# AI Automation Opportunity Checklist: Find and Qualify Your Best Candidates > Source: https://netray.co/tools/ai-automation-opportunity-checklist > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer A 28-point checklist covering process discovery, data readiness, technology, governance, and business case, so your first AI automation project starts on solid ground. ## Category ai-automation ## Tool **Kind:** checklist **Groups:** #### Process Discovery **Items:** Listed the top 10 most time-consuming repetitive processes across departments Measured or estimated the monthly hours and cost each candidate process consumes Interviewed the frontline staff who actually perform each process, not just their managers **Text:** Documented the exception rate and the main exception types for each candidate **Critical:** true Identified which processes are high-volume and rule-heavy versus judgment-heavy Ranked candidates by a combination of value and feasibility, not gut feel #### Data Readiness **Items:** **Text:** Confirmed the input data for top candidates is digital and programmatically accessible **Critical:** true **Text:** Reviewed a real sample of input data for quality, completeness, and consistency **Critical:** true Assigned ownership for the master data each automation will depend on Inventoried the unstructured documents involved: formats, senders, and monthly volumes Checked data privacy, retention, and export-control constraints (ITAR, CUI, customer NDAs) Quantified historical transaction volumes to size the automation and its ROI #### Technology and Integration **Items:** **Text:** Confirmed API or integration access for every system the automation must touch **Critical:** true Documented relevant ERP customizations that could affect automated transactions Verified a test or sandbox environment exists for safe development and testing Defined the authentication approach for automation accounts, including least-privilege access Planned monitoring, logging, and alerting for the automation in production #### People and Governance **Items:** **Text:** Named an executive sponsor who owns the automation initiative and its budget **Critical:** true Engaged the process owners whose daily work the automation will change **Text:** Defined the human-in-the-loop review model for the ramp-up period **Critical:** true Prepared a change management plan covering affected roles and redeployment Published an AI usage policy covering data handling and approved tools Scheduled training for the staff who will supervise and handle exceptions #### Business Case and Pilot Plan **Items:** **Text:** Captured baseline metrics - cost, cycle time, error rate - before any automation starts **Critical:** true **Text:** Defined explicit pilot success criteria, such as a target straight-through rate **Critical:** true Scoped the pilot to a single process slice deliverable in 6-10 weeks Documented a rollback plan in case the pilot must be paused Drafted the scale-up roadmap for what follows a successful pilot **Scoring Note:** Check every item you have genuinely completed. Critical items are the ones that most often sink first AI projects when skipped: if any critical item is unchecked, resolve it before committing budget. A score above 80% with all critical items checked means you are ready to launch a pilot. ## Content **Intro:** This free checklist walks you through 28 checkpoints across process discovery, data readiness, technology, governance, and business case planning, so you can find the strongest AI automation opportunities in your business and qualify them before spending money. It is designed for operations leaders, IT managers, and automation champions at manufacturers preparing their first serious AI automation initiative. Critical items flag the preparation gaps that most often sink first projects, giving you a concrete pre-flight check rather than a vague ambition. **Sections:** #### Why a checklist beats enthusiasm **Body:** Most failed AI automation projects do not fail on technology; they fail on skipped preparation. The pattern is depressingly consistent: a team picks a process nobody baselined, discovers mid-project that the input data is not digitally accessible or the target system has no API, and then watches the pilot stall while those gaps are fixed under deadline pressure. This checklist front-loads exactly those discoveries. Working through it takes a few hours of honest effort and typically saves months of mid-project rework. The critical flags mark the items with the worst failure statistics: undocumented exceptions, inaccessible data, missing sponsors, and absent baselines. #### How the five groups fit together **Body:** The groups follow the natural qualification sequence for an automation initiative, and each one gates the next. Skipping ahead is how projects accumulate hidden risk: **Bullets:** - Process Discovery finds where the hours and errors actually are, replacing opinions with measurements. - Data Readiness and Technology confirm the candidate is technically reachable before design starts. - People and Governance secure the sponsorship, review model, and policy that keep the project alive politically. - Business Case and Pilot Plan lock the baseline and success criteria that make ROI provable afterward. #### Using your results **Body:** Score yourself honestly; a checked item you half-did is an unchecked item. If you clear 80% with every critical item done, you are better prepared than most organizations that have already bought automation software, and you should move to pilot selection with confidence. If you land between 50% and 80%, your gaps are probably concentrated in one or two groups, and closing them is usually two to six weeks of focused work. Below 50%, resist vendor pressure entirely: run the discovery and data readiness groups first, because everything downstream depends on them. Re-run the checklist quarterly as a portfolio discipline, since each completed project makes the next one easier to qualify. #### How Netray helps you convert the checklist into a project **Body:** Netray runs structured automation discovery engagements that complete this checklist with you against real data: we measure your candidate processes, test data accessibility, verify integration paths into Infor SyteLine, Infor LN, and Baan, and deliver a prioritized opportunity map with baselined ROI for each candidate. From there we design and build the winning automation, with human-in-the-loop controls and governance built in from the start. For aerospace, defense, and electronics manufacturers with export-control obligations, we deploy fully on-prem. Discovery typically takes two weeks and gives you a board-ready automation roadmap. **Cta:** Book a two-week automation discovery with Netray and turn this checklist into a prioritized, ROI-backed roadmap. **Faq:** #### Which unchecked items should worry me the most? **Answer:** The critical flags, in this order: no baseline metrics, no confirmed data access, no executive sponsor, and undocumented exceptions. A missing baseline means you can never prove the project worked, which quietly kills funding for everything after it. Inaccessible data and missing APIs stop projects cold mid-build. A missing sponsor means the first budget review or competing priority stalls you. Undocumented exceptions cause scope explosions when the automation meets reality. #### How long should completing this checklist take? **Answer:** For a mid-market manufacturer, expect two to six weeks of part-time effort, mostly in process discovery and data readiness. Interviewing frontline staff and reviewing real data samples are the slowest items and also the most valuable ones. Organizations that try to compress the checklist into an afternoon of optimistic box-ticking get exactly the mid-project surprises it exists to prevent. Treat it as a small project with an owner and a deadline. #### Do we need to complete every item before starting any automation? **Answer:** No. The checklist qualifies one initiative at a time, not your entire company. You need all critical items and roughly 80% overall for the specific process you intend to automate first; items for other departments or future candidates can wait. Many teams run the checklist narrowly for a first project like AP invoice automation, ship the win, and then broaden coverage as the automation program grows. Momentum matters more than completeness. ## Search terms AI automation opportunity checklist, AI automation readiness checklist, how to identify automation opportunities, AI project preparation checklist, automation discovery checklist, AI pilot planning checklist --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json