Return, reopen, or amend a business case

Not every business case is approved first time, and an approved case sometimes needs re-opening. This guide covers the three routes: a sponsor returning a case with notes, a PM amending and resubmitting, and re-opening an already-approved case.

Return a submitted case (sponsor)

If you are the named sponsor and the case isn’t ready to approve:

1. Open Business Case (or the Sponsor Decision Pending card on Investment Health).
2. Choose Return with notes.
3. Add one or more notes. Each note carries a severity — Blocker, Significant, or Minor — and can be pinned to the section it concerns.
4. Confirm. The case returns to Draft and the notes appear inline on the relevant sections for the PM.

Amend and resubmit (PM)

When a case has been returned to you:

1. Open Business Case. The sponsor’s notes appear pinned to each section they relate to.
2. Edit the fields to address the feedback.
3. Tick each note as Addressed as you resolve it. This is a soft signal only — the count is shown, but it never blocks resubmission.
4. Choose Save changes, then submit again. The version number increments on resubmission.

Re-open an approved case

To amend a case the sponsor has already approved:

1. Open Business Case and choose Re-open for amendment.
2. Confirm at the prompt. Re-opening withdraws the sponsor’s approval and returns the case to Draft, so the confirmation states that consequence.
3. Amend, then resubmit for a fresh approval.

Archive with dignity

To close out a case you’re no longer pursuing:

1. Choose Archive.
2. Add a one-line rationale.

The archived record stays findable — the next sponsor considering a similar investment can learn from why this one wasn’t pursued.

TODO: confirm with James

Confirm the exact button labels for re-opening (“Re-open for amendment”) and archiving from Draft, which may differ from the archive-from-Submitted flow.