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Budget software and setup. Test the time savings needed to cover the cost.

Enterprise finance workflows at fictional Westhaven Services Group, a $200M services company. Part of Seth Sokoloff’s finance examples; see reporting transformation experience and CFO engagement options.

Budget overview

Choose a starting exampleWesthaven Services Group · fictional $200M company. Edit workflow assumptions.

Dataset: Westhaven Services Group · westhaven-workflows-2026-v1 · fictional $200M services company.

Period: First 12 months of the workflow budget · USD. This models a team program, not company-wide spending.

Your draft stays in this browser. It is not uploaded.

Current budget · USD

Edit assumptions ↓

First-year cash outflow—Before spending eliminated

First-month cash outflow—Includes annual plans upfront

Modeled time reclaimed—Hours in the first year

First-year net cash impact—Spending eliminated less outflows

The model separates cash spending from the value of reclaimed time. Enter your assumptions to compare them.

First-year spending breakdown

USD · cash spending by category

Cumulative hours reclaimed

Hours · running total through each month

Inspect a month

Cash outflow this month: —
Hours reclaimed this month: —
Cumulative net cash impact: —

Cash recovery under the invoice schedule

End-of-month cash recovery: —
Largest cumulative cash deficit: —

Month-end cash only; excludes reclaimed time and balances between payments.

How cash recovery is defined

Balances start at zero and include only this budget’s cash outflows and spending eliminated. Recovery is the first month-end that stays nonnegative through month 12. Recovery beyond month 12 is not modeled.

Select a month to inspect its cash spending and reclaimed hours. Reclaimed time is capacity, not cash savings.

About this example

Restore backup

Backup contents: Inputs, attached workflow notes, price sources, and the frozen comparison baseline. Unapplied observations are excluded. CSV exports results; restore a JSON backup to resume editing.

Budget nameTime savings based on

Choose measured after observing adoption and usable time saved.

Team & subscriptions

People in the workflowTarget adoption %

Adoption affects time savings. Each tool’s licensed seats determine its cost.

Rates are monthly equivalents; annual plans are paid in month 1.

Changing a preset’s billing cycle

Switching billing cycles restores the published rate for that cycle. Re-enter your quoted rate if needed.

2Extra costsReview the extra cash and effort included in your budget.

API & metered usage $/moOther recurring costs $/moSetup & integration payments $ onceInternal setup effort hoursTraining per person hoursOngoing administration hours/mo

Include incremental spending, including required base licenses and overages. Training applies to everyone in the workflow.

Time savings

Estimate savings from a specific workflow

Compare the same task and quality. Include prompting, review, corrections, and rework. Enter frequency per active person.

Workflow name

Minutes per run beforeMinutes per run after, including reviewRuns per active person each week

Observation notes optional

Enter a workflow and timing observations to estimate weekly minutes.

Applying copies the weekly estimate and attaches these observations. Your illustrative/measured selection stays unchanged.

Time saved per active person min/weekShare actually reclaimed %Value of team time $/hourActual spending eliminated $/mo

Working weeks & rollout timing48 active weeks · no rollout delay · immediate target adoption

Active working weeks weeks/yearDelay before rollout whole monthsMonths to target adoption whole months

A 3-month ramp reaches one-third, two-thirds, then full target adoption after the delay. Enter 0 for immediate adoption. Costs and spending reductions begin in month 1. Count only weeks when this workflow is active.

Reclaimed time is capacity. Enter cash savings only when spending decreases; do not count the same benefit twice.

12-month view · USD

Updates as you edit

Your first-year budget

—

Cash outflow before any spending eliminated

First-month cash outflow—

Annual plans paid upfront—

Cash and internal effort breakdown

Recurring software & usage: —
One-time setup payments: —
Internal setup & training value: —
Ongoing administration value: —

Full first-year resource cost—

Cash outflow plus internal effort valued at your hourly assumption.

Resource cost by category—

Modeled time reclaimed———
—

First-year cash impact—

Net modeled economic value—

Cash impact excludes reclaimed time. Economic value includes it and deducts internal effort.

Read the budget interpretation

To cover the full first-year cost—

per active person each week, before the realization adjustment

Payback estimates and definitions

Smoothed cash payback: —
Economic payback: —

Payback smooths first-year value and annual commitments. The invoice-schedule recovery above uses modeled month-end cash balances.

Compare budgets

Save a baseline, then edit this budget. The baseline keeps its original inputs and price sources.

Monthly cash flow

Annual plans and setup payments are paid in month 1. Monthly costs and spending reductions stay constant. Actual invoice dates may differ.

Illustrative monthly cash schedule in USD
Month	Cash outflow	Spending eliminated	Net cash impact	Cumulative cash impact

Cash impact is spending eliminated minus outflows. Reclaimed time does not appear as cash.

Monthly rollout assumptions

Adoption builds in equal monthly steps after the delay. Working weeks are spread evenly across the year. This schedule models your assumptions.

Monthly modeled adoption and reclaimed hours
Month	Modeled adoption	Active people	Reclaimed hours	Capacity value

Sensitivity analysis: adoption and time savings

Compare modeled value at different adoption and time savings assumptions.

Sensitivity of economic value to adoption and time savings
Case	Adoption	Time saved / week	Net economic value / year

Pricing sources

Published USD prices, billing terms, and check dates. Edit the rates to match your quote.

Prices are a dated snapshot, before tax. Check your quote for regional pricing, base licenses, usage limits, and negotiated terms. No affiliate links.

A $200M company’s finance workflow program

Westhaven Services Group · dataset westhaven-workflows-2026-v1 · original Finance program inputs, before your edits.

672 reclaimed hours produce $40,320 in modeled capacity against $32,360 in resource cost. The modeled surplus is $7,960, but cash does not recover within 12 months: no spending reductions are entered. Reclaimed time is capacity, not cash savings.

Worked example: inputs and cost breakdown

Forty finance and operating reporting participants, 70% adoption, 60 minutes saved per active person each week, 50% reclaimed, 48 working weeks, and $60/hour. Immediate adoption yields 672 reclaimed hours.

Forty ChatGPT Business Standard seats use the stored $20/month annual-billing rate, checked October 5, 2026. With $200 monthly usage and $5,000 setup cash, first-year cash outflow is $17,000 ($14,800 in month 1). Add 80 setup hours, two training hours per person, and eight administration hours per month: resource cost is $32,360.

Before buying, confirm your quote and measure the same task at the same output quality, including prompting, review, and rework. Replace adoption and usable-time assumptions with observed inputs. Your editable budget is calculated separately.

Calculation method

Built by Seth Sokoloff. The model separates cash spending, internal effort, and time reclaimed.

Explore related finance tools ↗

Cash cost and resource cost formulas

First-year cash cost = 12 × (monthly-equivalent subscription costs + usage + other recurring costs), plus one-time payments. Resource cost adds setup, training, and administration time valued at your hourly rate.

How time savings are valued

Full-run-rate hours = people × target adoption × weekly minutes saved ÷ 60 × active working weeks × the share reclaimed. First-year hours also apply the average monthly rollout factor: zero during the delay, then equal steps toward target adoption. Working weeks are spread evenly across the year. Capacity value = reclaimed hours × hourly value; it does not forecast earnings.

How break-even and payback work

Break-even weekly minutes cover the first-year resource cost after explicit cash savings, using the same adoption, hourly value, and realization assumptions. Simple payback divides one-time cash and effort by positive monthly net value using average first-year capacity. Rollout affects modeled time only; entered cash savings and all costs stay on their existing schedules. Smoothed cash payback uses only cash savings and outflows. Schedule-based recovery is the first nonnegative month-end after the last cumulative cash deficit in the 12-month schedule. It does not measure cash needed within a month or recovery beyond month 12.

What is saved

Inputs and baselines are saved in this browser when storage is available; budgets are not uploaded. CSV and print exports include assumptions, results, pricing sources, and the illustrative cash schedule. JSON backups also preserve the current case and frozen baseline, including attached workflow observations and price sources. Restore replaces the current draft and baseline. Reset restores the finance example and retains the baseline.