Data Input¶
In the Data Input section, you add and adjust the input data that enriches the Savings, FTE, and ROI indicators in Insights.
The section is divided into two areas:
- Finance: input values for each automation, used as the basis for financial calculations.
- Reprocess items: retroactive correction of financial data and of the number of processed items.
Task item¶
The task item is the unit of work that the automation processes. Each item corresponds to a concrete deliverable of the process, that is, something a person would do manually if the automation did not exist.
BotCity Insights uses the number of processed items as the basis for all calculations. The financial indicators compare the automation's work with the equivalent human work per item.
Item examples
- Supplier approval: each approved supplier is an item. A task that validates 50 suppliers processes 50 items.
- Product registration: each product registered in the system is an item.
- Invoice reconciliation: each reconciled invoice is an item.
How to define your automation's item
Choose as the item the smallest deliverable of the process that has a known human time and cost. This way, the Human time / item and Human cost / item values entered in Finance reflect the actual work that the automation replaces.
A single task can process several items. When finishing the task, the automation reports in the code the total number of items, how many were processed successfully, and how many failed. See how in Report data from an automation.
Finance¶
To correctly calculate high-level results, you need to access the Data Input > Finance page and enter these input values for each automation:
- Human time / item: The time a human would take to process a single item of the automation. You can enter this value in hours, minutes, and seconds.
- Human cost / item: The cost of each single item processed by a human.
- Investment: Investment value related to the initial cost of implementation and maintenance of the automation.
Important!
This configuration step is essential for the information and indicators generated, regarding each process, to be relevant.
Make sure that the input values used are correct for each automation.
Report data from an automation¶
The values entered in Finance only generate indicators when the automation reports the number of items it processed. This reporting is done in the automation code, when finishing each task with the finish_task method of the BotCity Maestro SDK.
When finishing the task, report:
- Total items (
total_items): number of items the task attempted to process. - Processed items (
processed_items): number of items processed successfully. - Failed items (
failed_items): number of items processed with failure.
Finishing example
The way to count items depends on the business rules of each process. Use in the code whatever logic makes sense to identify and count each task item.
Examples in Python, Java, and C#
See the complete step-by-step guide, with examples in the supported languages:
- I already use BotCity: how to change the code of an existing automation.
- I'm just getting started: how to create an automation that already reports items.
Tasks executed before reporting
Reporting applies to tasks executed from the automation version that includes the code. To include previous tasks in the indicators, reprocess the items.
Reprocess items¶
In the Reprocess items area, you retroactively correct the financial values (human time and cost per item) and the number of processed items in the tasks of an automation over a period. After reprocessing, the Dashboard indicators are recalculated with the new values.
Start reprocessing¶
On the Data Input page, click Reprocess items - Go to data source.
Next, click Start Reprocessing +.
Select automations¶
Select the automations that need to be reprocessed, fill in the financial data for each one, and click Next.
Required financial values
It is not possible to reprocess automations without financial values filled in. The Human time / item and Human cost / item fields are required.
Select the period¶
Select the date range to be reprocessed.
6-month limit per request
Each request accepts a range of up to 6 months. To reprocess a longer period, submit more than one request.
Edit and confirm items¶
Review the tasks before reprocessing and adjust, for each one, the number of processed items (successful items) and failed items, so that the values reflect the actual processing result.
Reprocess¶
With the information filled in, click Reprocess items.
Track the status¶
The reprocessing list shows the status of each request. You can filter the list by Status, Reprocessing date, and Reprocessed period.
- Queue: requests enter a queue and go through the
QueuedandRunningstatuses and, at the end,SuccessorError. - Status per request: when a request includes more than one automation, the status applies to the request as a whole, not to each automation.
- New requests: you can submit a new request even while another one is in progress.
- List refresh: the list refreshes automatically every 10 seconds when there are items with
QueuedorRunningstatus.
Dashboard and Reports update
After reprocessing finishes, the Dashboard and Reports are updated, but only with the values of the automations selected in the reprocessing. The general data update happens every 1 hour.
Repositories¶
Insights organizes data separately by repository. When moving one or more automations to another repository:
- Historical Insights data (prior to the move) is not lost; it remains consolidated in the original repository.
- New processing carried out after the move is recorded in the new repository.
There is no automatic transfer or reconsolidation of history: what was already processed stays in the original repository, and what is processed from the move onward is recorded in the destination repository.
Moving an automation
See how to move an automation to another repository at Move to Repository.







