Training ROI Calculator

01 Scenario

Describe the program and the workforce it affects. These figures drive every downstream calculation.

Program / initiative name

Currency symbol

Delivery modality reshapes the cost model below

Program lifespan years benefits accrue

yrs

Learners per cohort

Cohorts per year

Total annual enrollment learners assigned / enrolled per year

Discount rate for NPV

01b Burdened labor cost

The fully-loaded hourly cost of the average affected employee — used to price training time and productivity effects.

Average annual salary

Fringe / benefits load % on top of salary

Work weeks / year

Hours / week

Computed burdened hourly cost: —

02 One-time design & development

Fully-loaded build costs — counted once, up front as a one-time investment at launch.

Needs analysis

Instructional design

SME collaboration

Development / authoring

Graphics / animation

Video / voiceover

Translation / localization

Technology / LMS setup

Evaluation & measurement designing the assessment

02b Delivery — per cohort

Recurring costs each time the program runs.

Synchronous component the live half of blended

Training length days per cohort

days

Training hours / day

Completion time self-paced, per learner

min

Facilitator wages / day

Facilitator support / day non-travel; travel is in advanced costs

Facility cost / day

A/V & equipment / day

Materials / learner

Travel / learner

LMS / hosting per learner

Maintenance / year direct annual amount

…or estimate % of authored content, if no amount above

Major content refresh amount

Refresh cadence every N years

yrs

Administration / coordination per year (overhead)

Advanced participation funnel completion ≠ behavior change — set who actually gets to each stage

Rates default to 100%. Lowering them scales the benefits that depend on each stage (set per benefit in Step 03), and prices non-completer time honestly.

Start / attendance rate of enrolled

Completion rate of those who started

Application / transfer rate of completers, apply on the job

Avg hours per non-completer self-paced; 0 = count only completers

hrs

Participant time (opportunity cost) is auto-calculated: attendees × time × burdened hourly = — per year.

Advanced / itemized costs optional — the costs training cases most often miss

Add only what applies. Each shows how it's counted; fields that don't apply to the chosen modality are hidden.

03 Benefits & value drivers

Switch on the outcomes this training will move. Each is estimated conservatively, then adjusted for attribution and confidence in Step 05.

04 AI impact optional

Model AI on both sides of the ledger — faster/cheaper development, and productivity from AI-enabled performance support.

05 Timing, persistence & scenario

Isolation, confidence and cashability are set per benefit in Step 03 — these are the defaults they inherit, plus how the forecast plays out over time and how wide the range runs.

Isolation factor % of gains caused by training

Confidence level in the estimates

First-year benefit realization benefits ramp in across year 1

First-year cost ramp recurring costs incurred in year 1

Benefit persistence after Year 1 % held each later year · 100 = no decay

Persistence rationale why benefits hold or fade — stated for the record

Downside swing on benefits how much lower benefits could run

Upside swing on benefits how much higher

Downside swing on application % lower than the base application rate

Upside swing on application % higher than the base application rate

Downside swing on isolation % lower than each base isolation value

Upside swing on isolation % higher than each base isolation value

Swing on major variable costs ± delivery, participation and volume-driven costs

Why this matters: the report shows a conservative–expected–optimistic range from these swings, not a single false-precision number. Confidence is already captured per benefit — these swings are the extra uncertainty on top.