AI Business Case and ROI Template

How to use this document

• What it is for. This is a template to justify an AI initiative with data: the problem and baseline, expected benefits, total cost, risks and controls, return under several scenarios and criteria to approve, extend or retire it. It lets you compare initiatives on the same basis and later check forecast against actual results.
• Who should own it. The system owner completes it; finance validates the figures, and whoever corresponds under the approval lane in the "AI Governance Operating Model" decides. Enter the sponsoring function in [RESPONSIBLE FUNCTION] and the system owner in [OWNER].
• Decisions to take first. The organization should set once, for all initiatives: the threshold above which this template is required (Section 1.2), the discount rate and time horizon (Section 6), and the minimum required return. Who approves by amount is not set here: the escalation thresholds in the "AI Governance Operating Model" set it (Section 10.5).
• Fields to complete. Replace the bracketed fields, such as [AI SYSTEM], [VENDOR], [OWNER] and [COMPLETE]. Express all amounts in the same currency: [COMPLETE: currency].
• Country variants. This document has no country variants. Include in costs the cost of meeting the obligations that apply to the system in its country and sector ("Related regulatory references").
• Review. Finance reviews the calculations; legal, the data protection officer (or the country's equivalent role) and information security review Section 7 and confirm that the cost of controls is included.
• Approval. The case is approved under Section 10, recorded in the decision log of the "AI Use Case Portfolio" and updated at each change of state (pilot, production, review) with actual results (Section 11). Aid A shows a worked example.

AI Business Case and ROI Template

Field	Value
Organization	[LEGAL ENTITY NAME]
Initiative	[AI SYSTEM]
Sponsoring function	[RESPONSIBLE FUNCTION]
System owner	[OWNER]
Main vendor	[VENDOR]
Life-cycle state	[COMPLETE: Proposed, Under assessment, Pilot, In production or Under review]
Date	[DATE]
Currency	[COMPLETE]
Validated by finance	[COMPLETE]
Decision and approver	[APPROVED BY]

1. Purpose and when it is used

1.1 [ORGANIZATION NAME] uses this template to decide on a consistent basis whether an AI initiative deserves resources, whether a pilot moves to production and whether a system in use should be kept, expanded or retired. It does not replace the risk classification or the impact assessment, and it does not prioritize the portfolio (the "AI Impact-Risk Prioritization Matrix" does that); it brings risk into the economic decision for an initiative already prioritized.

1.2 It is mandatory for:

a) AI initiatives with a three-year total cost above [COMPLETE: amount];
b) pilots requesting to move to production;
c) significant renewals or expansions of AI tools already contracted;
d) any initiative the AI lead or the AI committee requests.

1.3 Low-cost, low-risk exploratory tests do not require it, unless the intention is to institutionalize them.

2. Initiative summary

Item	Description
Problem it solves	[COMPLETE: what happens today and who it affects]
Current cost or impact of the problem	[COMPLETE]
Proposed solution	[COMPLETE: what the AI system will do and what people will continue to do]
Initial scope	[COMPLETE: processes, functions, volumes, countries]
Out of scope	[COMPLETE]
Alternatives considered	[COMPLETE: including the non-AI option and doing nothing]
Risk level	[COMPLETE: Low, Medium or High, per the "AI Risk Classification Matrix"]
Prioritization quadrant	[COMPLETE: per the "AI Impact-Risk Prioritization Matrix"]
Main success indicator	[COMPLETE]