3.6 Business Cases

A business case is a document that describes and justifies a specific process, project, or situation. It’s much like a business plan, and is usually written to justify a program, solicit extra funding, or simply create a record of how a project will be done. Or how the project is proposed to be done. Business cases can be comprehensive and formal, as well as informal and brief, depending on the purpose of the document. In this lesson, I will address the steps in developing a business case, as well as the components of the final written document. Prepare a business case, you’ll begin by clarifying the problem or the opportunity. Get to the heart of it, identify the route cause, the contributing factors and any subordinate issues. Define and characterize all of these then you want to analyze the problem. Is it, and how is it a part of a larger situation? Will a decision to go forward affect other departments, functions, or systems already in place? Create a diagram or a flow chart to visualize the points of connection and inputs to the problem. Look for patterns, incorrect assumptions or definitions. Once you have the problem or the opportunity fully defined and characterized with all, visualize it with all of the problems solved. Your analysis may take any number of forms such as chronological order, order of complexity or classification by feature, or issues, or cost. Or even relevance versus urgency. Once you have fully characterized the problem or opportunity, you need to develop alternative solutions. There are many means for approaching this and even whole classes on problem solving and decision making. But our focus is on the writing of this document. So, know that there must be a stage of identifying and evaluation of alternatives. The next stage is evaluating potential outcomes, costs, feasibility of the various alternatives. This of course is followed by a decision and an action. You will need all of the information about the process of developing this business case to address a problem or opportunity. Your business case will most likely include the following sections. The background of the problem or opportunity. Problems that have been encountered. Options that were considered. And any cost-benefit analysis. The solution that is or was selected and its implementation strategy. Expected costs of the project. An executive summary and a projection. Business cases may be written in past or future tense depending upon whether the purpose is to discuss how our project was executed or propose how it would be executed. In all cases, though, thoroughly revise and edit your document and ensure that your grammar and word choice are of the highest quality. It would also be wise to have a trusted business associate, who is not part of the development team for the business case, review it and give you feedback. Now, check your understanding of what we have, what to keep in mind for all of these business documents, with the quiz.