Build an Executive Business Case

{"category":"operations","description":"Use when a consultant or FDE must support a consequential management decision about investment in a solution, transformation or customer initiative. Produce an evidence-backed recommendation with economics, alternatives and risk, rather than a persuasive deck built around a predetermined answer. Do not use for a routine low-cost reversible purchase.","inputSchema":{"additionalProperties":false,"properties":{"businessProblem":{"description":"Pain or opportunity motivating the investment.","minLength":1,"type":"string"},"constraints":{"description":"Budget, capacity, compliance, timing and other decision boundaries.","items":{"type":"string"},"type":"array"},"decisionHorizon":{"description":"Optional period over which costs and benefits should be compared.","type":"string"},"decisionQuestion":{"description":"The exact management choice to decide.","minLength":1,"type":"string"},"evidence":{"description":"Financial data, operating metrics, customer evidence and proposed solutions.","items":{"type":"string"},"type":"array"}},"required":["decisionQuestion","businessProblem"],"type":"object"},"schemaVersion":1,"steps":[{"expectedOutputs":[{"description":"Decision question, alternatives, evidence needs and constraints.","kind":"investment-frame"}],"id":"2ZBY","instructions":"Translate the vague ask into a decision with named sponsor, time horizon, required return, hard constraints and alternatives including status quo. Frame 3-5 assertions that must hold for investment to make sense: demand, outcomes, cost, adoption, feasibility and timing. Distinguish who recommends from who can authorize spending. Pull applicable baseline and commercial context from authorized data; if unavailable mark estimates rather than manufacturing figures. Gate: a decision maker can see the actual choice and assumptions that would change it.","resourceHints":[],"title":"Define the decision, alternatives and investment boundary"},{"expectedOutputs":[{"description":"Benefit drivers, baseline, counterfactual and assumption ledger.","kind":"benefit-model"}],"id":"AES9","instructions":"Define the operational mechanism connecting the proposal to revenue, cost, risk reduction or customer impact. Establish current baseline, affected population, usage/adoption rates, time to benefit and counterfactual outcome if nothing changes. Separate observed effects from forecasts and double-counted benefits. Use interviews or real examples to challenge the optimistic case, noting implementation and organizational obstacles. Gate: each claimed benefit has a measurable driver, assumption and evidence grade.","resourceHints":[],"title":"Validate outcome drivers and the counterfactual"},{"expectedOutputs":[{"description":"Cost/benefit model, scenarios, sensitivities, and structural risks.","kind":"economic-scenarios"}],"id":"8GQE","instructions":"Build an auditable scenario model with setup, labor, integration, licensing, change management, support and ongoing operating costs. Include timing of cash flows and appropriate financial measures (payback, NPV or ROI) only when inputs and discount assumptions permit. Show base, upside and downside scenarios; sensitivity-test 2-3 dominant inputs. Explain uncertainty ranges, opportunity cost and any non-financial constraints. Do not treat a spreadsheet-generated number as certainty. Gate: financial claims reconcile to input assumptions and downside remains visible.","resourceHints":[],"title":"Model full economics and downside exposure"},{"expectedOutputs":[{"description":"Trade-off matrix, feasibility assessment and decision blockers.","kind":"options-assessment"}],"id":"SO9T","instructions":"Evaluate technical and organizational feasibility, access to data, procurement or security barriers, customer/employee adoption, sustainability and operational ownership. Compare alternatives using an explicit decision matrix; flag blockers that override an attractive ROI. Seek relevant senior operator challenge and preserve credible dissent. Differentiate assumptions that can be tested by a small pilot from irreversible commitments. Gate: the recommended option survives the strongest realistic counterargument or identifies a decisive uncertainty.","resourceHints":[],"title":"Stress-test delivery and strategic fit"},{"expectedOutputs":[{"description":"Decision memo, auditable economics and conditions for investment.","kind":"executive-business-case"}],"id":"6I87","instructions":"Provide a one-page executive decision memo with recommended option, evidence, economic range, principal risks, strongest rejected alternative and staged investment conditions. Specify a limited next tranche or experiment when uncertainty is high; state explicit stop/reconsider thresholds. Do not make commitments, budget approvals or vendor purchases on behalf of the sponsor. If a decision meeting occurs, capture its actual outcome rather than inventing approval. Gate: management can choose Go, Pilot, Wait or Stop without reopening the entire investigation.","resourceHints":[],"title":"Present an authorization-ready investment recommendation"}],"title":"Build an Executive Business Case"}