The AI business case: a template finance will sign.
What an AI business case needs for finance to approve it, a template to copy, and how to turn the approval into a budget and a review date.
- Topic
- AI ROI
- Product
- Novie Control
- Format
- Guide
- Reading time
- 2 min
- Published
- 5 November 2026
An AI business case that finance will sign states the problem in numbers, the baseline, the full cost to build and run, the benefits and how they are valued, the payback period, the risks, a budget cap, a named owner and the conditions for stopping. The template below covers each one, and turns the approval into a budget and a review date.
Why finance is asking for one.
Forrester predicted that CFOs would gate AI approvals on ROI through 2026, and that fewer than a third of decision-makers could tie AI value to financial growth. KPMG found that 54 percent of organisations now require cost reviews in AI project approvals. Gartner found that only 31 percent of CIOs have rules for stopping AI pilots, and that those who do were 2.3 times more likely to be among its top performers.
TakeawayFinance now reviews AI cost at approval, and a business case with a stop rule is what it expects to see.
What the business case must contain.
| Section | What finance looks for |
|---|---|
| The problem. | The work today in numbers: volume, time, cost, error rate. |
| The baseline. | Those numbers recorded, with the period and the source. |
| Full cost. | Licences, model usage, cloud, build and the people who run it, for year one and each year after. |
| Benefits. | Each benefit, how it is valued, and the realisation rate for hours. |
| Payback and ROI. | When the build cost is earned back, and the year-one and running return. |
| Risks. | Data, security, compliance and what happens if the model or provider changes. |
| Budget cap. | The most the workload may spend each month, and who can raise it. |
| Owner. | The person who answers for the result. |
| Review and stop. | The review date, and the result below which it stops. |
TakeawayCost, benefit, owner, cap and a stop rule are the parts finance checks first.
The template.
Workload: Owner (answers for the result): Sponsor (approves the budget): 1. Problem today Volume per month: Time per item: Cost per month: Error or rework rate: 2. Baseline Period measured: Source: 3. Cost One-off build and integration: Licences per year: Model usage per month (estimate and basis): Cloud and data per year: People to run and maintain per year: 4. Benefits Hours returned per week: Share of hours redeployed (agreed with finance): Cost avoided per year: Revenue or margin, and how it is attributed: 5. Return Year-one ROI: Net annual value after year one: Payback period: 6. Risks and controls Data used and where it goes: Provider and model, and the fallback: 7. Budget Monthly cap: Who may raise it: 8. Review Review date: Stop if:
TakeawayCopy the template, fill the cost and benefit lines from the bills and the baseline, and set the stop rule before you submit it.
From approval to a budget and a review.
The approval is where the business case becomes enforceable. The monthly cap becomes the workload's budget, the owner becomes the person alerted as it is approached, and the review date goes in the calendar with the promised payback beside it. At the review, the actual cost and value are set against the case, and the decision is recorded.
TakeawayThe approved business case becomes the budget, the owner and the review date, so the promise is checked against the result.
How Novie Control does it
You can see what AI costs to build.Can you see what it costs to run?