Decision-makers don't need a forty-slide deck about the technology. They need to know what problem is being solved, what it costs, what they will get and when they can stop. A one-page business case forces the author to know these things, and it lets the reader decide in the time they actually have.
The seven fields
- The problem — one or two sentences, with today's number: hours per week, cost per case, error rate, delay in days. If there is no number, the first task is measuring one.
- The owner — the named person whose work changes and who is accountable for the result.
- The proposed change — what will be built or bought, in plain language, and what will deliberately not be included.
- The target — the metric and the threshold that counts as success, plus the date you will check.
- The cost — to reach the first decision point, then expected run cost at normal volume, including review time and maintenance.
- The risks and controls — what could go wrong, how it is limited, and who approves actions that matter.
- The exit — the result that would lead you to stop, and who decides.
The exit field is the one that makes the case approvable. A decision-maker who can see how to stop is far more willing to start.
How to fill it honestly
- Use measured numbers — from a sample of real work, not from a workshop estimate.
- Show a range — a low and high value for savings or return, with the assumption behind each.
- Include the unglamorous costs — data preparation, integration, security review, training and ongoing monitoring.
- State what you don't know — an honest unknown with a plan to resolve it is more credible than false precision.
What happens next
A good page leads to one of three outcomes: approval for the first phase, a specific objection you can answer, or a clear no with a reason. All three save weeks. Keep the page updated through the project; at each gate it becomes the record of what was promised, what was measured and what was decided.