How to build a credible, CFO-ready return-on-investment case for any training or development program — step by step, in about ten minutes.
The calculator turns your program's costs and expected outcomes into five headline numbers a finance team will recognise — then discounts those outcomes for how much the training actually caused, so the result survives scrutiny.
It is built on the Phillips ROI Methodology, which adds a fifth, monetary level on top of Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation. The defining move is credibility adjustment: every benefit is reduced by an isolation factor (how much of the gain the training caused) and a confidence factor (how sure you are of the estimate). That is the difference between a defensible number and vendor hype.
Your data stays private. Every calculation runs inside your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server — close the tab and it's gone (unless you save it yourself, below).
You can use the built-in example to explore, but for a real estimate have rough figures ready for:
The calculator moves through six tabs. Your results update live in the panel on the right as you type.
Describe the program and the workforce it affects.
Enter every cost, so the investment side is fully loaded (conservative). Costs are grouped as Phillips recommends:
Switch on only the outcomes this program will genuinely move, and size each one. Options include error/rework reduction, productivity gains, faster new-hire ramp-up, retention, safety & compliance, reduced supervision, sales lift, customer retention, and support-ticket reduction.
Model AI on both sides of the ledger: lower build cost from AI-accelerated development, and added productivity from AI performance support and AI-adoption training. Leave these off for a classic ROI case.
This is what makes the number defensible. Every benefit is multiplied by:
A clean, printable summary with all five headline metrics, cost and benefit breakdowns, a cumulative cash-flow chart, your key assumptions, and intangible benefits. Use Print / Save PDF to share it.
Five numbers, and what each one answers.
| Metric | What it tells you | How it's found |
|---|---|---|
| ROI % | Net return for every dollar invested. 50% = you got your dollar back plus 50 cents. | (benefits − costs) ÷ costs × 100 |
| Benefit-Cost Ratio | Benefits per dollar of cost. 1.5:1 means $1.50 back for every $1 spent. | benefits ÷ costs |
| Net benefit | The dollars left over after costs, across the program's life. | benefits − costs |
| Payback | How long until the program pays for itself. | investment ÷ monthly net |
| NPV | Today's value of future returns, discounted for time. | Σ net cash flow ÷ (1+r)ᵗ |
| Burdened hourly cost | The true hourly cost of an employee, including benefits — used to price time spent training or saved on the job. |
| Fully-loaded cost | Every cost of the program, direct and indirect, including participant time and overhead. Phillips insists on this for a conservative, defensible figure. |
| Isolation | The portion of a result attributable to the training specifically, separated from other influences. |
| Confidence | Your certainty in an estimate, expressed as a percentage and applied as a discount. |
| Intangibles | Real benefits that aren't converted to dollars — engagement, brand, morale — reported alongside the financials. |
| NPV | Net Present Value: future cash flows restated in today's dollars using the discount rate. |
Cahill Consultants LLC designs training that delivers measurable ROI — and helps you build the business case for it.