Module 8 · Business Analyst Capstone: From Problem to Board Decision
"The decision paper"
Bring the analysis together into a decision paper the board can approve. Lead with the recommendation, back it with evidence, state the conditions and risks, prepare for the hard questions, and plan your final project.
About 25 minutes
The problem
The board meets in a week. Its members won't read 40 slides. They need one short paper that tells them what to decide, why, what it costs, what could go wrong and how they'll know it worked. Everything you've done in this capstone feeds that paper. This lesson shapes it, and your final project delivers it.
The concept
Answer first
Start with the decision you're asking for, in one sentence, then the reasons. The board can stop reading at any point and still know what you recommend.
The shape of a decision paper
| Section | Content | From |
|---|---|---|
| The decision | What you're asking the board to approve | lesson 6 |
| The problem | Days to settle, slow claims, complaints, lost renewals | lessons 1 and 2 |
| Why claims are slow | The four root causes, with evidence | lessons 3 and 4 |
| The evidence it works | The pilot, compared with the other regions | lesson 5 |
| Options | Costs, benefits, NPV and payback, and why not the others | lesson 6 |
| Conditions and risks | UAT fixes, controls, the audit, Port Harcourt's capacity | lesson 7 |
| Measures | KPIs, baselines and targets, and when you'll report | lesson 7 |
One chart that carries the argument
Choose the chart that makes the case on its own. Here it's monthly days to settle for Lagos against the other regions: the lines run together for nine months, then Lagos drops when the pilot starts.
Prepare for the hard questions
Every stakeholder from lesson 1 will read the paper through their own concern. The head of IT will ask why not the new system, the finance controller about fraud, and the agency manager about agents' workload. Write each likely question with a short, evidenced answer.
Example
The data behind the chart:
SQL
SELECT substr(submitted_at, 1, 7) AS month,
ROUND(AVG(CASE WHEN region = 'Lagos' THEN julianday(closed_at) - julianday(submitted_at) END), 1) AS lagos,
ROUND(AVG(CASE WHEN region <> 'Lagos' THEN julianday(closed_at) - julianday(submitted_at) END), 1) AS other_regions
FROM claims
WHERE outcome = 'Paid'
GROUP BY month
ORDER BY month;month lagos other_regions
2025-07 24.4 24.7
2025-08 23.5 24.9
2025-09 23.6 26.5
2025-10 24.9 25.3
2025-11 24.8 25.4
2025-12 26.8 25.7
2026-01 24.5 24.4
2026-02 25.5 27.1
2026-03 26.5 25.2
2026-04 16.7 26.9
2026-05 17.9 26.6
2026-06 18.3 25.8The two lines move together until March, then separate. That's the strongest single piece of evidence you have. Notice too that the Lagos figure creeps up from April to June. It could be noise, or the early enthusiasm wearing off. Say you'll watch it.
Answers to the hard questions:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Head of IT: "Why not the new system?" | It costs ₦280m and loses money over three years even at twice the pilot's benefit. The pilot fixed the main causes without it. We'd revisit it when the current system reaches the end of its support life. |
| Finance controller: "Who checks the assessors?" | A ₦1m limit, no theft or third-party claims, a different assessor from the one who assessed, cancellation if the amount changes, and a weekly audit report. Rollout waits for UAT-14 to be fixed. |
| Agency manager: "Won't the checklist slow agents down?" | It takes minutes at submission and saves days later; agent claims needed documents chased 62% of the time. |
| Compliance: "Does the SMS meet data protection rules?" | Not yet: UAT-20 must be fixed so that opted-out customers get no messages. |
Walkthrough
- Build the chart, with a title that states the finding.
- Write the decision paper on two pages at most, in the order above.
- Write the hard questions and answers for every stakeholder in
interviews.csv. - Read it as the managing director would. Can you find the decision, the cost and the risk in 30 seconds?
- Open the project brief on the course page and plan your submission.
Practice
Practice
What was the average days to settle for Lagos paid claims submitted in June 2026? One decimal place.
Task
12 minWrite the executive summary of the decision paper (120 to 220 words): the decision you're asking for first, the problem in numbers, the causes, the pilot evidence compared with other regions, the financial case, and the conditions before rollout.
Your work is checked for
- Opens with the decision (approve, recommend, ask)
- Uses numbers
- Names causes (documents, inspection, approval)
- Pilot compared with other regions
- The financial case (NPV, payback, cost)
- Conditions before rollout (UAT, defect, fix, control)
- Between 120 and 220 words
Check your understanding
Answer every question to check.