LYNE AX · Operations assessment

Operations Bottleneck Report

Where spreadsheet work and payroll leaks come from, and what to automate first.

Fictional example. The company and figures below are made-up data to aid understanding, not a real client.

Industry

Food wholesale · own online store

Size

12 employees · 1 warehouse

Assessment

10 questions · 50 points

Type

Operations bottleneck assessment (fictional)

01 — For the owner

Right now, this company runs on people's effort.

36 / 50

Manual work and payroll trap

The first thing to fix is manual matching of account POs and invoices. As revenue grows, spreadsheet work and entry errors grow with it; on this structure, growth means payroll.

0 Ready20 At risk40 Trapped50 Breaking

Change in 30 days — 1) semi-automate PO/invoice matching, 2) inventory and entry-error safeguards, 3) stop the firefighting that eats the owner's time.
Not now — a full order and billing system replacement or custom development. Until one bottleneck shrinks, focus spreads and risk grows.

02 — Score breakdown

Where it's leaking

Ten questions grouped into six operating areas. The longer the bar, the more tied to people and spreadsheets.

Spreadsheet & manual dependenceQ1–3

12/15

Entry-error riskQ4–5

8/10

Staffing bottleneck & throughputQ6–7

7/10

Payroll growth & profit leakQ8

4/5

Owner time drainQ10

3/5

Inventory & data integrityQ9

2/5

03 — Key findings

The three biggest leaks

Account POs and invoices are matched by hand.

Symptom

Every morning, staff re-key spreadsheet and PDF orders that arrive in a different format from each account.

Basis (mock)

2 employees average 3 hours a day on PO and billing matching → about 120 hours a month of repetitive entry.

Direction

Semi-automate matching with automated order reading and rule-based entry. People review exceptions only.

In 30 days

Yes — phased in with risk checks: read-only → validate → semi-automated after approval.

Est. loss (mock) · About 120 hours a month of repeat work = over KRW 2.4M in monthly payroll tied up in automatable tasks.

One entry error becomes misdelivery and inventory errors.

Symptom

Formula errors or copy-paste mistakes cause a missed order or a wrong invoice at least once a month.

Basis (mock)

3–5 bad entries a month → misdeliveries, returns, billing rework. Per-case handling costs and losses add up.

Direction

Validate inventory, unit price, and account automatically at entry, so the system catches the mistake first.

In 30 days

Yes — only a validation step added to the existing data flow.

Est. loss (mock) · KRW 1.5M–3M a month in misdeliveries, returns, and rework (fictional estimate).

Owner time goes to yesterday's fires, not the business.

Symptom

When a certain employee is out, operations stop and the owner steps in to handle it.

Basis (mock)

The owner spends 8–10 hours a week on recurring firefighting → about 40 hours of owner time lost a month.

Direction

Move core tasks into systems and operating manuals; name an in-house ops lead to cut owner dependence.

In 30 days

Partly — automating P1 and P2 first reduces how often the owner steps in.

Est. loss (mock) · Opportunity cost of about 40 owner hours a month (the most expensive hours).

04 — 30-day priorities

What, and in what order

Week	Goal	Actions	Deliverable
Week 1	Pin down the biggest bottleneck	Map the PO and invoice matching flow; pick the items and accounts to automate	Bottleneck map · Automation scope
Week 2	Semi-automate matching	Automated order reading + rule-based entry (read-only → validate)	Semi-automated matching flow v1
Week 3	Block entry errors	Set validation rules (inventory, unit price, account); exception alerts	Validation step · Exception dashboard
Week 4	Reduce owner dependence	Write operating manuals + name an in-house ops lead; fix the operating cadence	Operations manual · Next 30-day plan

05 — Who does what

Do yourself · Do together · Hold off

You can do yourself

List accounts and items to automate
Log 5 recurring errors
Write down 10 decisions that reach you

Faster together

Build automated reading & matching
Set entry validation rules
Design manuals & in-house ops lead

Hold off for now

Full order & billing system replacement
Complete inventory system rebuild
Live book auto-posting (after approval)

06 — Next step

Where this report becomes a real system

The assessment doesn't end here. We move the 30-day plan into a real system in phases, with risk checks: read-only analysis → spreadsheet automation → semi-automated after approval. If the criteria below apply, we recommend an OS Sprint, a 2–4 week build of your first bottleneck fix.

Manual volume

80+ hours of repeat work a month

Estimated loss

KRW 3M+ leaking a month (fictional)

Payback

roughly 2 months · fictional assumption

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Exclusions and notes

This is a fictional example. The company, figures, and findings are made-up data, not a real client, and relate to no specific business.
Real summaries are written from the requesting company's answers and sent by email.
The assessment is for setting priorities. Account access, permission changes, and auto-posting to the books proceed only with separate approval.
We do not guarantee outcomes such as revenue, cost savings, or inventory accuracy. Loss and payback figures are fictional estimates.

LYNE AX · Growth Operations Systems Partner Operations Bottleneck Report (fictional example) · v1 lyneax.com