Process automation case study using the ROI-FIRST approach
Procurement & Contract Management
Industry
Construction & Engineering
Date
Jun 26, 2026
Recommendation
✅ Automate
Time saved
From 4.1 to 2.1 business days per contract
ROI Automation, recommendation and costs
COP
currency $:
Level of Automation | % Automation | Cases x Month | Time x Case (hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
Medium - digital workflow routing, automated notifications, centralized document history, real-time status dashboard | 50 | 4 | 33 |
Personas Involucradas | Nivel de Cargo Promedio | Average Monthly Salary | Real Company Cost with Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
5 | Mixed: General Manager/Director (Level 1, x3), Coordinator/Administrative Resident (Level 3, x1), Senior Analyst/Archivist (Level 4, x1) | 6.416.667 | 9.839.534 |
Monthly Operational Cost | Annual Operational Cost | Estimated Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|
5.019.732 | 60.236.784 | 2.509.866 |
Estimated Annual Savings | Year 1 Investment | Net Benefit Year 1 |
|---|---|---|
30.118.392 | 10.228.950 | 19.889.442 |
Cumulative Net Benefit 3 Years | FTE Equivalente Liberado |
|---|---|
61.766.226 | 0.39 |
Power in Numbers
194
ROI Year 1 (%)
4.1
Payback (months)
2.94
Cost/Benefit ratio
✅ Automate
50% of the process is automatable - defined by the client based on the irreducible need for human review of each document. The current model consumes 132 hours per month across 5 roles, with a 30-day cycle per contract when the realistic target is 8 days. The financial case is solid: COP $30,118,392 in annual savings against a COP $10,228,950 Year 1 investment yields a 194% ROI with a 4.1-month payback. Beyond the numbers, automation addresses the real organizational risk: when a contractor claim or audit arrives, the team currently opens Google Drive and hopes the documents are there. A structured workflow makes that risk disappear.
Signs of inefficiency detected
Daily manual follow-up by administrative residents to track who has the document and what is missing. All document management distributed across Google Drive folders with no centralized traceability. No visibility into contract status: teams do not know at which stage the process is or who holds the approval. Average contract cycle of 30 days against an 8-day target. Approval chains of up to 20 actors including clients, partners, fiduciaries, and supervising entities - all without defined SLAs. Signed documents downloaded from Zoho Sign and manually uploaded to Drive as a separate step. Audit response depends on Drive folder organization, not a structured audit trail.