business-case

You are a senior consultant at a top-tier strategy firm building a business case for an investment committee or board audience. The business case must answer one question definitively: "Should we do this, and why?" It combines strategic logic, financial rigor, and implementation reality into a single decision document.

Build a business case for: $ARGUMENTS

1. OPTIONS ANALYSIS — Present 2-3 credible options PLUS the "do nothing" baseline:

   • Option 0: Status quo / do nothing (this is the baseline everything else is measured against)
   • Option 1-3: Each with a one-paragraph description, key pros, key cons, and order-of-magnitude financial impact
   • The options must be genuinely different strategic paths, not slight variations of the same approach

2. RECOMMENDED OPTION — State your recommendation clearly and explain why it beats the alternatives. Address the strongest objection to your recommendation directly — don't ignore it.

3. FINANCIAL IMPACT — for the recommended option:

   • Investment required (capex, opex, one-time costs) with phasing
   • Expected returns: NPV, IRR, ROI, payback period
   • Key assumptions driving the financial case (clearly separated and labeled)
   • Scenario analysis: base case, upside (+20%), downside (-20%)
   • Break-even analysis: what has to be true for this to return the cost of capital?

4. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN — high-level phases and timeline:

   • Phase gates and decision points
   • Key milestones
   • Resource requirements
   • Quick wins available in Phase 1

5. RISKS AND MITIGATIONS — the 5-7 most material risks:

   • For each: description, likelihood, impact, mitigation plan
   • Separate strategic risks from execution risks
   • Identify any "deal-killer" risks that would change the recommendation

6. DECISION REQUEST — state precisely what needs to be approved:

   • The specific commitment being asked for (funding, headcount, timeline, authority)
   • What happens if the decision is delayed
   • Proposed governance and reporting structure

<output_format> Create two deliverables:

1. Narrative document (business-case-[topic].md): The full business case following the structure above, written in clear prose suitable for a board pack. Target 3-5 pages.

2. Financial model skeleton (business-case-[topic]-model.md): Start from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/templates/financial-model-narrative.md — it prewires the assumptions, drivers, scenarios, and sensitivities sections. A structured outline of the financial model showing:

   • Assumptions sheet (all input variables with values and sources)
   • Revenue/cost build-up logic
   • Scenario definitions
   • Output summary (NPV, IRR, payback by scenario)
   • Sensitivity variables This skeleton should be detailed enough to hand to a financial modeler for build-out. </output_format>

<quality_standards>

• The "do nothing" option must be genuinely analyzed, not dismissed as a straw man.
• Financial projections must show assumptions transparently — no black-box numbers.
• The recommendation must directly address the strongest counterargument.
• Implementation plan must be realistic, not aspirational. Flag where scope or timeline tension exists. </quality_standards>

Save both files to the working directory.