Purpose
Produce a defensible, funding-ready business case for a digital investment — pairing a quantified financial model (NPV, IRR, payback) and sensitivity analysis with a clear problem statement, option comparison, risk register, and implementation plan. Solves the problem of strategy and product leaders bringing a compelling story but a financially soft case that gets rejected or deferred by a finance gatekeeper.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Build a business case or funding request for a digital initiative
- Justify investment in a platform, system, automation program, or technology modernization
- Prepare a board or executive deck financial section for a transformation project
- Compare build vs. buy vs. defer options for a digital project
- Calculate NPV, IRR, or payback period for a technology investment
- Defend a digital project against finance pushback on ROI
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Initiative description: What the digital initiative is and the capability it creates (2–4 sentences)
- Problem or opportunity: The current pain, cost, or missed revenue the initiative addresses
- Estimated investment: Upfront capital and recurring run costs (or a range)
- Expected benefits: Quantifiable gains — revenue uplift, cost savings, efficiency hours, churn reduction
- Time horizon: Analysis period in years (default 5)
- Discount rate / WACC: The hurdle rate for discounting (default 10% if unknown)
- Decision audience: Who approves funding — CFO, board, steering committee
If discount rate, time horizon, or benefit figures are missing, use stated defaults and flag every assumption explicitly in an assumptions register.
Instructions
Step 1: Problem Statement & Strategic Alignment
Frame why this matters before the numbers.
- State the problem in business terms: quantify the current cost of inaction (revenue at risk, hours lost, churn, manual cost) using the inputs provided
- Tie the initiative to 1–2 stated corporate strategic priorities (growth, efficiency, customer experience, risk reduction)
- Define the "do nothing" baseline — what happens over the time horizon if no investment is made
- Keep this to a tight narrative: problem → consequence → strategic relevance
Step 2: Solution Options (Generate 3, Recommend 1)
Always present at least three options so the decision-maker is choosing, not just approving.
Option A — Recommended path: The proposed initiative as scoped.
Option B — Lower-cost / phased alternative: Reduced scope, slower rollout, or buy-vs-build alternative.
Option C — Do nothing / defer: The baseline, with its accumulating cost of inaction.
For each option capture: scope, upfront cost, annual run cost, time-to-value, and key trade-off. End with a one-paragraph recommendation naming Option A (or the strongest) and why.
Step 3: Financial Model — Discounted Cash Flow
Build the DCF for the recommended option across the time horizon.
- Year 0: Upfront investment (negative cash flow)
- Years 1–N: Net cash flow = quantified benefits − run costs each year, ramped realistically (benefits rarely hit 100% in Year 1 — apply a ramp such as 40% / 75% / 100%)
- Discount each year's net cash flow: Present Value = Cash Flow ÷ (1 + discount rate)^year
- NPV: Sum of all discounted cash flows including Year 0 — state whether positive (value-creating) or negative
- IRR: The discount rate at which NPV = 0 — compute and compare against the hurdle rate
- Payback period: The point (in years/months) where cumulative cash flow turns positive — use both simple and discounted payback
- Present the model as a year-by-year table: gross benefit, run cost, net cash flow, discount factor, present value, cumulative PV
Step 4: Sensitivity Analysis
Stress-test the case so the recommendation survives scrutiny.
- Identify the 3 most material drivers (typically benefit realization rate, upfront cost, and adoption/ramp speed)
- Run each driver at −20%, base, and +20%, showing the resulting NPV for each
- Build a simple scenario set: Pessimistic / Base / Optimistic with NPV, IRR, and payback for each
- State the break-even threshold: how far benefits can fall (or costs rise) before NPV goes negative — this is the single most persuasive number for a skeptical CFO
Step 5: Risk Assessment
Build a risk register the audience will trust. For each risk capture: description, likelihood (High/Med/Low), impact (High/Med/Low), and a specific mitigation owner-action.
- Cover at least: delivery/execution risk, adoption risk, benefit-realization risk, technical/integration risk, and dependency/vendor risk
- Rank by likelihood × impact and surface the top 3 as the ones the steering committee must actively manage
Step 6: Implementation Plan
Show that the money turns into outcomes.
- Break delivery into 3–4 phases with duration, milestone, and the benefit unlocked at each
- Name the governance model: who sponsors, who decides at stage gates, cadence of review
- Define 3–5 success metrics tied directly to the modeled benefits (so post-investment tracking matches the business case)
- Identify the funding gate: what must be true at the end of Phase 1 to release Phase 2 funding
Step 7: Recommendation & Ask
Close with the decision.
- One paragraph: the recommended option, headline NPV/IRR/payback, and the specific funding amount requested
- State the decision needed and by when
Output Format
- Structure: Sectioned business case document with a financial table and a sensitivity/scenario table
- Length: 1,300–1,800 words plus tables
- Format: Structured document — prose for narrative sections, tables for the DCF model, sensitivity analysis, and risk register
- Sections: Executive Summary → Problem Statement & Strategic Alignment → Solution Options → Financial Model (DCF) → Sensitivity Analysis → Risk Register → Implementation Plan → Recommendation & Ask → Assumptions Register
- Tone: Investment committee voice — analytical, confident, finance-literate; persuasive without overselling, and transparent about assumptions
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] At least 3 solution options are presented, including a do-nothing baseline
- [ ] The DCF table shows year-by-year net cash flow, discount factor, and present value for the full horizon
- [ ] NPV, IRR, and payback period are all computed and compared against the hurdle rate
- [ ] Sensitivity analysis includes a Pessimistic/Base/Optimistic scenario set AND a stated break-even threshold
- [ ] Risk register has at least 5 risks, each with likelihood, impact, and a specific mitigation
- [ ] Every assumption used (discount rate, benefit ramp, defaults) is listed in the assumptions register
- [ ] The closing ask states a specific funding amount and a decision deadline
Notes
- The single most persuasive element for finance gatekeepers is the break-even threshold in the sensitivity analysis — it answers "how wrong can we be and still win?" before they ask
- Benefit ramps are where most business cases lose credibility; never assume full benefit in Year 1 unless the user explicitly justifies it
- If benefit figures are soft, model them conservatively in the base case — a defensible smaller NPV beats an inflated one that collapses under questioning
- When IRR is undefined (e.g., no benefit reversal) or unstable, lead with NPV and discounted payback instead and note the reason
How to use this skill
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Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills