Knowledge Systems
Rank AI Use Cases by Business Impact
Compare candidate AI use cases through a transparent impact, effort, risk, and evidence model without turning estimates into promises.
Quick facts
- Best for
- Owners · Founder-operators
- Prompt type
- Effectiveness
- Expected result
- A transparent impact, effort, and risk ranking with formulas, weights, evidence strength, sensitivity ranges, assumptions, uncertainty and confidence scores, Unknowns, readiness dependencies, and human approval gates.
- Time saved
- Varies by candidate count and evidence quality
- Required inputs
- CANDIDATE USE CASES · DECISION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTS · BUSINESS VALUE · EFFORT EVIDENCE · RISK EVIDENCE · DATA SOURCES AND ACCESS · CONSTRAINTS · USE-CASE OWNERS · SUCCESS MEASURES
- Works with
- ChatGPT + Claude
What this prompt does
- Applies one visible scoring method to supplied impact, effort, risk, readiness, and ownership evidence.
- Separates documented facts from calculations and estimates so a named human can challenge the ranking.
When to use
- When a service business has several candidate use cases and needs an evidence-based shortlist for further validation.
When not to use
- Do not use it as approval to adopt a priority, buy software, deploy a system, change data access, or modify a live workflow.
- Do not place unauthorized business data or unnecessary personal, sensitive, or confidential data in an AI system.
The prompt
#CONTEXT:
Create a transparent impact, effort, and risk ranking for supplied AI use cases. The ranking is a reviewable hypothesis, not authorization or a guaranteed business case.
#INPUTS:
- Candidate use cases with workflow boundaries and intended users: [CANDIDATE USE CASES]
- Human-supplied decision criteria, definitions, required constraints, and weights: [DECISION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTS]
- Supplied customer, revenue, capacity, speed, or quality value evidence: [BUSINESS VALUE]
- Supplied implementation, integration, change, and operating-effort evidence: [EFFORT EVIDENCE]
- Supplied privacy, security, legal, operational, quality, and failure-impact evidence: [RISK EVIDENCE]
- Data sources, quality notes, access rights, and permission owners: [DATA SOURCES AND ACCESS]
- Budget, timing, capacity, technical, policy, and regulatory constraints: [CONSTRAINTS]
- Named use-case owners and documented decision rights: [USE-CASE OWNERS]
- Supplied success measures, baselines, thresholds, and measurement owners: [SUCCESS MEASURES]
#INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Normalize the candidate descriptions without adding capabilities, value, readiness, or owners that were not supplied. Missing facts remain Unknown.
2. Use decision criteria and weights as Supplied only when the named human provided them. If they are absent or incomplete, label them Unknown and return scenario rankings only; do not create a canonical rank.
3. If useful, propose alternative criteria or weights as Estimated, never Supplied. State the assumption and business-preference implication behind each, use ranges, and perform sensitivity and scenario analysis. Do not silently choose a business preference.
4. Distinguish every value as Supplied, Calculated, or Estimated. Show each Calculated score's formula, weights, units, and operands. For every Estimated value, show a range, assumptions, uncertainty, and confidence score with rationale.
5. Produce the ranking, then show sensitivity ranges: how positions change when uncertain inputs or weights move within stated ranges. Ties and evidence-poor comparisons remain tied or Unknown.
6. Give the evidence or source basis for each impact, effort, risk, readiness, and success-measure claim.
7. Do not invent, infer, or fabricate ROI or return on investment, time savings, cost, feasibility, revenue, adoption, technical capability, risk, data quality, owner, permission, business preference, or business priority. Do not convert relative scores into financial forecasts.
8. List privacy, security, and data-access dependencies and identify any dependency that prevents responsible validation.
9. Recommend only a next evidence-gathering step or bounded validation candidate. Do not present the ranking as an implementation order unless dependencies are separately assessed.
10. Do not infer authorization from a supplied owner, access record, score, rank, or recommendation. Do not automate, purchase, deploy, alter data or permissions, or change a live workflow.
11. A named human owner must approve the decision criteria, weights, and canonical rank before prioritization adoption. A named human owner must approve prioritization adoption before action. A named human owner must approve purchasing before action. A named human owner must approve deployment before action. A named human owner must approve every data or permission change before action. A named human owner must approve every live workflow change before action.
12. Use only authorized business data in an approved AI workspace or approved AI vendor. Minimize the data; redact or omit unnecessary personal, sensitive, or confidential data. Follow company retention and vendor policy.
#RESPONSE FORMAT:
## Evidence and source basis
| Use case | Claim | State: Supplied, Calculated, Estimated, or Unknown | Source | Formula or assumptions | Uncertainty | Confidence score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## Scoring method
| Criterion | Definition | Weight | State: Supplied, Estimated, or Unknown | Business-preference implication | Range | Evidence threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## Impact, effort, and risk ranking
| Rank or tie | Use case | Impact | Effort | Risk | Readiness | Evidence strength | Composite formula | Confidence score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## Sensitivity and scenario analysis
| Scenario | Variable or assumption | Tested range | Ranking effect | Business preference represented | Evidence needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## Privacy, security, and data-access dependencies
## Human decisions and approvalsInput checklist
- CANDIDATE USE CASES
- DECISION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTS
- BUSINESS VALUE
- EFFORT EVIDENCE
- RISK EVIDENCE
- DATA SOURCES AND ACCESS
- CONSTRAINTS
- USE-CASE OWNERS
- SUCCESS MEASURES
Example input
Fictional example — CANDIDATE USE CASES: Inquiry summarization, missing-field detection, and draft follow-up suggestions for Northstar's intake team. DECISION CRITERIA AND WEIGHTS: Human-supplied criteria are quality 35%, staff time 25%, implementation effort 20%, privacy and security risk 20%; mandatory constraint: no customer-facing action. BUSINESS VALUE: Missing fields cause documented rework; no supplied revenue attribution. EFFORT EVIDENCE: CRM export exists; integration estimate not supplied. RISK EVIDENCE: Customer messages may contain personal data; suggestions require staff review. DATA SOURCES AND ACCESS: De-identified CRM sample approved for assessment; production access not approved. CONSTRAINTS: Six-week evaluation window and $3,000 research ceiling. USE-CASE OWNERS: Maya owns intake; Omar owns security; purchasing owner Unknown. SUCCESS MEASURES: Rework rate and reviewer acceptance; baselines incomplete.Expected output structure
- A transparent impact, effort, and risk ranking with formulas, weights, evidence strength, sensitivity ranges, assumptions, uncertainty and confidence scores, Unknowns, readiness dependencies, and human approval gates.
Customize this prompt
- Use a small number of decision-relevant criteria so weak evidence stays visible instead of disappearing into a composite score.
- Review the sensitivity table before treating small score differences as meaningful.
Guardrails
- Preserve the evidence or source basis for every material claim; unsupported facts remain Unknown.
- Distinguish Supplied, Calculated, and Estimated values; show every formula, estimated range, assumption, uncertainty, and confidence score.
- Do not invent, infer, or fabricate ROI or return on investment, time savings, cost, feasibility, revenue, adoption, capability, risk, data quality, owner, or permission.
- If decision criteria and weights are absent, label them Unknown and return scenario rankings only; model-proposed weights must be Estimated, never Supplied, with sensitivity and scenario analysis.
- Do not invent, infer, or fabricate a business preference or business priority.
- A named human owner must approve the decision criteria, weights, and canonical rank before prioritization adoption.
- Make every privacy, security, and data-access dependency explicit before recommending validation.
- A named human owner must approve prioritization adoption before action.
- A named human owner must approve purchasing before action.
- A named human owner must approve deployment before action.
- A named human owner must approve every data or permission change before action.
- A named human owner must approve every live workflow change before action.
- A named human owner and the qualified professional must approve every legal, tax, employment, or regulatory interpretation before action.
- A named human owner must approve every payment or financial decision before action.
- A named human owner must approve every deletion, closure, suspension, termination, revocation, deactivation, or archive action before action.
- A named human owner must approve every promise or commitment before action.
- A named human owner must approve every policy exception before action.
- A named human owner must approve every external send or publication before action.
- Use only authorized business data in an approved AI workspace or approved AI vendor; minimize data, redact or omit unnecessary personal, sensitive, or confidential data, and follow company retention and vendor policy.
- Do not infer authorization. Do not automate, purchase, deploy, change data or permissions, or mutate a live workflow.
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