1. Automation Readiness Score: 82/100 — Automation-ready Verdict: You have several structured, repetitive admin workflows that can be automated with Microsoft 365 without buying a large new software stack. The biggest gains are around timesheets, payroll preparation, invoice handling and reporting. I estimated client schedule calls at 2 h/week (est.) because no time was provided. | Task | Score | Hours/week | Verdict | Best tool | |---|---|---|---|---| | Collect timesheets + payroll summary | 87 | 4 | Automate now | SharePoint + Power Automate + Excel Power Query/Office Scripts | | Chase missing timesheets | 80 | 1 | Automate now | Power Automate + Outlook | | Enter supplier invoices | 90 | 3 | Semi-automate | Power Automate + accounting CSV/API import | | Answer client calls about schedules | 70 | 2 (est.) | Keep human | Teams/SharePoint schedule lookup | | Book worker hotels | 67 | 1 | Semi-automate | Microsoft Lists + Power Automate | | Monthly hours-per-project report | 73 | ~0.7 | Automate now | Excel Power Query + PivotTable | Weighted by workload, your score is approximately 82/100. 2. Top 3 quick wins 1. Timesheets → automatic payroll workbook Build: One standard timesheet collection point feeding the payroll Excel file automatically. Setup: - Put one standard timesheet template/form in SharePoint. - Require employee/site/project/date/hours fields. - Power Automate collects submissions into one SharePoint List or Excel table. - Power Query combines the data. - Add an exception sheet for missing/invalid hours. Setup time: roughly 4–8 hours. If this cuts 4 hours to ~1.5 hours/week, saving = 2.5 × 46 = ~115 hours/year. Main risk: wrong project/employee codes. Safe test: run automated and existing payroll summaries side-by-side for two payroll cycles before relying on it. 2. Supplier invoice processing Build: Incoming invoice → stored automatically → key fields captured → import file prepared for accounting. Use Outlook rules + Power Automate + SharePoint. If the accounting system accepts CSV/API imports, automate the final handoff too. Setup: - Create an Invoices mailbox/folder. - Automatically save attachments to SharePoint. - Capture supplier, invoice number, date and amount. - Generate the accounting-system import format. - Require approval before posting. Setup time: roughly 6–12 hours, depending heavily on the accounting system. Saving even 1.5 h/week = ~69 hours/year. Main risk: duplicate or incorrect invoices. Safe test: process 20–30 invoices in parallel and compare every field before enabling imports. 3. Automatic missing-timesheet reminders Build: Power Automate checks every Friday who has submitted and emails only the missing site managers. Setup: - Maintain site-manager list in SharePoint. - Compare expected vs received timesheets. - Send Outlook reminder automatically. - Send a second reminder if still missing. - Give you one exception summary. Setup time: 1–3 hours. Likely saving around 0.75 h/week = ~35 hours/year. Main risk: annoying people who already submitted. Safe test: first run should send the reminder report only to you, not employees. 3. Don't automate yet Client schedule calls: keep the conversation human. Clients may be frustrated, plans may change and explanations require judgement. Instead, make the information easier to retrieve: one SharePoint/Teams project schedule so you can answer faster. Hotel booking: semi-automate the preparation, not necessarily the final purchase. Automatically produce worker names, dates, location and budget, but leave hotel selection/book-now approval to a person because cancellations, distance, parking and site changes matter. 4. 30-day roadmap Week 1: Standardise timesheets and create the SharePoint data structure. Week 2: Automate collection, validation and missing-timesheet reminders. Week 3: Build Power Query payroll and director-report outputs; run them beside the old process. Week 4: Pilot invoice automation with a small invoice batch, then document exceptions and decide whether accounting-system integration is reliable enough. A realistic first target is 200+ admin hours saved per year, without trying to automate client relationships or unusual cases. 5. The one question that would change the result most In what format do site managers currently send their timesheets — a standard Excel file, different spreadsheets, PDFs/photos, email text, or paper? That determines whether your biggest 4-hour/week workflow is a straightforward automation or primarily a process-standardisation project first.