business-value-case

name	business-value-case
description	Use when a seller needs to generate a Business Value Case (BVC) for a dbt Labs prospect, iterate on an existing BVC, or publish a BVC to Notion

Business Value Case (BVC) Generator

Builds quantified, 5-page business value cases for dbt Labs prospects. Maps discovery pain points to the 3-pillar Value Framework, quantifies exactly 6 use cases using consistent Ref IDs, and publishes to Notion after seller confirmation.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: Use bvc-benchmarks for all benchmark data, business initiative definitions, and use case taxonomy when quantifying.

When to Use

• "Help me build a BVC for [Company]"
• Filling in the standard BVC prompt (see Input Template below)
• Iterating on an existing BVC (update assumption, swap use case, sync Notion)
• Publishing a completed BVC to the BVC Deal Tracker

Iron Rules — Never Violate These

1. Exactly 6 quantified use cases — A1, A2, B1, C1, C2, C3. No more, no fewer in the Page 3 table.
2. Never write to Notion before seller types "publish" — always show the confirmation summary first.
3. Run the 8-step reconciliation checklist before showing the confirmation summary.
4. Ref IDs must be consistent across Page 3, Page 4, and Appendix — numbers must match exactly.
5. Mark all benchmarked/unconfirmed inputs with 🔴 in every formula.
6. Hourly rate = annual salary ÷ 2,080 — no multipliers, no loaded rate adjustments.
7. ROI = (3-yr net savings ÷ 3-yr dbt cost) × 100 — percent only, no other ROI formulas.

Red Flags — STOP if You Notice These

• About to produce more or fewer than 6 rows in the Page 3 quantification table
• About to write to Notion without seeing "publish" from the seller
• Showing a Page 4 number that differs from Page 3 pillar subtotals
• Using an hourly rate derived from anything other than salary ÷ 2,080
• ROI calculation using anything other than the formula above

Input Template

Gather all [BRACKET] fields before starting. If any are missing, ask for them.

DEAL BASICS
- Company: [Company name]
- Champion: [Name, Title]
- Industry: [e.g., Healthcare, Finance, Insurance]
- Company Size: [e.g., 500 employees, $2B revenue]

TEAM & ENVIRONMENT
- Sr. Data / Software Engineers: [exact count]
- Analysts / Analytics Engineers: [exact count]
- Current tools: [e.g., Snowflake + Airflow + dbt Core]
- Annual warehouse spend: [$X — or "unknown"]
- % of warehouse spend driven by dbt models: [e.g., 60% — or "unknown"]

TOP PAIN POINTS FROM DISCOVERY
1. [Pain point 1 — direct quote or paraphrase]
2. [Pain point 2]
3. [Pain point 3]

GONG / DOCS (optional)
- Gong link 1: [URL]

FINANCIAL ASSUMPTIONS
- Sr. Engineer salary: $[e.g., 175,000]/yr
- Analyst salary: $[e.g., 150,000]/yr
- dbt contract value: $[e.g., 126,720]/yr
- Term: [e.g., 3 years]

Output Structure (5 Pages — Exact Order)

Page 1 — Business Initiatives

4 blocks: Revenue Impact | Cost Savings | AI Readiness | Risk & Modernization

Each block contains: Initiative | Evidence | How dbt Supports It Max 40 words per block. Tag with Revenue / Cost / AI / Risk. Include source and 1 discovery question.

Page 2 — Use Cases by Value Pillar

3 tables:

• Tooling & Maintenance (T&M)
• Warehouse Optimization
• Operational Efficiency

Columns: Value Pillar | Use Case | Business Problem | How dbt Solves

Page 3 — Quantification

Main table (exactly 6 rows):

Ref	Pillar	Use Case	Formula	Hours Saved	$ Saved/Yr
A1	T&M	...	...	...	...
A2	T&M	...	...	...	...
B1	WH Opt	...	...	...	...
C1	OE	...	...	...	...
C2	OE	...	...	...	...
C3	OE	...	...	...	...

Then: "Use Cases Discussed in Discovery" (max 3, with business initiative ties) Then: "Metrics Still Needed" (anything that needs seller follow-up)

Page 4 — Financial Summary & ROI

3-year summary table:

Row	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	3-Yr Total
T&M (A1 + A2)
Warehouse (B1)
OE (C1 + C2 + C3)
Total Annual Savings
dbt Cloud Cost
Net Savings

Then: Connecting to Business Initiatives | Why Now section (3-5 sentences, company-specific signals)

Appendix — Calculation Toggles (one per Ref ID)

Header format: USE CASE [Ref ID] — [Name] (Pillar | feeds Page 4 [row] [with other refs])

Each toggle contains:

• Input / Value / Source table
• Assumptions section
• Supporting Quotes
• Benchmarks used

Ref ID Consistency Requirements

This is where agents break — triple-check these before presenting the confirmation summary:

• A1 + A2 annual savings → must equal T&M row in Page 4
• B1 annual savings → must equal Warehouse row in Page 4
• C1 + C2 + C3 annual savings → must equal OE row in Page 4
• Each Appendix toggle → annual savings figure must match the Page 3 row for that Ref ID

8-Step Pre-Publish Reconciliation Checklist

Run this BEFORE showing the confirmation summary. Fix mismatches at the source (Appendix) then propagate up.

1. Each Appendix toggle (A1–C3): annual savings matches Page 3 $ Saved/Yr for that Ref ID
2. Page 3 pillar subtotals: A1+A2 = T&M | B1 = WH | C1+C2+C3 = OE
3. Page 4 T&M = A1+A2 | WH = B1 | OE = C1+C2+C3 | Total = sum of all three
4. Page 4 Year 2 and Year 3 correctly compounded/carried forward
5. Page 4 3-Year Total = Year 1 + Year 2 + Year 3 for each row
6. Page 4 Net Savings = Total Annual Savings − dbt Cloud cost per year
7. ROI % = (3-yr net savings ÷ 3-yr dbt cost) × 100
8. Payback period in months = (dbt Year 1 cost ÷ Year 1 total savings) × 12

Confirmation Workflow

After reconciliation, post exactly this format:

[Company] BVC | Annual Savings: $[X] | 3-Yr ROI: [X]% | Payback: ~[X] months

Followed by a bulleted list of all 🔴 benchmarked assumptions to validate before the exec meeting.

Then ask: "Does this look right? Reply publish to send to Notion, or tell me what to change."

Do not write to Notion until seller types "publish".

Publishing to Notion

Once seller confirms with "publish":

• Simultaneously create the BVC page AND add a row to the BVC Deal Tracker
• BVC Deal Tracker: https://www.notion.so/7c16742721684eaa9f7db2c4ad3345f8
• Destination for BVC page: inside BVC Deal Tracker — do not ask seller for a URL
• Deal Tracker row fields: Customer | Deal Type | Seller | Date | Deal Size | T&M Total | WH Total | OE Total | BVC Page URL

Post-Publish Verification

After publishing, fetch the live Notion BVC page and verify:

1. Page 3: all 6 Ref ID rows show correct annual savings and hours saved
2. Page 4: Total Annual Savings, 3-Year Total, Net Savings, ROI % match the confirmation summary
3. Deal Tracker row: T&M Total = A1+A2 | WH Total = B1 | OE Total = C1+C2+C3

If any number is mismatched, correct immediately and confirm the fix before sharing the link.

Iteration Commands

Change	Command
Update dbt cost	Update dbt cost to $[X]/yr over [N] years and recalculate
Update salaries	Update Sr Engineer to $[X] and Analyst to $[Y], recalculate
Update assumption	Update assumption: [describe]. Recalculate all affected use cases and update Notion.
Move to potential	Move "[Use Case]" from confirmed to potential. Update all numbers.
Add use case	Add use case: [describe]. Champion said: "[quote]". Estimate [X hrs/wk] saved.
Remove use case	Remove "[Use Case]" from the BVC and update all numbers
Sync Notion	Update the Notion page with the latest version of the BVC
Exec summary	Write a 3-sentence executive summary of the ROI story
Objection prep	What are the 3 most likely objections to this BVC and how should I respond?

For $250K+ ACV Deals

Loop in a VE before the exec meeting → #ask-biz-value channel. Standard deals can use this skill without a VE.