Summary

Your business case should tell a story — justifying the ‘case’ as to why your ‘business’ should invest in your project/program.

The business case is a communications document that educates and explains

1. the rationale for the project - why we are doing it
2. the value proposition - the value to be delivered
3. the resources required - the resources/investment required from the organization
4. the workload and risks - how it is to be delivered
5. who is taking accountability for the project’s successful delivery.

The business case also records the two-way commitment. The Project Sponsor commits to deliver the value proposition (2) in return for the organization committing to provide the resources required (3).

The business case is also a ‘thinking process’ that encourages the project and governance teams to think through their value proposition and how it is going to be delivered.

Obviously, the earlier the business case is generated in the project lifecycle, the more assumptions and unknowns will be reflected in the information and numbers. Therefore, the business case must be seen as a ‘living document’ in that it is progressively improved and updated as the project progresses and more and better information comes to hand.

This “How to complete your business case” guide is based on the Value-focused Business Case Template (available free).

This Template has been designed to easily convey the key messages and value details, without bogging down the business case in unnecessary details. The result is as valuable to the project and governance teams as it is to the evaluation parties.

The Value - Focused Business Case is structured as a series of points and descriptions expanding on such statements as “The project’s scope is …” and “The financial value of these benefits has been quantified as …” This approach makes the document a communications device rather than just a collection of “fields”.

Completion of the Business Case is dependent on the availability of information. Some information is ‘mandatory’ while other fields are optional. Obviously, where more and better information comes available the information in the business case can be updated and expanded.

This “How to complete your business case” guide takes you progressively through each field giving you

1. an explanation as to the nature and use of the field
2. the information required
3. instructions in how to complete the field
4. an example (or two) showing a completed field
5. plus a reference to any relevant “How to …”guide to help you build your business case.

For most of the information fields included in the business case there is a “How to …” Guide to explain how it is identified, defined and managed. How to define project scope, for example, is included in “How to manage your project scope” guide; the results of which can be input to the business case.

Delivering your project’s value proposition is the point of your project. Therefore, our business case can be derived from our comprehensive Project Charter document. The inclusion of the business case information in the Project Charter avoids duplication, repetition and additional work to generate the business case and ensures the value proposition is embedded within the project documentation (rather than being in a separate document).

Benefits

This Guide enables you to

1. introduce a consistent and comprehensive business case approach to your organization
2. progressively update your business cases in a controlled fashion throughout the project
3. put your business case and its value proposition as the central focus of your project (so the project is planned to deliver the value proposition)
4. match the business case to the scale of your project, omitting non-required fields as necessary
5. document all of the information relevant to justifying your project
6. easily summarize your proposition into a Investment Management Committee submission.

Who should read

Everyone connected with the generation and evaluation of business cases, including

1. project teams - to help you to generate and complete your business case
   
2. governance teams - to help you to understand the bases of your business case
   
3. PMOs - to help you manage and assess business cases
   
4. investment management committee members - to help you to fully understand the business case
   

Contents

1. Rationale — defining why we are considering this initiative
2. Value Proposition — the value to be delivered — Sponsor’s
3. Resource Requirements — organization commitment
4. Workload and Risks — how it is to be delivered
5. Accountabilities — who is accountable for its successful delivery

Each topic refers to further sources of information where you can access more in-depth knowledge or take action using the relevant “How to …” tools and Guides.

Bonus

The Value - Focused Business Case template
A value-focused reusable business case template for adoption in your organization — designed to focus the project team and evaluators on value rather than just cost.

A complete end-to-end completed business case example
An illustrative, complete value-focused business case showing how the template conveys the project’s story — to be used as a guide to completing your own Business Case

Why businesses cases don’t tell the whole story
A Value Delivery Management article by Jed Simms on some of the deficiencies within standard business case approaches.