Download the complete part-07 practice pack (ZIP). Extract it and preserve its folders. All organizations, records, and results in this teaching pack are fictional.
Use these templates to organize a review, with your actual entity, records, and approvals. The accompanying figures are fictional. Blank fields represent missing evidence, not zero values or completed decisions.
One-page AI investment case
| Field | Entry to complete |
|---|---|
| Decision and workflow | Proposed change and present alternative |
| Business owner | Person accountable for the decision |
| Comparison period | Start, end, and timing of payments |
| Volume and eligibility | Tasks included and excluded; evidence for forecast usage |
| Baseline effort and quality | Complete current workflow, including errors and rework |
| Assisted effort and quality | Complete proposed workflow, including review and exceptions |
| Setup cash | Configuration, integration, migration, and other initial payments |
| Setup internal time | Training and implementation hours with explicit value basis |
| Recurring cash | Software, usage, external support, and other incremental payments |
| Recurring internal time | Maintenance and oversight not already counted per task |
| Capacity benefit | Released hours, intended use, and how use will be verified |
| Cash benefit | Specific payment avoided or incremental cash collected; supporting evidence |
| Sensitivity | Usage, effort, costs, delays, and quality assumptions that change the result |
| Decision and review date | Pending until an authorized decision is recorded |
Calculate the capacity and cash views separately. State benefit, cost, net benefit, period, and denominator for every ROI percentage. If the same work supports a contractor reduction, do not also claim its full internal-capacity benefit without separate evidence. Preserve the original case for later comparison with actual results.
Cash forecast input record
Use one row per event or clearly defined non-overlapping group:
Event ID:
Entity and currency:
Receipt or payment:
Amount and source document:
Contractual date, if established:
Expected cash date and basis:
Committed, assumed, or proposed:
Included elsewhere? Reference and duplicate check:
Owner and next review date:
Unresolved evidence:
Reconcile opening cash to the chosen account scope. Identify restricted amounts and outstanding items. Do not include the same outstanding payment in both the adjusted opening position and future payments.
For each week, calculate opening cash plus receipts minus payments. Roll closing cash into the following week. Examine the minimum balance, first breach of the business's proposed or approved floor, and daily timing where weekly totals could hide a problem.
Cash decision memo
Forecast version and preparation date:
Available opening cash and evidence:
First projected floor breach:
Lowest projected cash and date:
Main source events driving the shortfall:
Effect of delayed collections:
Proposed action, decision owner, and deadline:
Evidence or agreement required before updating the committed view:
Obligations that remain unchanged:
Next scheduled review:
Keep a management proposal separate from an approved change. A deferred purchase only improves the forecast when the assumption is explicit; it does not remove an existing contractual obligation by itself.
Invoice and expense exception register
| Column | Required meaning |
|---|---|
| Record ID and entity | Stable identity and correct business |
| Source references | Invoice, order, receipt, credit, expense evidence, or payment record |
| Currency and amount | Supported figures; missing values remain missing |
| Exception | Specific discrepancy or evidence gap |
| Draft finding | What the supplied records establish |
| Resolution needed | Document, confirmation, or decision still required |
| Reviewer role | Person responsible for obtaining or assessing the evidence |
| Approval scope and reference | Actual recorded decision; blank while pending |
| Posting and payment references | Actual completed system steps, when available |
| Status and review date | Current state and next review |
A duplicate-looking document, missing receipt, or changed payment request does not share one generic resolution. Preserve the relationship between documents and the evidence needed for each case. Do not turn a proposed category into a tax conclusion.
Practice files and sequence
- Read
practice/Finance-Sources.md. It defines the fictional entities, scenarios, simplified dates, and source boundaries. - Review
practice/roi-assumptions.jsonandpractice/roi-scenarios.csv. Explain why the capacity case has a positive resource ROI while its cash view uses cash. Compare the separate contractor case without combining overlapping benefits. - Trace the sixty source events in
practice/cash-events.csvinto the three forecast CSVs. Find the base floor breach, the earlier breach in the delayed case, and the separate equipment proposal's effect. Usecash-week-one-variance.csvto practice variance signs. - Read
practice/mesa-source-packet/andpractice/finance-review-records.json. Complete a draft exception register for the six cases inpractice/review-cases.csv. - If you actually evaluate a model in an approved environment, record its output, reviewer, and result. Until then, leave observed fields in the case register and
practice/observations.csvblank.
Run python3 practice/verify_examples.py from the Part 7 directory to reproduce the derived CSVs and Example-Verification.json. The script uses Python's standard library and checks arithmetic, weekly dates, source relationships, and fixture consistency. It does not run an AI model, import files into accounting software, validate tax treatment, verify a bank balance, or execute financial actions.
The source-event CSV uses simplified Monday scheduling dates. The forecast presents week-end balances; neither file is proof of daily liquidity. The simulated actuals are a separate exercise and do not overwrite the baseline forecast. Review all omitted categories and source assumptions before adapting the structure to real records.