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Manual or automated? Decision worksheet

Decide whether a repeated check earns its setup and maintenance cost. Pair the decision record with the interactive automation cost calculator.

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Useful for: Teams choosing the next checks to automate rather than turning every manual activity into code.

  1. Choose a repeatable scenario with an observable expected result. Discovery work, rapidly changing requirements and subjective assessment may remain better suited to human investigation.

  2. Estimate execution frequency and manual effort from actual runs where possible. Include automated setup, failure investigation and maintenance rather than treating machine execution as free.

  3. Compare the same coverage and time horizon. A narrow automated smoke check should not be credited with replacing a broader manual regression session.

  4. Record the assumptions and review the decision after a pilot. Keep the scenario manual when the expected benefit is small, the data cannot be isolated or the assertion would be unreliable.

Scope and limitations: The financial comparison is an estimate of labour effort. It does not measure avoided defects, risk reduction or guaranteed return on investment.

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# Automation decision record

## Candidate check
- Scenario, business consequence and expected result:
- Repetition frequency and time horizon:
- Current manual procedure and observed effort:
- Stable interfaces, test data and dependencies:
- Reasons to keep any part manual:

## Effort assumptions
- Setup and integration hours:
- Automated review hours per run:
- Maintenance hours per month:
- Manual hours per run:
- Runs per month / months compared:
- Hourly labour rate and additional tool costs:
- Range of uncertainty for each estimate:

Manual effort = manual hours per run × runs per month × months.
Automated effort = setup hours + automated review hours per run × runs per month × months + maintenance hours per month × months.
Compare equal scope. Include any tool charges separately from labour hours.

## Quality and ownership checks
- [ ] Expected behaviour is agreed independently of the implementation.
- [ ] Data can be created and cleaned without affecting other tests.
- [ ] Failures point to useful evidence, not only a red status.
- [ ] A named team maintains selectors, fixtures and requirements.
- [ ] The pipeline gate matches the consequence of failure.

## Decision
- Automate / keep manual / run a limited pilot:
- Assumptions most likely to change the conclusion:
- Scope of the first implementation:
- Evidence the pilot must produce:
- Owner and review date:

Example — fictional: a check takes 30 minutes and runs twice a month. A 20-hour setup plus one hour of monthly maintenance exceeds six months of the current manual effort. Unless there is a separate risk or feedback-speed reason, keeping it manual is a reasonable decision. Different repetition and maintenance estimates can reverse that conclusion; keep those assumptions visible.

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