---
name: investment-business-case
description: Builds a finance-ready investment business case with baseline economics, implementation spend, operating impact, benefit timing, scenario ranges, and a gated recommendation. Use for capital planning, tooling purchases, transformation proposals, or funding approvals.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  adlass.categories: "executive-strategy/business-cases"
  adlass.industries: ""
  adlass.tags: "investment,finance,roi,scenario,capital-request"
  adlass.adaptation: "reference-doc"
  adlass.source: "original"
  adlass.version: "1"
---

# Investment business case

## Purpose

Test whether an investment request is economically and operationally supportable. The result makes the baseline, cash profile, benefit realization path, downside exposure, and decision gate visible.

## Scope

Model one investment request against its current-state baseline, feasible alternatives, and finance policy. Include implementation cost, recurring cost, capacity effects, benefit timing, and scenario outcomes where evidence exists.

**Excluded:** accounting advice, audited forecasts, purchase execution, budget approval, or invented market prices.

## Data basis

- Investment request with amount, purpose, requested date, sponsor, and option scope.
- General-ledger or budget extracts with cost center, period, currency, and actuals.
- Capacity and benefit baseline with owner, metric, current value, target, and measurement cadence.
- Finance model, hurdle rates, procurement assumptions, and risk register.

## Result

A quantified business-case document, assumptions table, and approval-gate checklist.

## Quality criteria

- All monetary figures carry currency, period, source, and one-time or recurring classification.
- Benefit calculations identify metric, baseline, target, ramp timing, and accountable owner.
- Scenario tables change named assumptions and recalculate the affected outputs.
- The recommendation states approval amount, gate, and evidence still required.
- Arithmetic ties to source extracts and rounding is disclosed.

## Instructions

Use actuals for the baseline and forecasts only where the source labels them. Apply the finance model’s discounting and tax or treatment rules; do not introduce a local convention. Separate cash savings from capacity release. If a benefit lacks an owner or measurement plan, mark it uncommitted. Explain the effect of delay and the do-nothing case.

## Adapt before use

The completed model should be reviewed against the latest approved budget before any gate decision.

- Provide the finance model, hurdle rates, and approval matrix.
- Define currency, forecast horizon, and benefit ownership.
- Map budget and capacity fields to the source tables.
- Add procurement and risk assumptions.