Build the case with your numbers, not ours.
Most vendor ROI pages hand you a multiple and ask you to believe it. This one shows the arithmetic, separates cash from capacity, and lets you switch off any assumption you don’t accept. If the model doesn’t hold up against your own figures, better to find out here than in the meeting.
HOW THIS MODEL WORKS
Four rules, so you can test it rather than trust it.
01
One organization, one set of inputs
Every figure derives from the same company profile. Modules built on different assumptions about size cannot be added together.
02
Cash and capacity stay separate
Money that stops leaving the business and hours that are freed are different things to a CFO. They are never merged into one headline number.
03
Ranges, not point estimates
Conservative, expected, and optimistic use the same evidence and different assumptions. Switch between them below.
04
What can’t be derived is excluded
Compliance exposure is real and deliberately kept out of the arithmetic. A guessed probability times a guessed severity is not evidence.
YOUR ORGANIZATION
Model it with your numbers, not ours.
Five cost pools, each derived from the same organization, with the arithmetic shown. Cash and capacity are reported separately because finance treats them differently — one reduces spend, the other frees time that converts only if it is redeployed.
The figures below describe a 5,000-employee organization. Substitute your own and every number moves with them. Implementation services scoped during a discovery call.
THE BASIS
| 5,000 | 1,000 | $95,000 | 14.9% |
| Employees | Distinct roles | Average loaded salary | Voluntary turnover rate |
| $4,700 | $1,019 | $100 | 20 |
| Cost per hire | Training spend per employee | Blended HR / SME hourly cost | Critical-role vacancies per year |
THE FIVE COST POOLS
| COST POOL | TIER | CONSERVATIVE | EXPECTED | OPTIMISTIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role documentation effort | CAPACITY | $420,000 | $525,000 | $630,000 |
| Voluntary turnover | CASH | $174,000 | $353,000 | $526,000 |
| External hire premium | CASH | $143,000 | $214,000 | $356,000 |
| Training content waste | CASH | $107,000 | $178,000 | $285,000 |
| Critical-role vacancy duration | CAPACITY | $240,000 | $360,000 | $600,000 |
What changes between conservative and optimistic is assumptions, not evidence. The same five pools and the same organization apply to all three columns.
THE ARITHMETIC, EXPECTED CASE
| Role documentation | 1,000 roles × 7 hrs × $100 = $700,000 → × 75% reduction = $525,000 |
| Voluntary turnover | 5,000 × 14.9% = 745 departures → × 10% = 75 retained × $4,700 = $352,500 |
| External hire premium | $95,000 × 25% = $23,750 per hire → 60 hires × 15% = 9 moves = $213,750 |
| Training content waste | $5.095M × 20% content × 70% unused = $713,300 → × 25% recovered = $178,325 |
| Vacancy duration | 20 vacancies × $1,200/day × 15 days saved = $360,000 |
EXPECTED CASE, BY TIER
Cash saved Money that stops leaving the business. Turnover, external hire premium, training content. $745,000 | Capacity recovered Hours freed. Converts to cash only if the time is redeployed or headcount changes. $885,000 | Risk avoided Litigation, regulatory findings, and board requests that cannot be answered. Not quantified |
Cash and capacity are deliberately not added together. Risk is excluded from the arithmetic entirely — the exposure is real, but a guessed probability multiplied by a guessed severity is not evidence. The efficiency case above should stand on its own.
BEFORE YOU PRESENT THIS INTERNALLY
Six inputs make this case yours.
| WHAT TO GATHER | WHO HAS IT | WHAT IT DRIVES |
|---|---|---|
| Headcount and distinct role count | HR operations | Role documentation and training |
| Voluntary turnover rate and cost per hire | HR / Finance | Turnover — usually already reported |
| External hires into roles with internal candidates | Talent acquisition | External hire premium |
| Annual training spend per employee | Learning and development | Training content waste |
| Daily cost of a critical-role vacancy | Operations / Finance | Vacancy duration |
| TalentGuard investment figure | One discovery call | Net position and payback period |
The only number missing is the investment figure. Everything above is yours. A 30-minute discovery call produces a figure scoped to your headcount, roles, and timeline — and turns this model into your business case. |
WHAT IT DISPLACES
Some of this is not new spend. It already sits in someone else’s budget.
Work this list with your finance partner before the meeting. A proposal that reduces two existing line items is a different conversation from one that adds a third.
| CURRENT LINE ITEM | WHAT CHANGES | BUDGET HOLDER |
|---|---|---|
| Job architecture consulting | Role standards are generated and governed in-platform rather than delivered as a project that ages on arrival | HR transformation |
| Standalone skills tooling | Where a separate skills library exists, the governed standard replaces its source of truth | HR technology |
| Manual job description maintenance | Recurring analyst and SME hours reduced — module 01 | HR operations |
| External recruiting fees | Reduced as internal candidates become visible and defensible — module 03 | Talent acquisition |
| Audit and evidence preparation | The decision trail is produced by the system rather than reconstructed after a request arrives | Compliance and legal |
WHEN YOU’LL KNOW
Ninety days. Twenty-five to fifty roles. One measurable checkpoint per phase.
You don’t have to approve a platform to test the premise. Scoping the first decision small is what makes the evidence real.
Days 1–30
Build the standard
Governed role architecture for the roles in scope — responsibilities, skills, and defined proficiency levels.
Checkpoint: role standards exist and are consistent across business units.
Days 31–60
Approve and measure
Subject matter experts review and approve. Capability is measured against the approved standard rather than self-reported.
Checkpoint: a named approver and a date on every standard.
Days 61–90
Produce the evidence
Readiness by role, gap by gap, with the decision trail behind it.
Checkpoint: answer “why is this person ready” in writing, from the system.
THE PART THAT DOES NOT MODEL
Defensibility is a risk position, not a line item.
Why it is excluded from the arithmetic
The cost of an indefensible promotion decision is real: a discrimination claim, a regulatory finding, a board request that cannot be answered. It is also probabilistic, and multiplying a guessed likelihood by a guessed severity produces a number that dissolves the first time someone challenges it.
So the model leaves it out. The honest framing is this: the efficiency case above should stand on its own.
Defensibility is what makes the decision urgent rather than optional, and it belongs in the conversation as a risk posture — alongside how your organization already treats financial controls, data retention, and audit readiness.
The question to put to your CFO: what is the organization willing to spend to be able to answer “why was this person promoted” in writing, a year later?
EVIDENCE
Named organizations. Published outcomes.
Anonymous testimonials do not survive finance scrutiny. Every reference below is a named customer with a documented result.
Vonochen
Job and skills management effort cut by 90%
The direct analogue to module 01 — a measured reduction in the labor required to build and maintain role documentation.
Corteva Agriscience
Digital transformation in procurement
Training identified against role requirements and attrition reduced, with an independently published account.
New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp
Talent strengthened across bank
A regulated environment where consistency across affiliated entities is a supervisory expectation, not a preference.
Version 1
Record customer satisfaction
Capability development tied to delivery outcomes rather than to training completion counts.
BEFORE YOU PRESENT THIS
Six inputs make this case yours.
Five of the six already exist inside your organization. Only the last one requires a conversation with us.
| WHAT TO GATHER | WHO HAS IT | WHAT IT DRIVES |
|---|---|---|
| Headcount and distinct role count | HR operations | Modules 01 and 04 |
| Voluntary turnover rate and cost per hire | HR / Finance | Module 02 — usually already reported |
| External hires into roles with internal candidates | Talent acquisition | Module 03 |
| Annual training spend per employee | Learning and development | Module 04 |
| Daily cost of a critical-role vacancy | Operations / Finance | Module 05 |
| TalentGuard investment figure | One discovery call | Net and payback period |
