Measure and budget

Which AI use case goes first: value, ease and risk in one table

Teams with ten AI ideas and budget for two.

Editable template 30 min to use Updated 2026-10-19

Vic Sol · Decision DeskEditable template · 30 min to use

Which AI use case goes first: value, ease and risk in one table

For managers holding a list of AI ideas who need to defend which one starts first, with criteria others can review.

When to use it

Your team collected ten AI ideas and everyone is defending their own.
Leadership asks you for "a pilot" and you have to explain why that one and not another.
Two pilots already started at the same time and neither has a way to be measured.

The sheet

Score each criterion from 1 to 5. For inverse risk, 5 means low risk. Adjust the weights if your committee asks, but write them down before scoring.

Use case	Business value (×3)	Ease / data available (×2)	Inverse risk (×2)	Measurable in 90 days (×2)	Named owner	Baseline exists (yes/no)	Weighted total
[Case 1]	[1–5]	[1–5]	[1–5]	[1–5]	[name]	[ ]	[sum]
[Case 2]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]
[Case 3]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]
[Case 4]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]
[Case 5]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]	[ ]

Weighted total = value × 3 + ease × 2 + inverse risk × 2 + measurable × 2. Maximum: 45.

What each criterion means:

Business value: which indicator in your area it moves and how much that indicator weighs in your goals.
Ease / data available: whether the data exists, is clean and can be used without a separate project.
Inverse risk: how serious a mistake would be. Something internal and reviewable scores high; something that reaches the client unreviewed scores low.
Measurable in 90 days: whether in three months you can compare a before number with an after number.

Illustrative example: "Triage support emails: value 4, ease 4, inverse risk 4, measurable 5. Total 38. Owner: support lead. Baseline: yes."

How to fill it in 30 minutes

Write each case as a concrete action: "summarize supplier contracts", not "AI for legal".
Set the weights before seeing the scores. Changing them afterwards so your favorite wins is the most common mistake.
Score with at least two people and discuss only the gaps of two points or more.
Fill in owner and baseline before adding up. If either is missing, the case leaves the ranking.
Sort by total and pick one. The second waits until the first has a result.

The line that is almost always missing

A use case with no named owner or no baseline does not enter the ranking, whatever its score. A 42 with no owner does not move, and one with no before number cannot be evaluated in 90 days. It is better to start with a 34 that has both.

Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution. This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.

Which AI use case goes first: value, ease and risk in one table

For managers holding a list of AI ideas who need to defend which one starts first, with criteria others can review.

When to use it

- Your team collected ten AI ideas and everyone is defending their own.
- Leadership asks you for "a pilot" and you have to explain why that one and not another.
- Two pilots already started at the same time and neither has a way to be measured.

The sheet

Score each criterion from 1 to 5. For inverse risk, 5 means low risk. Adjust the weights if your committee asks, but write them down before scoring.

 Use case  ·  Business value (×3)  ·  Ease / data available (×2)  ·  Inverse risk (×2)  ·  Measurable in 90 days (×2)  ·  Named owner  ·  Baseline exists (yes/no)  ·  Weighted total 

 [Case 1]  ·  [1–5]  ·  [1–5]  ·  [1–5]  ·  [1–5]  ·  [name]  ·  [ ]  ·  [sum] 
 [Case 2]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ] 
 [Case 3]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ] 
 [Case 4]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ] 
 [Case 5]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ]  ·  [ ] 

Weighted total = value × 3 + ease × 2 + inverse risk × 2 + measurable × 2. Maximum: 45.

What each criterion means:

- Business value: which indicator in your area it moves and how much that indicator weighs in your goals.
- Ease / data available: whether the data exists, is clean and can be used without a separate project.
- Inverse risk: how serious a mistake would be. Something internal and reviewable scores high; something that reaches the client unreviewed scores low.
- Measurable in 90 days: whether in three months you can compare a before number with an after number.

Illustrative example: "Triage support emails: value 4, ease 4, inverse risk 4, measurable 5. Total 38. Owner: support lead. Baseline: yes."

How to fill it in 30 minutes

1. Write each case as a concrete action: "summarize supplier contracts", not "AI for legal".
2. Set the weights before seeing the scores. Changing them afterwards so your favorite wins is the most common mistake.
3. Score with at least two people and discuss only the gaps of two points or more.
4. Fill in owner and baseline before adding up. If either is missing, the case leaves the ranking.
5. Sort by total and pick one. The second waits until the first has a result.

The line that is almost always missing

A use case with no named owner or no baseline does not enter the ranking, whatever its score. A 42 with no owner does not move, and one with no before number cannot be evaluated in 90 days. It is better to start with a 34 that has both.

If this becomes a big decision

If the chosen case commits budget, sensitive data or a client-facing process and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure it. They do not replace a formal review.

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Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution.
This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.

Open the .docx in Word (or the .xlsx in Excel) or print it before the meeting.
Fill the fields with the team; leave the blanks visible, they are the discussion.
Close with one owner, one date and one next action. Nothing else.

Prompt

Generate this sheet for your case

Paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini together with your proposal, process or policy. It reproduces the sheet with your data and flags what is missing.

Download the prompt (.md)

Act as a transformation director with 15 years of experience who prioritizes initiatives for a demanding committee and does not let any of them move forward without an owner and a starting number.

Context I am giving you:
- Company / area: [ ]
- The area's goals this year: [ ]
- List of proposed AI use cases: [ ]
- Data and systems available for each one: [ ]
- Who could own each case: [ ]
- Which indicators are already measured today: [ ]

What I need: produce the one-page prioritization matrix following exactly this structure:
1. Rewrite each case as a concrete action (verb + object + area).
2. Score from 1 to 5: business value (weight 3), ease / data available (weight 2), inverse risk where 5 means low risk (weight 2) and measurable in 90 days (weight 2). Justify each score in a few words.
3. Fill in the "Named owner" and "Baseline exists (yes/no)" columns.
4. Calculate the weighted total (maximum 45).
5. Exclude from the ranking every case without an owner or without a baseline, even if it has the highest score, and say so explicitly.
6. Recommend a single case to start with and say what would have to happen for the second one to begin.

Output format: a Markdown table ready to copy into Excel (Case | Value | Ease | Inverse risk | Measurable | Owner | Baseline | Total | Enters ranking), then the list of excluded cases with the reason, and the recommendation in two lines. Maximum 450 words. No introduction.

Rules:
- Do not invent figures. If data is missing, write [DATA PENDING] and tell me how to get it.
- Mark every assumption as an assumption.
- Do not change the weights to favor a case.
- If critical information is missing, ask me at most 3 questions before answering.
- Answer in plain, direct business English, with no sales adjectives.

What to check in the answer:

Did it remove the cases with no owner or no baseline from the ranking, or keep them because of their score?
Do the scores have a justification someone else could challenge?
Did it recommend a single case, or go back to proposing several at once?

If this becomes a big decision

If the decision is hard to reverse and carries your name, the free Decision Clarity tools help you structure it. They do not replace a formal review.

Open the free tools

Which AI use case goes first: value, ease and risk in one table

When to use it

The sheet

How to fill it in 30 minutes

The line that is almost always missing

Generate this sheet for your case

This resource is a step in

Related in the same situation

The AI changes worth your attention.

If this becomes a big decision