Return, reopen, or amend a business case

Not every business case wins approval first time, and an approved case sometimes needs re-opening. This guide covers the three routes: a sponsor returning a case with notes, a PM amending and resubmitting, and re-opening an already-approved case.

Return a submitted case (sponsor)

If you are the named sponsor and the case isn’t ready to approve:

1. Open Business Case and choose Read the sponsor briefing (on Investment Health, take Review & decide).
2. Choose Return with notes.
3. Add notes. Each note carries a severity: Blocker, Significant, or Minor. Optionally pin a note to the section it concerns.
4. Confirm. The case returns to Draft and the notes appear inline on the relevant sections for the PM.

Amend and resubmit (PM)

When a sponsor returns a case to you:

1. Open Business Case. The sponsor’s notes appear pinned to each section they relate to.
2. Edit the fields to address the feedback.
3. Tick each note as Addressed as you resolve it. Tollgate shows the count, but the soft signal never blocks resubmission.
4. Save each section you edited, then submit again.

Re-open an approved case

An approved business case is locked material: the sponsor agreed to that text. You may amend it, but not silently. Every amendment runs under a change request, and Tollgate asks which one — or raises one for you.

1. Open the Control Centre on Investment Health and choose Amend business case.
2. Read the prompt. Re-opening withdraws the sponsor’s approval and returns the case to Draft as a new version.
3. Say what authorises the amendment — one of the two routes below.
4. Confirm with Amend case. Amend, then resubmit for a fresh approval.

Two routes can authorise an amendment:

Under an approved change request — pick from the approved change requests awaiting application. Tollgate lists only those. An approved change that already landed somewhere cannot authorise a second amendment.

Amend the case directly — give the change request a title, say what the amendment is for, and Tollgate raises it for you. It says so before you commit, and the raised request lands in the change register.

Re-opening also clears the approval rationale and comments from the record. They remain in the change history.

When the sponsor approves the amended case, Tollgate stamps the enabling change request with where it landed. The trail runs both ways: the amendment records what authorised it, and the change request records what it produced. The request moves from Awaiting application to Applied in BC v2.

Note

Tollgate does not refuse an amendment when no approved change request exists. It raises one from what you type instead, so the amendment stays traceable without blocking you. The recorded change request is what an auditor needs. See Scaffold, not dictate.

Archive with dignity

You can close out a case you no longer pursue and record a short reason. Where the action lives depends on the stage:

• From Discovery — choose Close project, add a Reason for closing, then confirm with Archive business case.
• From a submitted case — the sponsor can choose Archive — not proceeding and add a reason.

The archived record stays findable. The next sponsor considering a similar investment can learn why this one did not proceed.