Business case template: software purchase

Seven fields. Every number needs a source and a date. If a field has no source, label the number as an estimate and say so in the field, not in conversation.

1. The decision being requested

One sentence. What is being approved, how much, and by whom.

2. Cost of the current state

One line per cost. Next to each line, the system, report or person the number came from.

Cost line	Annual cost	Source (system, report or person)	Date checked

3. What changes with the software

A range, not a point. Low and high, and what drives the difference.

What changes	Low	High	What drives the range	Source

4. Total year-one investment, including internal effort

License, implementation, and the hours your own people will spend. Hours × hourly rate is a cost line too.

Item	Cost	Note (quantity x rate)
Software, year one
Implementation or onboarding
Integration and IT effort		hours × rate
Training		hours × rate
Internal owner time		hours × rate
Total year one		sum of the rows above

5. Payback period and three-year view

When cumulative benefit crosses cumulative cost, and what the three-year total looks like.

Year	Cost	Benefit	Net	Cumulative
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3

6. Assumptions, listed and dated

One assumption per line. Each with where it came from, who owns it, and when it was last checked.

Assumption	Where it came from	Owner	Date last checked

7. Risk, and what would make this wrong

The two or three things that would break the case, and how you would know early.

Risk	Effect on payback	Early warning sign	Owner

Before you send this

Read field 2 and field 3 out loud. Any number you cannot trace to a source will be the first question you are asked.
Check that every assumption in field 6 has a date. A rate taken from a 2024 benchmark is a different claim from one agreed with the buyer last month.
Field 5 is the one finance reads first. If payback depends on a benefit you have not sourced, the whole case moves into the discountable column.
This document is a skeleton. It holds your numbers; it does not check them. That work is yours, or it is done by a model that keeps the sources attached.