On my current engagement, where I am developing the business case process and benefits realization process, I am now trying to develop the Net Present Value (NPV) spreadsheet. Excel has a good NPV calculator, thought I was not able to find many free NPV templates/spreadsheets online (most are $50 or greater). So I am going to customize one of the one I used for a past project and will upload it soon. Here is one I found that may help for now : Straight NPV & IRR and graphs
Per Wikepedia, NPV is defined as standard method for the financial appraisal of long-term projects. It measures the excess or shortfall of cash flows, in present value (PV) terms, once financing charges are met. As a formula this can be expressed as :
Where
t - the time of the cash flow
n - the total time of the project
r - the discount rate
Ct - the net cash flow (the amount of cash) at time t.
C0 - the capital outlay at the beginning of the investment time ( t = 0 )
Generally speaking, a project with a positive NPV is accepted, whereas negative NPV projects should not be accepted on a financial basis - however there may be other reasons for doing the project, eg regulatory.
For IT Projects, the Net Cash flow is generally the difference between the cost of implementing the solution (initial and ongoing) and the financial benefits
