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Write an investment thesis

The investment thesis is the core of the Business Case: the problem worth solving, the outcome you expect, and the return you are underwriting. This guide walks you through capturing it.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”
  • You need edit rights on the project — the Jira project lead or a nominated editor.
  • The thesis is editable while the business case is in Discovery (Exploring) or Draft. Once submitted, approved, or in realisation it locks and becomes read-only corporate memory.

Steps

Section titled “Steps”
  1. Open the project’s Tollgate tab and select Business Case.
  2. On the Investment thesis card, choose Edit to open the thesis editor.
  3. Fill in the core fields:
    • Business problem — what’s wrong today, in the sponsor’s language.
    • Outcome — what “done and worth it” looks like.
    • Return expected — the payoff you’re underwriting, written as prose. Tollgate does not compute or score a return figure; the sponsor’s words are the verdict.
  4. Set the scope on both sides:
    • In scope — what this investment will deliberately deliver.
    • Out of scope — the boundaries you’re deliberately excluding.
  5. Pick a Theme from the site’s curated list. Themes group the investment on the Portfolio ledger; an existing custom value is preserved if your project already has one.
  6. Name the governance seats: Project manager, Decision authority (sponsor), and — where relevant — Customer representative and Supplier representative.
  7. (Optional) Add design principles — short decision heuristics the team commits to up front, so a mid-project call has something to decide by.
  8. Choose Save changes.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”