Detail Business Case Template

The full investment case — options compared, value quantified, and a recommendation someone can actually sign.

A brief business case asks for permission to plan. This one asks for money, and it has to survive a finance director. Nine sections, twenty tables, built around the questions a board will ask.

The nine sections

1. Executive decision summary — the ask, the recommendation, and what happens if you do nothing, on one page
2. Problem or opportunity — evidenced, not asserted
3. Objectives and strategic alignment — how this connects to what the organisation is already trying to do
4. Options analysis — including do nothing and do minimum, compared on the same criteria
5. Costs and funding — capital and operating, phased, with the funding source named
6. Benefits and disbenefits — what improves, and what gets worse, because something always does
7. Delivery, risk and governance — can this organisation actually deliver it
8. Financial evaluation — the numbers: payback, net present value, sensitivity
9. Recommendation and approval — stated plainly, with the sign-off block

The two sections that separate it from a proposal

Disbenefits. Every project makes something worse — a system retired, a team disrupted, a cost carried. A case that lists none reads as advocacy, and experienced boards discount it.

Do nothing as a real option. If the recommendation cannot beat doing nothing on the same criteria, it should not proceed. Including it honestly is what makes the rest credible.

Who it's for

Anyone seeking approval for significant spend — capital projects, system replacements, restructures, new equipment. Written to the standard a government or corporate approval process expects.

Editable Word document. No macros, no subscription. Pairs with the Project Brief (A$16), which precedes it, and the Benefits Review Plan for tracking whether the case came true.

Built in Australia from more than twenty years of program delivery experience. Instant download, yours to keep.