As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, many executives predict the global economy may continue to suffer indefinitely. Consequently, budgets will be cut—making it difficult to secure approval for many projects.

What happens there is a need for a project, but no budget is available or the budgets have been reduced significantly? Perhaps the only opportunity you may have is to show the value for the project compared to the cost. An ROI forecast will show the monetary value that the project will deliver compared to the proposed cost of the project. If there is a significant positive difference, this may convince executives to move forward and implement the project. Therefore, the challenge is to make a compelling business case, one that will convince even the most conservative CFO to allocate funds for the project.

This session will describe how to create a forecast for a project that was not expected. This type of forecast connects the proposed performance improvement solution to business measures that will improve if this project is implemented. When the monetary value of this improvement is actually calculated and compared to the projected cost of the project, a financial ROI is forecasted. The challenge is to be conservative with analysis and credible with the conclusions.

Using the ROI Methodology® as framework, this process will forecast data at five levels, plus intangibles.  When conservative standards are used and it is presented in a very compelling way, this makes a great argument for allocating the funds, even in difficult and uncertain times.
 
Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, participants should be able to:

1. List the five levels of data that are present with any performance improvement project.
2. Identify the data needed by executives along with their expectations.
3. Select the experts to provide data to make the estimates for a forecast.
4. Forecast the impact, ROI, and intangibles of an important performance improvement project.
5. Present the ROI forecast in a compelling way.
6. Describe an example of a real ROI forecasting case study.

 
Materials
Each participant in this session will receive a handout, ROI Methodology Appplication Guide, an ROI Methodology process model, a forecasting case study example, and a chapter from the book, Consultant’s Guide to Results-Driven Business Proposals: How to Write Proposals That Forecast Impact and ROI, by Jack and Patti Phillips.

Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of ROI Institute, Inc., a US-based consulting firm that serves for-profit, not-for-profit, government, and non-governmental organizations in 70 countries as they build capability in measurement, evaluation, and human capital analytics using the ROI Methodology®. An internationally recognized leader in measurement and analytics, her expertise is documented in more than 50 published books and business journals.

Patti, along with her business partner and husband, Jack Phillips, received the 2024 Thought Leader Award from the Association of Learning Providers. They also received the 2022 Association for Talent Development Thought Leader Award and the 2019 Center for Talent Reporting Distinguished Contributor Award. In 2019, she was named among the top 50 coaches globally by the Thinkers50 organization and named a finalist for the Marshall Goldsmith Distinguished Achievement Award for Coaching.

Patti serves as the Chair of the International Federation of Training and Development Organization, Chair of the Institute for Corporate Productivity People Analytics Board; Senior Adviser for The Conference Board; and board member of the International Society for Performance Improvement.