Build or attach a financial case

The financial case is the forward-looking decision model behind the business case — the NPV, IRR and payback that inform the invest / continue call. This guide shows you how to build one in Tollgate or attach your own.

Before you start

• You need edit rights, and the business case should be in Discovery (Exploring) or Draft.
• The financial case is a decision model. It is deliberately not linked to your work-package budgets or change requests in either direction — see The money model for why the two money layers stay apart.

Open the financial case

1. Open Business Case on the project’s Tollgate tab.
2. Choose Economics (the financial case) to open its full-page editor.
3. Pick a mode:
   • Use Tollgate’s model — build a cashflow model and let Tollgate compute the metrics.
   • Attach your own — record headline figures and link to an external model.
   • None yet — leave the financial case unset for now.

Option A — Build a model in Tollgate

1. Select Use Tollgate’s model.
2. Enter the cashflows year by year (Year 0 is the upfront outlay and is left undiscounted).
3. Set the discount rate (r). The default is 8% — typically your cost of capital or hurdle rate.
4. Tollgate computes and displays:
   • NPV — net present value by discounted cash flow.
   • IRR — the rate at which NPV is zero. Shows N/A when the cashflows never cross from negative to positive.
   • Payback — simple (undiscounted) payback, with the crossing year interpolated.
5. Each metric carries an info button explaining the formula as Tollgate computes it.

Option B — Attach your own model

1. Select Attach your own.
2. Enter the stated NPV, IRR and payback from your model.
3. Link the source — a Confluence page or supporting document holding the workings — so Tollgate and Ask Tollgate can point back to it. See Attach supporting documents.

Publish figures to the board paper

If a board paper is linked as a supporting document, use Push to board paper (or Update board paper) to write the key financial figures into its fenced key-figures section, keeping the sponsor’s decision artefact current.

TODO: confirm with James

Confirm the exact label of the push-to-Confluence action in the Economics editor (“Push to board paper” vs “Update board paper”) and whether it appears before a board paper exists.

Next steps

• Submit the business case for approval.