Calculator
The cost of retyping calculator
Retyping costs your office hours equal to jobs per week, times the number of times each job is typed again, times the minutes each entry takes. Put in your own numbers to see the hours and dollars your company spends every year copying information it already has.
How this is calculated
- 120 jobs × 2 re-entries × 6 minutes = 1,440 minutes a week.
- Over 52 weeks that is 1,248 hours, at $38 an hour.
- Not counted: errors the retyping introduces, and invoices waiting while it happens.
Reading the result
The number is a floor, not a ceiling. It counts only the typing. The person doing it is usually one of the most knowledgeable people in the office, and the hours they spend as a transfer cable are hours not spent on the work only they can do.
If the yearly figure is larger than a Workflow Spec, the workflow is worth a closer look. The re-entry trap page explains why retyping persists even when everyone agrees it is waste.
Questions people ask
What counts as a re-entry?
Every time someone types information by hand that was already written down somewhere else: a ticket typed into billing, then again into payroll, is two re-entries.
How do I find minutes per entry?
Time a few real entries. Include finding the paper or photo, reading it, and fixing what is unclear.
What does the calculator leave out?
Errors introduced by retyping, and the time invoices wait while it happens. Both are real costs; they are just harder to put a number on.
Is a small number good news?
It means retyping may not be your most expensive problem. Try the invoice lag calculator next; the delay often costs more than the typing.
How do we stop retyping?
The guide on the accounting system and the field app not talking lists what to try first. A lasting fix is a tool that delivers the information in the shape the receiving system accepts.