a)     
Do we see frequent releases where a defective release can incur a significant
loss? For example, Application Downtime Loss, Financial Loss (Transactions not
performed as expected by business), Data Loss (Audit Log, Transaction &
Master Data).

b)     
What is the time available with us to test the application once the application
is ready for testing? Say the release are delivered to us on a short notice and
testing time is very limited.

c)      
Do they have to perform test on multiple platforms? Like for web applications
testing the same functionality of different versions of IE, Opera, Firefox etc.
For intranet (client server applications) , is the application running on
window98, 2000, NT, etc.

d)     
Is there sufficient maturity in the organization, that can handle the
automation project

a.      
Do you have the Resources (infrastructure / people / processes / systems)?

b.     
Do you the right Skilled Professional?

c.      
Do you need to in-source or outsource the project work?

Now consider all the
cost like

a)      Cost of the tools and its maintenance cost

b)     
Cost of resources that will be require to build
automation

c)      
Cost, in terms of time, that will be invested to
build you automation suite