What Are Business Cases?
Business cases define specific subsets or combinations of business units for focused analysis. While the Analysis worksheet in the generated model consolidates all units by default, business cases let you create additional consolidated views that include only selected units.
Think of business cases as saved filters. Instead of manually toggling units on and off in the Units Included control each time you want to see a particular combination, you define named cases that the model generates as dedicated worksheets, ready for immediate use.
Cases vs. Scenarios
This is a common point of confusion, so it is worth clarifying upfront:
- Business Cases answer the question: "Which parts of the organization are we looking at?" They define combinations of business units -- which entities to include or exclude from a consolidated view.
- Scenarios answer the question: "What economic assumptions are we using?" They define different sets of index values (inflation rates, interest rates, exchange rates) that drive projected figures.
Cases and scenarios are independent dimensions. You can analyze any case under any scenario. For example, you might look at "Domestic Operations Only" (a case) under "Optimistic Growth" (a scenario).
Settings
Default Case
The case that the model uses as its primary consolidated view. This is typically an "All Units" case that includes every business unit, providing the full enterprise picture. The default case drives the main financial statements in the generated workbook.
Copy Business Cases
Not built yet. This setting is saved with your specification, but the model generator does not act on it yet. Each generated worksheet is currently created with neutral starting values for you to fill in.
A toggle that, when enabled, pre-populates new business case worksheets with values from the default case. This saves time when creating cases that are slight variations of the full consolidation -- you start with all the data and then exclude specific units, rather than building from scratch.
Case List
Each business case has the following properties:
ID
A numeric identifier for the case. This is assigned automatically and used internally for references.
Name
A short, descriptive label for the case (e.g., "All Operations", "Domestic Only", "Excluding Discontinued"). This name becomes the worksheet tab name in the generated Excel model.
Description
An optional longer description explaining what the case represents and why it exists. This description appears in the case definition area of the model but not in worksheet headers. Use it to document the rationale for the case so other analysts understand its purpose.
Common Case Configurations
Full Enterprise View
| Name | Description | Units Included | |------|-------------|----------------| | All Operations | Complete consolidation across all units | All |
This is typically the default case and corresponds to a standard consolidated financial statement.
Geographic Focus
| Name | Description | Units Included | |------|-------------|----------------| | All Operations | Full consolidation | All | | Domestic | Home market only | Domestic units | | International | Overseas operations | Foreign units |
Useful for organizations that report domestic and international results separately.
Operational vs. Corporate
| Name | Description | Units Included | |------|-------------|----------------| | Total | Full picture including overhead | All | | Operating | Revenue-generating units only | Operating units | | Corporate | Overhead and shared services | Corporate unit |
Useful for separating operational performance from corporate overhead costs.
Divestiture Analysis
| Name | Description | Units Included | |------|-------------|----------------| | Current State | All units as of today | All | | Post-Divestiture | After selling Division B | All except Division B |
Useful for modeling the impact of selling or shutting down a business unit.
How Cases Appear in the Generated Model
Each business case generates a dedicated worksheet in the Excel model: a units-by-periods grid of 1/0 inclusion flags (seeded with 1 = included) that you can edit directly in Excel. The Units Included control sheet resolves the active case, and every account's "Included" summary multiplies its per-unit values by those flags — so consolidated figures always reflect the selected case.
The model's Control Panel includes a case selector that lets users switch between cases at runtime, similar to how the scenario selector works.
How Cases Connect to Other Sections
- Business Units -- Cases are built from the units you define. You must have at least two business units for cases to be meaningful. With a single unit, every case would show the same data.
- Scenarios -- Cases and scenarios are orthogonal. Each case can be viewed under any scenario. The model generates the full matrix of case-scenario combinations.
- Accounts -- Account data is the same regardless of the case. Cases simply control which units are aggregated into the consolidated view.
Best Practices
- Always include an "all units" case. Even if your primary analysis focuses on a subset, having the full consolidation available provides essential context.
- Name cases by what they represent, not what they exclude. "Domestic Operations" is clearer than "Excluding International."
- Keep descriptions current. When the organizational structure changes, update case descriptions so analysts understand what each case covers.
- Use cases sparingly. Each case adds worksheets to the model. Three to five well-chosen cases are usually sufficient. Too many cases make the workbook unwieldy.
- Consider your audience. Define cases that match the reporting views your stakeholders actually use. If the board sees "Operating" and "Total" views, create those as cases.