Prepared by Brad Zapalac · BradCo. Software Group
30 / 60 / 90 Day Plan for Deploying Custom AI in a Commercial Finance Team
A boilerplate engagement plan for assessing, designing, building, validating, and deploying AI solutions inside a commercial finance organization. Real engagements are tailored to each company's systems, team, and value-creation thesis.
01 · Executive Summary
From diagnostic to deployment in a single quarter.
This plan compresses what most finance transformations stretch over a year into a focused 90-day arc. The objective is not to "do AI" — it is to remove the highest-cost manual work from your close, forecast, and reporting cycles while building the foundation for compounding gains.
Phase 1 is diagnostic. Phase 2 builds and validates the two or three highest-leverage solutions. Phase 3 deploys them into your live finance cadence and hands back a sustainable operating model with a forward roadmap.
Every engagement is tailored. Use this document as a reference for shape, scope, and expectations — the specific use cases, KPIs, and milestones are co-designed with your team during Phase 1.
02 · Phase 1
0–30
Assess & Diagnose
Establish a ground-truth view of the commercial finance operating model, data landscape, and highest-leverage AI opportunities.
Workstreams
Discovery & Stakeholder Alignment
- ▸Working sessions with CFO, VP Finance, FP&A, Accounting, RevOps, and IT leadership
- ▸Process mapping of close, forecast, reporting, billing, and commission cycles
- ▸Catalog of existing tech stack — ERP, CPM, BI, data warehouse, and point tools
- ▸Confidentiality, data handling, and security review with IT and compliance
Data & Systems Audit
- ▸Inventory of source systems, refresh cadence, and data ownership
- ▸Assessment of data quality, master data hygiene, and chart of accounts integrity
- ▸Identification of manual touchpoints, reconciliation pain, and report bottlenecks
- ▸Baseline metrics: hours per close, forecast variance, report turnaround time
Opportunity Sizing
- ▸Prioritized backlog of AI use cases scored on ROI, feasibility, and risk
- ▸Quick-win shortlist suitable for Phase 2 build
- ▸Strategic roadmap candidates for Phase 3 and beyond
Deliverables
- — Current-state assessment deck with findings and recommendations
- — Prioritized AI opportunity backlog with effort, impact, and dependency scoring
- — Target architecture sketch and data flow diagram
- — Governance, security, and change-management framework
Success Metrics
- — 100% coverage of in-scope finance workflows
- — Documented baseline for cycle time, accuracy, and effort across target processes
- — Executive sign-off on Phase 2 build scope
03 · Phase 2
31–60
Design, Build & Validate
Stand up the foundational data and AI infrastructure, then build and validate two to three high-impact AI solutions in a controlled environment.
Workstreams
Foundation
- ▸Provision secure data layer with role-based access and audit logging
- ▸Establish connectors to ERP, CRM, billing, and HRIS systems
- ▸Define semantic model: entities, metrics, and finance-grade definitions
- ▸Stand up dev / staging / prod environments with version control
Solution Build
- ▸Forecasting copilot: variance commentary, driver-based scenarios, and rolling forecast support
- ▸Close accelerators: flux analysis, anomaly detection, and reconciliation assistants
- ▸Reporting automation: board pack drafting, KPI narration, and ad-hoc Q&A over financial data
- ▸Embedded controls: human-in-the-loop review, citations, and explainability
Validation
- ▸Side-by-side testing against analyst-prepared outputs
- ▸Accuracy, latency, and cost benchmarking
- ▸Security review, prompt-injection testing, and PII handling validation
- ▸User acceptance testing with finance power users
Deliverables
- — Working prototypes of two to three prioritized AI solutions
- — Validation report with accuracy, time-savings, and risk findings
- — Operating runbook and support model
- — Training materials and enablement plan for end users
Success Metrics
- — ≥ 95% factual accuracy on validation test suite
- — ≥ 50% reduction in cycle time on targeted workflows in pilot
- — Zero critical security or data-handling findings
04 · Phase 3
61–90
Deploy, Adopt & Scale
Roll solutions into production, embed them into the monthly finance cadence, and hand off a sustainable operating model with a forward roadmap.
Workstreams
Production Rollout
- ▸Phased deployment by team and process with clear go/no-go gates
- ▸Cutover playbooks, rollback procedures, and on-call coverage
- ▸Integration into close calendar, forecast cycle, and board reporting cadence
Adoption & Enablement
- ▸Live training, office hours, and embedded support during first close
- ▸Internal champions program across FP&A, Accounting, and BU finance
- ▸Documentation, prompt libraries, and reusable templates
Measurement & Roadmap
- ▸Post-implementation review against Phase 1 baselines
- ▸Executive readout: realized ROI, adoption metrics, and risk posture
- ▸12-month roadmap: next wave of use cases, platform investments, and org design
- ▸Transition to steady-state support or ongoing managed engagement
Deliverables
- — Production-grade AI solutions live across in-scope finance workflows
- — Adoption dashboard tracking usage, savings, and quality
- — Executive readout deck with realized value and forward roadmap
- — Operating model handoff: ownership, SLAs, and continuous improvement loop
Success Metrics
- — ≥ 80% weekly active usage among target finance users
- — Measurable improvement vs. baseline on cycle time, accuracy, and effort
- — Approved 12-month roadmap with funded next-wave initiatives
05 · Guardrails
Built for an audit-ready finance org.
- ▸Human-in-the-loop on every customer-facing or auditable output
- ▸Source citations and explainability built into every AI response
- ▸Role-based access, audit logging, and SOC 2-aligned data handling
- ▸No model training on confidential financial data without explicit approval
- ▸Clear ownership: finance owns the workflow, AI augments — never replaces — judgment
06 · Engagement Model
Lightweight team. Senior operator pace.
- Sponsor
- CFO or VP Finance with executive air cover
- Core Team
- FP&A lead, Accounting lead, RevOps / Data lead, IT partner
- Cadence
- Weekly working sessions + bi-weekly steering committee
- Tooling
- Existing ERP, CPM, and BI stack — augmented, not replaced
- Investment
- Scoped per engagement based on systems, headcount, and ambition
Take it with you
Download this plan as a Word document and customize it for your team.
Use it as a starting point for an internal proposal, a board pre-read, or a kickoff brief. Reach out when you're ready to tailor it into a real engagement.
bradzapalac@gmail.com