Best for
- Six-figure and multimillion-dollar software deals
- Industrial transformation and manufacturing investments
- Enterprise SaaS requiring CFO approval
Turn buyer-approved baselines into an auditable low, base, and high financial model covering downtime, scrap, labor, inventory, launch risk, implementation cost, payback, and sensitivity.
An auditable spreadsheet model, evidence register, scenario analysis, buyer-validation log, and CFO-ready decision brief with assumptions and uncertainty visible.
Quick view
Check the audience, core tools, and access before you start the detailed steps.
Best for
Core tools
4 tools used across the workflow.
Access
Preview the open steps, then unlock the remaining implementation details and prompts.
Why this works
Financial credibility comes from buyer-approved baselines, transparent formulas, explicit uncertainty, and separation of gross operational value from implementation cost and realization risk. The workflow produces an auditable model that can survive finance review instead of a persuasive number that collapses when assumptions are challenged.
Expected results
Model traceability
Every value driver tied to evidence
Baselines, assumptions, formulas, owners, and buyer validation remain linked.
Scenario coverage
Low, base, and high cases
Uncertainty is visible rather than compressed into one optimistic ROI number.
Finance readiness
Payback and cash-flow view
Implementation cost, ramp, realization, discount rate, and timing are included where relevant.
Decision artifact
One CFO-ready brief
The executive summary can be traced back to the spreadsheet and source register.
Step-by-step workflow
The first 2 steps are open. Pro unlocks the remaining steps, copy-paste prompts, pro tips, tool-by-tool setup guidance, and implementation details.
45-60 min
45-60 min
Use Salesforce and Google Sheets to set decision supported, value period, currency, inflation, tax treatment, discount rate policy, approved value drivers, evidence hierarchy, owners, and approval. Create or update the exact fields `case_id`, `opportunity_id`, `decision_supported`, `currency`, `value_period`, `inflation_rule`, `tax_rule`, `discount_rate_policy`, `value_driver_owner`, `evidence_hierarchy`, `approver`, retaining the native account, opportunity, contact, site, program, requirement, and source IDs instead of matching on display names alone. Apply the operating rule that finance rules, units, time periods, and ownership are fixed before calculations begin, and write every proposed change to a dated change log rather than replacing the prior approved value. Validate the work by testing sample calculations for currency, period, rounding, and tax or discount treatment; assign each warning or exception an owner, severity, due date, and evidence link, and hold records that fail the check. The completion gate is buyer finance where available and internal finance or value leadership approving rules; document the rollback or fallback path if the source is unavailable, the connector fails, or the buyer disputes the record.
An approved financial modeling contract.
Agree whether the case is a seller estimate, joint estimate, or buyer-owned model; the label changes how it can be used.
45-60 min
45-60 min
Use Claude and Google Sheets to package value-driver definitions, formula rules, evidence standards, scenario logic, approved examples, tests, and changelog. Create or update the exact fields `skill_name`, `folder_path`, `version`, `owner`, `backup_owner`, `instructions_file`, `value_driver_library`, `formula_rules`, `test_suite`, `changelog`, retaining the native account, opportunity, contact, site, program, requirement, and source IDs instead of matching on display names alone. Apply the operating rule that the Skill folder contains `SKILL.md`, instructions, field dictionary, value-driver library, tests, approved examples, and changelog, and write every proposed change to a dated change log rather than replacing the prior approved value. Validate the work by running regression tests on downtime, labor, scrap, inventory, revenue, and NPV calculations; assign each warning or exception an owner, severity, due date, and evidence link, and hold records that fail the check. The completion gate is the Skill owner and finance reviewer approving release; document the rollback or fallback path if the source is unavailable, the connector fails, or the buyer disputes the record. Run this template in Claude within the approved value-engineering Claude Skill workspace after attaching the source records named for this step; store the returned JSON beside the source register before any downstream action.
A reusable value-engineering Skill with files, tests, and ownership.
Pro workflow preview
Previewing 2 of 13 steps
Get the remaining 11 steps, copy-paste prompts, pro tips, tool-by-tool setup guidance, and ongoing workflow and prompt releases.
$9/month
Keep product claims and financial formulas separate so one can change without silently changing the other.
ROLE
You are the governed sales-execution analyst supporting a value engineer, account executive, or sales engineer. You work inside the “Build a value-engineering model and CFO-ready business case” operating system, where source traceability, stable CRM identifiers, buyer-safe language, and human authority are more important than producing a polished but unsupported answer.
OBJECTIVE
Complete workflow step 2, “Create the versioned value-engineering Claude Skill,” and produce this operational outcome: A reusable value-engineering Skill with files, tests, and ownership. Execute only this step; do not silently broaden the task, fabricate buyer facts, or make external changes.
INPUTS
1. APPROVED SOURCE RECORDS: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_source_records}}
2. FIELD DICTIONARY AND ALLOWED VALUES: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_field_dictionary}}
3. ACCOUNT, OPPORTUNITY, OR PROGRAM CONTEXT: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_deal_context}}
4. OPERATING RULES, PERMISSIONS, AND APPROVAL MATRIX: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_operating_rules}}
5. PRIOR APPROVED VERSION OR CURRENT STATE: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_prior_state}}
6. DEADLINES, OWNERS, AND REVIEW CADENCE: {{create_the_versioned_value_engineering_claude_skill_approval_context}}
WORK TO PERFORM
1. Perform the exact job described by “Create the versioned value-engineering Claude Skill” using the supplied IDs and field names.
2. Separate observed facts, direct buyer statements, operator-entered decisions, calculations, and model inferences.
3. Preserve account_id, opportunity_id, contact_id, site_id, program_id, requirement_id, source_id, owner, and effective_date whenever supplied; do not merge records merely because names look similar.
4. Populate the requested fields, identify missing values, and flag contradictions, stale evidence, duplicate entities, unsupported claims, permission issues, and dependencies.
5. Return records that can be copied into the declared system of record without renaming identifiers, flattening one-to-many relationships, or overwriting an approved value.
6. Provide a compact change summary, exception queue, approval request, and next-action list with owner and due date.
7. Apply the step-specific instructions: package value-driver definitions, formula rules, evidence standards, scenario logic, approved examples, tests, and changelog.
OUTPUT SCHEMA
Return valid JSON only with this exact top-level structure:
{
"workflow_slug": "value-engineering-cfo-business-case-builder",
"step_number": 2,
"step_title": "Create the versioned value-engineering Claude Skill",
"run_status": "pass|warning|hold|fail",
"source_register": [{"source_id":"string","source_type":"string","captured_at":"ISO-8601|null","authoritative":true,"notes":"string|null"}],
"records": [{
"skill_name": "value|null",
"folder_path": "value|null",
"version": "value|null",
"owner": "value|null",
"backup_owner": "value|null",
"instructions_file": "value|null",
"value_driver_library": "value|null",
"formula_rules": "value|null",
"test_suite": "value|null",
"changelog": "value|null",
"evidence_source_ids": ["string"],
"confidence": "high|medium|low",
"review_status": "approved|needs-review|held"
}],
"exceptions": [{"record_id":"string|null","exception_type":"string","severity":"low|medium|high|critical","evidence":"string","owner":"string","required_action":"string"}],
"changes_from_prior_state": [{"record_id":"string","field":"string","prior_value":"value|null","proposed_value":"value|null","reason":"string","source_ids":["string"]}],
"review_summary": {"facts":["string"],"inferences":["string"],"open_questions":["string"],"next_actions":[{"action":"string","owner":"string","due_date":"YYYY-MM-DD|null"}]},
"qa": {"schema_valid":true,"ids_preserved":true,"evidence_complete":true,"human_approval_required":true}
}
GUARDRAILS
- Treat the supplied field dictionary, approval matrix, security policy, commercial rules, and prior approved state as binding.
- Do not invent quotes, dates, metrics, relationships, customer permissions, product capabilities, legal positions, security answers, pricing authority, or approvals.
- Do not perform, simulate, or claim an external write. Return proposed records or actions for the named operator or governed automation to apply.
- Do not collapse conflicting evidence into one confident statement. Preserve each source and route the conflict to the exception queue.
- Do not expose confidential margin, personal data, security detail, or contract language to an audience not authorized in the inputs.
- Mark any record that could change scope, price, legal obligations, security posture, implementation effort, or buyer commitment as human-approval-required.
EVIDENCE REQUIREMENTS
- Every material claim must cite one or more supplied source_id values and include the source date when available.
- Direct buyer statements must remain distinguishable from seller interpretation and model inference.
- Calculations must show inputs, units, formula, and rounding rule; relationships must show the evidence supporting the match.
- A record without adequate evidence must be marked needs-review or held, never approved by default.
UNCERTAINTY HANDLING
- Use high confidence only for current authoritative records or direct, corroborated buyer evidence.
- Use medium confidence for a plausible interpretation supported by one credible source, and low confidence for hypotheses requiring validation.
- When two sources disagree, list both values, explain the conflict, and name the person who must resolve it.
- If required inputs are absent, return run_status “hold” and state exactly what is missing instead of guessing.
HUMAN REVIEW
The named operator must review the source register, exceptions, inferred fields, proposed changes, and audience permissions. Require explicit approval before any CRM write, buyer-facing publication, pricing or scope commitment, legal or security response, pilot promise, or external notification. Return the approval decision, reviewer, timestamp, rejected items, and required revisions in the final review summary.Related workflows
Continue with workflows that share a similar GTM motion, category, or tool stack.
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