I think you know that better than me
Automation in WPMU for me is for example, when creating a new blog:
-it already has multiple ping services configured(>200), pings optimized to avoid mistaken as spammer
-categories and the feedwordpress is configured, you just have to add feeds,
-the page is already SEO friendly, including image automatic SEO friendly conversion (automatic configuration of plugins),
-the ads, custom elements of the template are already added
-google analytics configured
-site friendly for PDA, Iphone, Mobiles
most of this stuff is done by custom editing plugins or core files. it is pretty simple, but there is much googling to find everything. i can also write on other automation topics (like morphing blog creation, but this is not an easy task) if you have a good idea.
what i mean - there are many good plugins for wordpress, which are useful for wpmu, but they need little tweaks, that are hard for a typical user.
I hope to get your advice, guys, in the process of creating all this. I'm proficient in IT, but not as much in Porn business