Business Case Template
The problem, the options, the numbers, and what you recommend.
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| Proposal | [what is being proposed] |
| Sponsor | [sponsor] |
| Date | October 14, 2026 |
1. The problem
[what is happening now, with a number attached to it]
2. Options considered
| Option | Cost | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| [add one option per line — include doing nothing] |
3. Recommendation
[which option, and why that one]
4. What it costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| [add one cost per line] |
5. What it returns
| Benefit | Value |
|---|---|
| [add one benefit per line] |
Payback period: [how long before it pays for itself].
6. What could go wrong
| Risk | Response |
|---|---|
| [add one risk per line] |
What is a Business Case?
A business case is the document that asks for money or people and gives the decision-maker enough to say yes, no, or not yet. It sets out the problem, the options considered including doing nothing, the costs and benefits over a stated period, and a recommendation. Most rejected proposals are not rejected on merit; they are rejected because the reader could not tell what would be different afterwards or what the whole thing would actually cost.
Anyone requesting funding above their own approval limit writes one: a new system, a significant hire, a facility, a product line, a change programme. It is read by finance, an investment committee, a board, or in the public sector by a formal approval body. Organisations also use it to compare competing requests inside a planning round, which means yours is being read next to three others. Suppliers sometimes help draft one, but the strongest version is written by whoever will be accountable for the result.
Approval standards vary more by organisation than by country, but check a few things first. Public sector bodies often mandate a specific appraisal framework — the UK's five case model and its accompanying appraisal guidance, comparable standards in Australian and Canadian jurisdictions, and appraisal rules attached to EU-funded projects — and grant funders usually impose their own template. Capital spend also raises accounting questions: whether costs may be capitalised and over what useful life is a matter for your accountants under the applicable standards, and it changes the numbers materially.
A business case is not a project plan. It justifies the investment; the plan comes after approval and describes delivery. It is not a guarantee of benefits, and treating it as one is why benefits reviews are so uncomfortable a year later. It does not satisfy procurement rules — naming a preferred supplier in a case does not replace a tender process, and in regulated or public bodies that shortcut can invalidate the award. And it is not a sales document; advocacy in place of analysis loses the finance reader on page one.
What to put in a Business Case
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issuing organisation | For example: Maple Grove Homeowners Association |
| Organisation address | For example: 1420 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Project name | For example: Barton Road trade counter fit-out |
| Sponsor | For example: James Whitfield, Managing Director |
| The problem or opportunity | For example: Trade customers within 12 miles of Barton Road currently drive 40 minutes to the main… |
| Options considered | One per line: Option | Cost | Comment |
| Recommendation | For example: Take the Barton Road counter. It is the only option that keeps the range, and the lease… |
| Costs | One per line: Item | Amount |
| Expected benefits | One per line: Benefit | Value |
| Payback period | For example: 26 months |
| Key risks | One per line: Risk | Response |
How to write a Business Case
State the problem in measurable terms
Open with what is wrong now and what it costs: the hours spent reconciling by hand, the orders lost to a two-week lead time, the audit finding still open, the machine failing every second month. Quantify what you can and say plainly what you cannot. A problem described only in adjectives gives the reader nothing to weigh a price against, so the price looks arbitrary.
Set out options, including doing nothing
Give at least three: do nothing, a minimum intervention, and your recommendation. Do nothing is not a formality — it establishes the baseline against which every benefit is measured and shows you understand what happens without spend. For each option state what it involves, what it costs, what it delivers and why it was or was not chosen. A single-option case reads as a decision already taken.
Cost the whole life, not the purchase
Include implementation, licences, data migration, training, internal staff time, ongoing support and the cost of running old and new systems in parallel. Then extend it across the appraisal period your organisation uses. Understating the second and third year is the most common reason a case that was approved becomes a case that is regretted, and finance reviewers look for it first.
Quantify benefits and name their owners
Separate cash benefits from non-cash ones: cost avoided, revenue gained, working capital released, hours freed. For each cash benefit, name the budget line where it will appear and the person accountable for delivering it — a saving nobody is required to take out of a budget is not a saving. Describe non-cash benefits honestly instead of converting them at an invented hourly rate.
State assumptions, risks and the ask
List the assumptions the numbers rest on and what happens if each is wrong. A short sensitivity on the two or three that matter most is worth more than a long risk register nobody reads. Close with the specific decision requested: the amount, the approval required, the date a decision is needed by, and the consequence if that date slips.
Common mistakes
- Presenting a single option and calling it a business case, which reads to approvers as a request to rubber-stamp and attracts pushback on principle rather than on merit.
- Counting hours saved as cash savings with no plan to reduce headcount or remove budget, so the benefit never appears in the accounts and the next case from your team is met with scepticism.
- Pricing only the purchase and omitting implementation, training and ongoing support, so the project overspends by roughly the amount that was left out of the paper.
- Burying the ask on page fourteen, so a decision-maker who cannot quickly find the number and the deadline simply defers the decision to the next meeting.
- Writing the case after the supplier has already been chosen, which is visible to any experienced reader and in a public or regulated body can invalidate the procurement entirely.
Frequently asked questions
What should a business case include?
The problem and its cost, the options considered including doing nothing, whole-life costs, quantified benefits with named owners, assumptions and risks, an outline of delivery, and the specific decision requested. Public sector and grant-funded cases often mandate a particular structure, so check the required framework before you start — retrofitting a finished case into a mandated template is painful.
How long should a business case be?
As long as the decision is large. A few pages for a modest spend, with a one-page summary that could stand alone; a formal multi-part document for major capital. Whatever the length, the first page should carry the problem, the recommendation, the cost and the decision date, because most approvers read that page carefully and the remainder selectively.
What is the difference between a business case and a project proposal?
A business case justifies the investment: why this, why now, why this option, at what cost, for what return. A project proposal or plan describes delivery — scope, schedule, resources, governance. The case is what gets funded; the plan is what gets managed. Many organisations require the case first and the plan as a condition of releasing the funds.
How do I calculate return on investment for a business case?
Use whatever method your finance team uses — payback period, net present value, internal rate of return — and ask them for the discount rate and appraisal period rather than choosing your own. Show the working and the inputs. Never present a single headline percentage without them, because testing the inputs is the first thing a finance reviewer does.
Who approves a business case?
It depends on the amount and your delegation of authority. Modest spend goes to a budget holder; larger amounts to a finance director, an investment committee or a board; and public bodies often add an external approval step above a threshold. Find the threshold and the approver before you start writing, because they determine the format, the depth and the lead time.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.