Free checklist · Manufacturing & Industrial
Which Process Should You Digitise First?
A self-scoring checklist that tells you which manual process on your floor is ready to digitise first — and which one will stall the way so many digitisation projects do.
The first choice decides everything
Most digitisation projects don’t fail on the code. They fail on the choosing.
Pick a process that’s unstable, rarely repeated, or owned by no one, and even good software stalls. Pick the process with measurable repetition, a clear owner and manageable integration risk, and the first win pays for the next one.
This checklist walks you through the same eight questions we work through with manufacturers before a single line of software is written.
What the checklist scores
- Process pain how often it repeats, and what each repeat costs you in time or error.
- Users who touches the process day to day, and who owns the result.
- Data where the numbers live today, and whether they’re clean enough to build on.
- Approvals the real sign-off chain, including the steps nobody wrote down.
- Exceptions the overrides and “except when…” rules that break naive software.
- Integration what the new system must talk to. Every connection adds risk.
- Reporting what plant heads, HR and leadership need to see, and how often.
- Adoption will the shop floor use it once it’s live?
Score each area, add it up, and you’ll know which process to take into a build conversation first — and which ones to leave alone for now.
What you receive
- The eight-part scoring checklist — print it, or fill it in on screen.
- A simple readiness score with a plain start / wait / redesign verdict.
- A short stakeholder-and-data prep list, so your first vendor conversation starts with answers, not questions.
Who it’s for
Plant heads, operations and IT leaders, and owners of small and mid-sized manufacturers weighing their first — or next — digitisation project. It’s built for factories still running on Excel, paper and one person’s memory. It is not a shopping guide for a full ERP.
Built from real delivery, not theory
For a Satna-based cable and conductor manufacturer, we replaced manual, Excel-based incentive calculation with a role-based platform — a five-level approval workflow, now live in production — releasing an estimated 876 person-days of repetitive effort a year.¹ That win started with choosing the right process. This checklist is how you make that choice.
Get the free checklist
Name · Work email · Company _(optional)_
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Questions leaders ask before downloading
Is this free, or a sales pitch in disguise? It’s free, and it’s the same framework we use with paying clients. Fill it in on your own — there’s nothing to buy to make it useful.
Will it work for a small factory? Yes. It’s designed to point you at one manageable first process — which matters most when budget and time are tight.
What happens after I download it? Nothing automatic. Scored a “start” and want a second opinion? Book a free 20–30 minute call — no obligation.
Scored a process and want a second opinion?
Bring the process you scored highest. In a free 20–30 minute call, a Digiator co-founder will pressure-test your readiness, flag the integration and adoption risks, and tell you honestly whether it’s worth building now — or worth waiting on. Bring the problem. We’ll help you see it clearly.
_We usually respond within one hour. Enquiries welcome 24/7._
Explore next: Digitisation for Manufacturers · Custom Software & AI Systems · How we scoped a live production platform
_¹ Estimated annual work capacity released, based on the delivered engagement — an estimate, not a guaranteed cash saving._