The Business Case Builder sets what an AI or automation initiative will cost against the value from its Smart Assessment, giving you net benefit, ROI and payback, then tracks actual results against that forecast after go-live. Every idea in SilkFlo has a Business Case tab. It’s where a forecast becomes a funding decision, and where you show afterwards whether the initiative delivered.
Why a business case needs both sides #
A value estimate on its own isn’t a business case. An idea that saves £150,000 a year sounds strong until you add £90,000 of build cost and £60,000 a year in licences and support. Finance will ask for both sides, and they’ll ask for them split the way they budget:
- Investment (CAPEX): one-off costs to get the initiative live, such as analysis, design, build and testing time.
- Running costs (OPEX): what it costs every year to keep it going, such as licences, hosting and support.
Getting this split right is what makes ROI and payback credible. Leave out running costs and every initiative looks better than it is. Then, once it’s live, recording actuals against the same lines shows whether the forecast held, which is what makes the next business case easier to approve.
The Business Case Builder has three views:
- Forecast: what you expect the initiative to cost and deliver.
- Actuals: what it’s actually costing and delivering since go-live.
- Variance Analysis: forecast and actuals side by side, line by line.
The benefit side comes from the idea’s Smart Assessment. The Business Case Builder adds the cost side (investment and running costs) and the timeline, which together give you net benefit, ROI and payback.
Who can use it #
What you can do depends on your system role and on any collaborator role you hold on the idea:
- View the business case: the collaborator permission View the Cost-Benefit Analysis of an idea.
- Edit the business case: the collaborator permission Edit the Cost-Benefit Analysis of an idea, or a system role with Edit All Idea Fields (Program Manager, Account Owner).
See Understanding User Roles in SilkFlo.
Open the Business Case Builder #
- Open the idea’s profile page from the Pipeline or Explore > Ideas.
- Click the Business Case tab, next to About and Documentation.
- Use the toggle beside the title to switch between View (dashboards) and Edit (inputs). In Edit mode, Go to View Mode takes you back.
The Business Case tab unlocks at the Assess stage, once the idea’s Smart Assessment is complete.
Build the forecast (Edit mode) #
1. Project Cockpit: set the timeline #
Enter:
- the Start Date, when the Analysis phase begins
- the Go-Live Date, when the solution is deployed
- the number of days planned for each delivery phase: Analysis, Solution Design, Development and Testing
The go-live date matters. Benefits start counting from it, and the Actuals view uses it to track value after launch.
2. Investment (CAPEX): one-off costs #
Click + Add Item and choose a cost item. These are usually people, picked by role. For each item, set:
- the quantity and unit (e.g. 5 Days). The rate comes from the item, e.g. @ £300.
- the allocation %: how much of that resource’s time goes on this initiative
- the stage the cost falls in, e.g. Development
The card totals your investment as you go.
Cost items and their rates are set up by your admin in Settings > Platform Setup > Cost Setup: one-off costs such as training, implementation and the people who deliver it, and running costs such as licences. Set them up once and they’re reused in every business case.
3. Annual Running Cost (OPEX): ongoing costs #
Click + Add Item to add software licences, hosted processes, AI subscriptions and other recurring costs. Set the quantity and the allocation %: the share of the cost that belongs to this initiative. For example, if a licence is shared with other work, allocate only this initiative’s share.
SilkFlo also adds a Residual Manual Effort line. This is the cost of the work people still do by hand after the solution is live. It’s based on the residual % from the idea’s assessment. It appears on the Forecast, View and Actuals.
4. Value Realization panel: check the result live #
The dark panel on the right recalculates as you edit:
- Net Annual Benefit (Year 1): gross benefit minus annual running costs (OPEX).
- Financial Impact Breakdown: where the gross benefit comes from, by Value Driver. Examples: Annual Hours Saved and Labour Cost Savings for Productivity & Automation Improvement; the metric uplift for Revenue Growth.
- Strategic Targets: non-financial goals such as a conversion-rate or NPS target.
- Year 1 ROI and Payback Period.
5. Resource & Schedule: check the plan adds up #
The Smart Validator compares the days you planned for each phase in the Project Cockpit against the people you allocated in CAPEX. Each phase shows allocated days against capacity, for example “4d / 10d”, so you can see which phases are under- or over-resourced.
Switch to Advanced Gantt to plan the project’s phases.
6. Save #
Click Save Forecast.
Read the forecast (View mode, Forecast tab) #
Four headline tiles sit at the top:
| Tile | What it means |
|---|---|
| Net Annual Benefit | Annual benefit after running costs. |
| ROI (3-Year) | Three years of benefit minus three years of total cost (investment + 3 × annual running cost), as a % of that total cost. |
| Payback Period | How long it takes for net benefit to repay the investment: investment ÷ monthly net benefit. If benefits don’t exceed running costs, it shows No payback. |
| Unit Cost Reduction | The cost of a single transaction before and after automation (/txn). Shown for the Productivity & Automation driver. |
Below the tiles, the Cumulative Cash Flow chart plots three lines over Year 1, 2, 3 or All:
- Cumulative Spend
- Cumulative Benefit
- Net Cash Position
The dashed grey line marks break-even. The point where Net Cash Position crosses it is your payback.
The subtitle breaks spend down into CAPEX, annual OPEX and annual residual manual effort, so you can see what’s driving cost.
Further down are the itemised Investment (CAPEX) and Running Cost (OPEX) lists, and Implementation Schedule & Resource Load, which shows planned effort per phase.
Track actuals after go-live (Actuals tab) #
Once an initiative is live, the Actuals tab shows what it’s really delivering. It uses the same layout as the Forecast, so you can read both the same way. The Value Realization panel carries an Actuals label.
Where actual figures come from
- Benefits:
- Sent automatically from your live solution through the SilkFlo API. For example, automation run logs: the panel shows how many successful runs the figure is based on, how many failed runs were excluded, and what share of the forecast volume that represents.
- Entered manually in Edit mode.
- Costs: in Edit mode, the Actuals tab lets you record actual CAPEX and OPEX separately from the forecast. The forecast stays untouched.
- Residual Manual Effort on Actuals is based on the benefit actually delivered, not the forecast.
The Actuals tab is greyed out (🔒) until the idea reaches the Deployed stage.
Tip: if actual numbers look far below forecast early on, check how long the solution has been live. A forecast describes a full year. Actuals build up month by month.
Compare forecast and actuals (Variance Analysis tab) #
Variance Analysis puts the two side by side:
- Headline tiles show the actual figure, the forecast figure beneath it (“vs Fcst”), and a coloured chip with the difference.
- The cash-flow chart plots Actual Net Position against Forecast Net Position. A headline states how far ahead or behind forecast you are, e.g. “At month 12, actuals are £X behind forecast”.
- CAPEX and OPEX lines show each line’s forecast against its actual, with an on plan chip where they match.
- The Value Realization panel shows each benefit line with its variance underneath, such as hours saved and labour cost savings.
Use it to spot early which initiatives are under-delivering, and why. Is the benefit lower than planned, or are costs higher?
Tips #
- Set a go-live date early, even an estimate. Payback and actuals tracking both depend on it.
- Allocate shared costs honestly. Putting 100% of a platform licence on one idea sinks its ROI. Allocate a fair share.
- Use the Smart Validator before submitting for a decision. An under-resourced plan is the first thing a reviewer will question.
- Review Variance monthly for live initiatives, not just at year end.
FAQ #
How do you track the ROI of an AI initiative after go-live? Fix the forecast at approval, then capture what actually happens: benefits from the live solution (usage, runs, outcomes) and actual running costs. Compare the two regularly. In SilkFlo, the Forecast tab holds the approved case, the Actuals tab collects real results (automatically through the API, or entered by hand), and Variance Analysis shows the gap line by line.
What’s the difference between forecast ROI and realised ROI? Forecast ROI is what the business case predicted before launch. Realised ROI uses what has actually been delivered and spent since go-live. The gap between them is the variance. It’s the number a CFO or board will ask about.
How is payback period calculated? Payback is the up-front investment divided by the monthly net benefit (annual benefit minus annual running costs, divided by 12). If running costs are higher than the benefit, there is no payback, and SilkFlo shows “No payback”.
Why does my ROI look negative when the benefit is positive? ROI counts costs as well as benefits. If investment plus running costs exceed the benefit over the period, ROI is negative even when the initiative is delivering value. Check the CAPEX and OPEX lists, and the allocation % on shared items.
Related #
- The Smart Assessment: how SilkFlo calculates AI and automation ROI
- Pipeline
- Platform Setup (Cost Setup)
- API (sending actuals automatically)
- Understanding User Roles in SilkFlo
