Create an Expansion Business Case With Customer Facts

A business case should make visible what the customer wants to change, what evidence supports the effort, and what questions remain open.

Build the case in sections the customer can challenge: current process, proposed change, evidence available, assumptions, required effort, and decision date. Ask who owns each fact. If nobody owns a number, label it as unknown rather than estimating it. This approach lets an executive sponsor carry an honest document into a review and gives the account manager a concrete list of follow-up research.

For an expansion example, a merchant wants to reduce manual refund research but has not measured the current workload. The manager can ask support and finance to describe the steps, estimate nothing, and label unknowns in the case. A business case might list the current process, evidence source, required effort, and decision owner. Coach the manager to distinguish a customer fact from an assumption. The executive sponsor should be able to challenge each line before using it internally.

Ask which decision is being made, who needs to approve it, and what measures the customer already trusts. A fictional merchant may want to reduce manual refund research but needs support and finance to agree on the current workload.

Do not invent savings, calculate returns from incomplete data, or present assumptions as customer results. Practice labeling an assumption clearly and asking the customer whether it is fair to test.

Build a short evidence plan that identifies data owners and the next executive review.