I originally coined the rule of 100 and 1,000 in relationship to data conversion (here and here). I extended that rule to ongoing data management here.

The rule of 100 and 1,000 can also be applied to automation. Simply put, if you're managing fewer than 100 records for some process (e.g., accepting 50 submissions for an awards program), it's probably not going to be worth the effort to automate most of that process. But if you're receiving over a thousand submissions, you're definitely going to want to automate the process as much as possible.

In fact, for automation, I might adjust the rule to 100 and 500, especially if there are multiple steps in the process (e.g., submission, review, multiple communications with applicants, etc.).

It often doesn't make sense (in terms of time and money) to automate a process that can be managed manually. And definitely don't automate for the sake of automation.

The rule of 100 and 500 might help you decide whether or not to automate a process.