LEAP prioritization logic and cost savings calculation

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  • Updated March 12, 2026
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    Summary of LEAP prioritization logic and cost savings calculation

    LEAP leverages built-in prioritization logic to identify and rank automation opportunities based on their business impact and potential cost and time savings. This helps ServiceNow customers focus automation efforts on the highest-value tasks, improving efficiency and resource allocation. Customers are advised to validate LEAP's calculated values in a non-production environment before deploying them in production.

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    Automation Prioritization Logic

    LEAP groups related incidents into automation opportunities and assigns priority using two main factors:

    • Business Impact: Calculated by scoring each ticket on business criticality, major incident status, and impact level. These factors are weighted and averaged to produce a Business Impact Score. Automation opportunities are then categorized into high, medium, or low impact based on this score.
    • Projected Cost/Time Savings: Estimated using historical ticket data including incident frequency, average manual work notes count (AWNC), and overhead factors (OHF) that vary by incident priority. LEAP calculates projected savings in cost and time by multiplying these inputs with predefined cost and time values per work note entry.

    Automation opportunities are sorted by their projected savings and assigned an overall priority using a matrix that combines business impact and projected savings levels (e.g., Very High, High, Medium, Low, Very Low).

    Configurable Parameters

    Several parameters, such as overhead factors per incident priority, cost per work note, and time per work note entry, can be adjusted in the LEAP settings page. Changes require deactivating and reactivating the LEAP installer skill and rerunning calculations before activation to ensure accurate prioritization.

    Tracking Actual Savings

    After implementing automation, LEAP tracks actual cost and time savings through the LEAP Value Dashboard. It calculates saved work notes by comparing pre- and post-automation manual entries and applies overhead factors and cost/time per entry values to quantify real savings. This tracking enables continuous measurement of automation impact and supports informed decision-making.

    Practical Example

    For instance, a cluster with 20 average manual work notes (AWNC) mapped to a P2 priority incident with 6 manual entries after automation (AWN) results in saved work notes (SWN) of 14. Applying the overhead factor (1.4) yields an adjusted savings of approximately 20 AWN. Multiplying by the cost per work note ($20), the actual cost savings is $400, demonstrating how LEAP’s calculations translate into actionable financial benefits.

    LEAP uses built-in prioritization logic to identify the highest-impact automation opportunities. This logic helps you focus on the most valuable automation tasks. The calculations provide an estimate of potential cost and time savings. It's best to validate these values in a non-production environment before implementing them in production.

    The automation priority is calculated by combining the following key factors:
    • Business impact
    • Projected cost/time savings

    The priority for an automation opportunity is determined using the following chart.

    Figure 1. Automation opportunity priority
    automation opportunity priorities

    The key factors are evaluated for each group of related incidents, called  automation opportunities, and the results help teams focus on high-value areas.

    Business impact

    Each automation opportunity is a cluster of tickets. Every ticket is scored based on the following factors:
    • Business criticality
    • Major incident status
    • Impact level
    These factors are given values. Example values for  criticality:
    • Most Critical = 100%
    • Somewhat Critical = 75%
    • Less Critical = 50%
    • Not Critical = 25%
    Table 1. Properties table
    Key Default value Description
    ohf_p4 0.8 Overhead factor for P4 records.
    ohf_p5 0.4 Overhead factor for P5 records.
    ohf_p1 1.8 Overhead factor for P1 records.
    ohf_p2 1.4 Overhead factor for P2 records.
    cost_per_entry 20 Cost in dollars associated with adding a work note entry to a record.
    ohf_p3 1.1 Overhead factor for P3 records.
    time_per_entry 0.5 Time in hours associated with adding a work note entry to a record.
    first_run_group_limit 0 Total number of groups for which resolution steps are generated in the initial run.
    gaf_mapping_min_threshold 0.2 Minimum ratio of incidents pointing to an active group that is considered for remapping after clustering.
    Note:
    • You can modify the values in the LEAP settings page. However, the calculations will differ when you change the values.
    • The values in the LEAP settings page should be modified before activating LEAP.
    • If you modify the values in the LEAP settings page, you need to rerun the calculation. For this, you must deactivate and reactivate the LEAP installer skill.
    Each factor is weighted. For example, say that Criticality = 0.8, Major Incident = 0.2, and Impact = 0.4.
    Ticket Score = (Criticality × 0.8 + Major Incident × 0.2 + Impact × 0.4) ÷ 3

    The  average of all ticket scores  in the group becomes the  Business Impact Score. Based on this score, automation opportunities are labeled as high impact (the top 33%) , medium impact  (next 33%), and low impact  (remaining 33%).

    Projected cost or time savings impact

    LEAP estimates how much time and cost can be saved by automating a group of incidents with historical ticket data.

    The key inputs for cost and time savings are the following:
    • Frequency of Incidents (FOI) : Average number of similar incidents per month
    • Average Manual Work Notes Count (AWNC)
    • Overhead Factor (OHF) : varies by incident priority based on the priorities table
    LEAP uses the following formulas to calculate the projected cost or time savings:
    • Projected Cost Savings = ∑ (FOI × OHF) × AWNC × Cost per Work Note
    • Projected Time Savings = ∑ (FOI × OHF) × AWNC × Agent Time per Entry

    Each ticket’s projected savings is calculated. The  average for the group  becomes the  Projected Cost/Time Savings Score, which is also categorized as  High,  Medium, or  Low. The automation opportunities are sorted in descending order based on the projected cost or time savings.

    Determining overall priority

    After calculating the values for the business impact and the projected cost/time savings, LEAP assigns a priority level to each automation opportunity using this matrix:
    Table 2. Automation priority matrix
    Business impact Projected cost/time savings Automation priority
    High High Very High
    Medium High High
    High Medium High
    Medium Medium Medium
    Medium Low Low
    Low Medium Low
    Low Low Very Low

    These prioritized automation opportunities are displayed on the LEAP home page.

    Tracking the actual cost and time savings

    After automation is implemented, LEAP tracks  actual cost and time savings and displays them on the  LEAP Value Dashboard, helping you measure impact and make decisions.

    Key metrics:
    • Additional Work Notes (AWN) : Manual entries after playbook execution
    • Overhead Factor (OHF) by Priority : For example, P1 = 1.8x
    Formulas:
    • Saved Work Notes (SWNs)  = AWNC – AWN
    • AWN = SWN × OHF
    • Actual Cost Savings = AWN × Cost per Work Note
    • Actual Time Savings = AWN × Agent Time per Entry

    Example projected cost and time savings calculations

    A cluster has 20 AWNC and is mapped to a P2 incident with 6 AWN. The cost per work note is $20, and the agent time per entry is 0.5 hours.

    According to the formulas, the SWN count is (20 - 6) = 14. According to the properties tables, the OHF = 1.4.

    SWN x OHF = AWN so 14 x 1.4 = 19.6

    This value can be rounded off to 20 AWN. Each AWN entry represents $20 of savings.

    The actual cost savings post automation = AWN x Cost per Work Note = 20 x 20 = $400.

    So, if you use automation, then the projected cost savings can be up to $400. Thus, the calculation provides actionable insights for ongoing process improvement and resource allocation.