Buyer Business Case Pro

Internal Purchase Case — Fictional Support Software

Decision status: Not yet supported for approval. All operating inputs are hypothetical estimates from the prompt; quote, baseline, contract, usage, and implementation details have not been verified. “Do not purchase yet” remains a valid outcome.

Decision and problem to validate

The team is considering whether the software would improve a defined support workflow enough to justify cost and implementation effort. First document the current process, affected users, service-quality measures, and the specific time-consuming tasks. Confirm the buyer, budget owner, users, IT/security, privacy/legal, procurement, and implementation owner.

Illustrative cost and value arithmetic

• Subscription: $500 × 12 = $6,000/year.
• One-time implementation: $2,000.
• Illustrative first-year cost:

$8,000, excluding unknown taxes, add-ons, renewal increases, internal implementation labor, training, support, and exit costs.

• Estimated time release: 20 hours/month × $35/hour × 12 =

$8,400/year of modeled capacity value. This is not cash savings unless actual spending changes; capacity may instead be redeployed.

• Simple modeled difference: $8,400 − $8,000 =

$400 first-year net capacity value, before omitted costs and risks. This narrow margin is highly sensitive and does not establish an attractive purchase.

If the full $2,000 implementation cost is included and all value were cash-realized, the first-year break-even threshold is $8,000 ÷ ($35 × 12) =

19.05 hours saved per month. This is an arithmetic threshold, not evidence the product will save that time.

Alternatives and tradeoffs

No purchase / maintain current process: no new subscription or migration risk; leaves current workflow unchanged. Measure baseline first.
2.

Process improvement without new software: may address handoffs or templates at lower cash cost; estimate staff effort and limits.
3.

Short, bounded pilot: tests usability and outcome with a defined user group; requires approved data/security terms, a stop condition, and a reliable comparison.
4.

Purchase full deployment: only after verifying value, total cost, security/privacy, contract exit terms, and implementation capacity.

Evidence required

Measure representative workflow time and quality for 4–6 weeks; verify user count, eligible tasks, adoption assumptions, and quoted total cost. Ask the vendor to document service levels, data handling, retention/deletion, accessibility, integration, support, renewal, price changes, and termination terms. Compare alternatives using the same requirements.

Risks and decision gate

Potential risks include low adoption, savings that are only capacity release, workflow disruption, data/security issues, hidden costs, and no measurable improvement. Proceed only if an owner-approved pilot meets pre-set time and quality thresholds, total cost is confirmed, required reviews pass, and the buyer independently agrees the value justifies the tradeoffs. Track actual costs and outcomes after launch; stop or renegotiate if evidence fails the gate.