If your finance team has a loaded rate, use theirs.
Mistakes
If you track credit notes, returns or re-deliveries caused by keying errors, divide them by the orders keyed in the same period for a rate. The cost of one mistake is the freight, the credit and the staff time to sort it out.
What this number leaves out
The calculator counts keying time and, if you add them, mistakes. Manual entry costs more than that in ways that are harder to put a number on:
- Training. A new starter takes weeks to learn which customer writes which code for which item.
- Overtime at peaks. Month ends and seasonal rushes push keying into paid overtime or late cut-offs.
- Backlog delays. Orders keyed late ship late, and some customers order elsewhere next time.
- Chasing calls. Customers ring to ask whether an order arrived, which takes the same people off keying.
None of that is in the total, so treat the result as a floor. To see where the time goes, the order entry automation guide compares the options, and the PO reader shows a read of one of your own orders.
Cost of order entry questions
How do you calculate the cost of manual order entry?
Multiply orders keyed by hand a day by minutes per order and working days a month, then divide by 60 to get hours a month. Multiply the hours by the loaded hourly cost of the person keying. Multiply by 12 for a year. Add mistakes separately if you know what they cost.
What should hourly cost include?
The wage plus on-costs: superannuation or retirement contributions, payroll tax, leave, insurance and a share of overheads. A rough rule of thumb is yearly salary divided by 1,400, which allows for paid hours that are not spent at the desk.
How long does it take to key one order?
It varies too much to guess. A five-line email from a regular customer is quick; a 40-line PDF from a new buyer with their own part numbers is not. Time ten of your own orders, including the checking and fixing, and use the average.
Does this include mistakes?
Only if you open Add the cost of mistakes and fill it in. Enter the share of orders with a keying mistake and what one mistake costs you in freight, credits, returns and staff time, and the monthly and yearly figures include it.
Does the calculator show savings?
No. It shows what manual entry costs you today, in your own numbers. How much of that an agent takes depends on your orders, which is what a shadow test measures, line by line, on a month of your real orders.
See it on your own orders
A free shadow test runs a month of your emailed orders through the agent. Read-only, about a week.