Include the work needed to obtain and sustain the gain

Estimate the data collection, preparation, specialist judgement, explanation, review and ongoing operation required by each alternative. Include the participants who supply information and the finance work displaced by that demand. A method that saves the analyst an hour while imposing several hours of collection work on every subsidiary has moved part of its cost. A provider’s availability, retention of required data and ability to recover when the service fails can alter the usable method.

Separate initial transition from recurring burden. Training and parallel running may be worthwhile for a repeated use but excessive for a one-time small decision. Compare over the horizon on which the gain can actually be obtained. A supposed long-term saving needs enough continued use to recover the change cost. Include the cost of preserving a necessary fallback and explaining the new result to its receivers.

When the choice remains sensitive to an unanswered performance question, define a bounded trial with a result that can change the continuation. Name its cases, information boundary, available support and decision after the trial. A shadow run can compare forecasts without automatically changing live payment instructions. An authorized live trial must retain the constraints that protect the actual financial work; testing a new method is not permission to bypass them.

A useful trial can end in adopting a narrower use, retaining the incumbent, repairing a missing input or stopping the candidate. Avoid a design that can only produce another request for research. Use C.11.DUA when the expected value and burden of further inquiry itself need comparison. A weak result should qualify the proposed claim rather than create an obligation to keep testing indefinitely.