Evidence, ownership and a review point.
Build an AI business case with a measured baseline, adoption, review time, build and recurring costs, scenarios, owner and review point. Free editable CSV.
Business owners, finance leaders and operations leads preparing a decision.
Download the editable AI business case template and keep the illustrative row beside your own evidence. Each field tells you what to enter.
| Field | Evidence to enter | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Executive summary | Business owner and named sponsor | One sentence on the change and who owns it |
| Measured baseline | Time records, call records, invoices and workflow logs | Whole task, including checking and rework |
| Adoption volume | Order and CRM records | Representative volume, not peak demand |
| Review time | Reviewer and owner estimates | Time the human spends checking the output |
| Build cost | Written project proposal | Locked published range, indicative until scoped |
| Recurring cost | Vendor quote and hosting invoice | Licenses, model usage and hosting, quoted after scoping |
| Owner | Department or operations lead | A named person, not a committee |
| Acceptance criteria | Named owner and project team | What earns a go, revise or stop decision |
| Review point | Owner and project team | Date, evidence and decision route |
Use three scenarios to show how much the claim can move. Every input is illustrative until you enter your own evidence from time records, call records, invoices and workflow logs.
| Scenario | Adoption volume | Review time | Build cost | Recurring cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence |
| Expected | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence |
| Strong case | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence | Reader enters evidence |
Illustrative example, not a client result. A hypothetical wholesale distributor uses a first implementation project to prepare account records. The build cost uses the locked published range: most first projects land between $25k and $100k over 2 to 10 weeks, indicative until scoped.
| Field | Illustrative entry |
|---|---|
| Executive summary | Reduce repeated quote preparation time for a hypothetical distributor |
| Measured baseline | 20 minutes per representative quote |
| Adoption volume | 40 representative quotes per month |
| Review time | 5 minutes per reviewed quote |
| Build cost | Most first projects land between $25k and $100k |
| Recurring cost | Licenses, model usage and hosting, quoted after scoping |
| Owner | Operations lead |
| Acceptance criteria | Reviewer accepts a checked quote using the agreed rubric |
| Review point | 30 days after release |
Every example number is illustrative.
No named owner, no measured baseline, omitted recurring costs, unsupported benefit claims and no review point. If the case cannot survive those checks, do not fund it yet.
Paloren uses acceptance criteria written before build, go, revise or stop decision gates and published price ranges used as planning checks. Most first projects land between $25k and $100k over 2 to 10 weeks, indicative until scoped. Documentation requests are reviewed case by case.
A measured baseline, the proposed workflow, data readiness, build and recurring costs, adoption, review time, a named owner, acceptance criteria and a review point. Every figure should come from evidence, not a mood board.
Often one afternoon once the records are in one place. The harder part is agreeing the baseline and the review decision, which may take a few internal conversations.
When the task is rare, the data is unavailable, nobody owns the workflow or the claim has no measurable evidence. Write down the blocker and move on.
Yes. The blank CSV and illustrative example are free to use. A scoped project proposal is a separate decision, and the published ranges remain indicative until scoped.
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