Create a Business Case in 4 easy steps...
The following diagram depicts the steps involved in creating a comprehensive Business Case for your project:
The first step when creating a Business Case is to identify the business problem (or opportunity) that results in the need for a new project. Alternative solutions are then identified and based on each solution's individual merits, a preferred solution is recommended. The last step taken when creating a Business Case is to define a plan for the implementation of the recommended solution. The following sections explain each step in more detail...
Step 1: Identify the Business Problem
Projects are typically undertaken to solve a particular business problem (or "opportunity"). It's therefore imperative that you spend the time upfront to investigate that business problem before you attempt to find a solution to it. First, you need to determine the root cause of the problem by analyzing the environment within which it has arisen. For instance, the root cause of a problem may be related to:
Changes to the business vision, strategy or objectives
Newly identified competing products or processes
Opportunities resulting from newly introduced technologies
Commercial trends that are driving business changes
Changes to legislative or other environmental factors
Once identified, you need to describe the problem by listing the reasons why it has arisen, the impact it is having on the business and the timeframes within which it must be resolved.
Step 2: Identify the Alternative Solutions
Now that you have a detailed understanding of the business problem, it is time to identify a preferred solution. For every business problem identified, there will likely be a range of alternative solutions available for implementation. Choosing the right solution is always a challenge. To ensure that you select the best solution available, complete the following steps.
Identify the alternative solutions available
Quantify the benefits of implementing each solution
Forecast the costs of implementing each solution
Assess the feasibility of implementing each solution
Identify the risks and issues associated with each solution
Step 3: Recommend a Preferred Solution
With a range of alternative solutions identified, the next step when creating a Business Case is to select a preferred solution for recommendation. To select a preferred solution, you will need to define a set of criteria upon which each solution will be assessed. For instance, the criteria may be related to the solution; benefits, costs, feasibility and risk level.
You then need to identify a mechanism for scoring each alternative solution. For instance, you may decide to simply score each solution from 1-10, or you might choose a more complicated mechanism whereby you assign a certain weight depending on which criteria are more important to you.
After defining your assessment criteria and scoring mechanism, simply take each alternative solution and assign it a score based on its ability to meet the criteria set. Then summarize the scores across all criteria, to identify the Total Score for each alternative solution. The solution with the highest Total Score should become your preferred solution for implementation.
Step 4: Describe the Implementation Approach
By now, you have selected a preferred solution and you have quantified the benefits to be gained from its implementation. The final step when creating a Business Case is to convince the Project Sponsors that you have thought through the plan for implementation of that solution. You can do this by describing in detail how the project will be initiated, planned, executed and closed effectively.
Initiation: List the steps involved in initiating the project, such as defining the Terms of Reference, recruiting the team and establishing a Project Office.
Planning: Describe the steps you will take to plan the project in detail. This not only addresses the creation of a Project Plan, but it also lists the plans required to monitor and control project resources, finances, quality, risks, suppliers and communications.
Execution: Outline the approach to be taken to build the physical project deliverables and gain the customer's acceptance for each deliverable produced
Closure: Identify the activities required to hand over the final solution to the customer, release staff, close the Project Office and perform a Post Implementation Review of the project
And that's it. If you complete each of the steps above, then you will create a solid Business Case for each project, helping you to consistently deliver the business benefits to your customer. If you need more help, why not download a Business Case template from Method123?
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Purchase the Project Management Kit for $297, providing you with the complete suite of Project Management templates to help you to deliver your projects successfully.
Email us at prizedraw@method123 with the words "I'd like to enter the New Year prize draw thanks".
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Further Information
Visit www.method123.com for a complete suite of Word and Excel document templates, forms, checklists and processes to help you complete projects successfully.
