The document your board actually wants. A practical checklist for building the internal case for planning technology, written by people who've helped finance leaders get this signed off 200+ times.
The pattern
Most EPM projects don't die because the CFO says no. They die because nobody builds the case properly. The champion runs a great demo, gets excited about the platform, then walks into a board meeting with a vendor slide deck and a rough cost estimate. The board asks three questions the champion can't answer, and the project goes back to "next quarter."
We've seen this happen dozens of times. Here's what the successful ones do differently.
The checklist
Include: software licence (annual), implementation consulting, data migration, internal resource time, training, ongoing admin/support, contingency (15-20%). Your board will respect a realistic number. They won't respect one that doubles after sign-off.
This is the question most business cases skip entirely. Quantify: how many days per month are spent on manual processes? What's the salary cost of that time? What decisions are being made on incomplete or late information? What's the risk of a material error in your current process?
If you can't answer "we evaluated three options and here's why this one fits," your board will wonder if you fell for the best sales pitch. An independent assessment (like the Bolt Blueprint) gives you a defensible answer.
Be honest. Most implementations take 3-6 months to go live. Quick wins (reporting, dashboards) can land in 6-8 weeks. Full transformation takes 9-12 months. Your board would rather hear a realistic timeline than an optimistic one that slips.
Name the risks explicitly: platform doesn't fit, team can't absorb the change, implementation runs over, data quality is worse than expected. Then show you've thought about mitigation for each one.
Internal team? External consultants? Both? Your board needs to know that your existing operations won't suffer while this project runs. Clarify what your team's role is versus what the implementation partner handles.
Define success in terms the board cares about: month-end close reduced from X to Y days. Forecast accuracy improved from X% to Y%. Management reporting delivered by day Z instead of day W. These are the metrics you'll be measured against, so set them deliberately.
The shortcut
If you commission a Bolt Blueprint before going to your board, you'll walk in with answers to all seven questions already documented. The Blueprint produces:
It costs £5,000 and takes 2-3 weeks. If you proceed to implementation, the £5,000 is credited against the project. If you don't proceed, you've spent £5,000 to avoid a six-figure mistake.
Timing
The best time to build this business case is before budget season, not during it. If your organisation runs January-December, the approval conversation needs to happen in September or October. If you're PE-backed and working to a 100-day plan, it needs to happen in week one.
We're happy to talk through timing even if you're months away from a decision. No pitch. Just a conversation about when the internal stars need to align.
The Blueprint gives you everything you need to walk into that board meeting with confidence.