For managers asked to "cut costs with AI" who have to present something that survives a COO's questions.
When to use it
You were asked for a savings number and still do not know where it will come from.
Someone proposes to "automate a process with AI" and nobody has written down what breaks if it is cut.
You made a cut last year and the cost reappeared in another area under another name.
The sheet
#
Field
What to write
Illustrative example
1
Baseline cost
What the process costs today, per month, and how you measured it.
"Processing supplier invoices: 3 people at 60% of their time, plus the current system."
2
Lever
What changes exactly: tool, step removed, who stops doing what.
"AI extracts the invoice data; one person validates the exceptions."
3
Savings in three parts
Real cash: the budget line that goes down. Freed capacity: free hours and what they are used for. Cost that only moves: what reappears in another area, at the client or in review.
"Cash: an old license is cancelled. Capacity: 40 h/month moved to collections. Moves: 8 h/month of review in accounting."
4
What breaks if we cut
What stops happening, who notices first and how soon.
"Oddly formatted invoices get stuck; the supplier notices within a week."
5
Owner
One named person who answers for the number.
"Marta, head of accounts payable."
6
Date
When it starts and when it is measured.
"Starts 3 November; measured 1 February."
7
How we will know in 90 days
One before number, one after number and who pulls it.
"Cost per invoice processed; finance pulls it from the system."
The four questions a COO asks:
Is it cash or is it capacity? Which budget line goes down, and in which month?
What stops happening if we cut this, and who notices first?
Where does the cost that does not disappear move to?
How will we know in 90 days that it worked, and who measures it?
How to fill it in 20 minutes
Start with the baseline cost using a real figure, even an estimate marked as such. Without a baseline there are no savings; there is a wish.
Describe the lever in one sentence. If you need three paragraphs, you do not yet know what you are changing.
Split the savings into the three parts. Be honest about the third: almost every cut moves something somewhere else.
Write what breaks before anyone asks. It is the row that earns you credibility.
Add a name, a date and the 90-day measure. A proposal with no owner gets approved and nothing happens.
The most common mistake: adding freed capacity as if it were cash. Forty free hours lower no budget until someone decides what they are used for.
The line that is almost always missing
The third part of the savings: the cost that only moves. The AI that extracts data creates review hours in accounting; the removed step comes back as client queries. If that line is left empty, the COO will find it, and the whole proposal loses credibility, not just that row.
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.
Act as an operations director with 15 years of experience who has presented cost reduction proposals to demanding committees and can tell the savings that lower a budget line from the savings that merely change places.
Context I am giving you:
- Company / area: [ ]
- Process I want to change and what it costs today (people, time, systems): [ ]
- Lever I have in mind (AI tool, step removed, who stops doing what): [ ]
- What I already know could break: [ ]
- Who will read the proposal: [COO, finance, general management]
What I need: produce the one-page proposal with exactly these seven fields, in this order:
1. Baseline cost (per month and how it was measured).
2. Lever (what changes exactly, in one sentence).
3. Savings in three separate parts: real cash (which line goes down and in which month), freed capacity (hours and what they are used for) and cost that only moves (to which area, to the client or into review hours).
4. What breaks if we cut (what stops happening, who notices first, how soon).
5. Owner (one person or role who answers for the number).
6. Start date and measurement date.
7. How we will know in 90 days that it worked (before number, after number, who pulls it).
Then answer the four questions a COO asks: is it cash or capacity? What stops happening if we cut? Where does the cost that does not disappear move to? How will we know in 90 days, and who measures it?
Output format: a seven-row table (Field · Content · Data pending), then the four answers, one line each. Maximum 450 words. No introduction.
Rules:
- Do not invent figures. If data is missing, write [DATA PENDING] and tell me how to get it.
- Never add freed capacity as if it were cash; show them separately.
- Mark every assumption as an assumption.
- 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 the savings stay in three separate parts, or did they collapse back into one big number?
Does the "what breaks" row say who notices first, or did it settle for "no impact expected"?
Does the 90-day field have a before number that exists today? If it does not, the first task is to measure it, not to cut.
Vic Sol