About the AI Business Case Scorecard

Who it is for

Use this scorecard when you are about to ask for budget. It is for the person writing or defending the case: a product leader, a head of AI, or an executive deciding whether a proposal is ready for the board.

It takes five minutes. Answer for the case as it stands today, not as you hope it will look after the next workshop.

What it measures

Each of the nine answers contributes to five dimensions, and each dimension is scored from 0 to 100.

Strategic alignment. Whether the initiative serves a stated business objective and has a sponsor with authority.
Value clarity. How success will be measured and how well the expected value is supported by evidence.
Feasibility. How complex the implementation is and how soon the first measurable value is expected.
Stakeholder readiness. How much the initiative changes the way people work, and whether that has been assessed.
Risk awareness. Whether the biggest risk has been named and the alternatives to AI have been considered.

How to read the result

Each dimension is rated Strong (75 and above), Solid (55 to 74), Partial (35 to 54) or Weak (below 35).

The overall verdict uses both the average and the weakest dimension. A Strong Business Case needs an average of at least 72 with no dimension below 50. Promising But Incomplete needs an average of 55 with nothing below 35. Below that, the case is Early Stage, or Not Yet a Business Case.

This is deliberate. A case with excellent value projections and no sponsor is not a strong case, and an average would hide that. Work on the lowest dimension first.

Common questions

What should an AI business case include?

A business objective, a measure of success, a sponsor, an estimate of value with its evidence, a view of implementation complexity, the main risk, the alternatives considered and the effect on the people who will use it. The nine questions map to exactly these.

Why does one weak dimension lower the verdict so much?

Because that is how these initiatives fail. Funding is rarely withdrawn over the average quality of a proposal. It is withdrawn because one thing was missing: the sponsor moved on, the data was not there, or nobody adopted the result.

Is this a replacement for a financial model?

No. It tells you whether the case is complete enough to be worth modelling and presenting. If value clarity scores low, the financial model is the next piece of work.

Is it free?

Yes. The tool is free and runs in your browser with no account. The downloadable report asks for an email address, and your scores are sent with it so I can follow up if you want to talk them through.