Business case
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BusinessCaseInformation.pptxBusiness Case Information
Additional Information for Business Case
What is a Business Case
A Business Case is an examination of a potential market opportunity at the product level. Market opportunity is defined as a "lucrative, lasting, and sizable market problem." A business case should be easy to understand. It should describe the project clearly, provide the justification to process and estimate the project’s financial impact. Please reference page 45 in your book for the questions your business case should answer.
Business Case Project Instructions
Develop a complete business case for an idea. This may be a real example from your work environment or a fictional example from anywhere you choose. The basis for your business case is taken from the subject of your research paper.
Week 2 - Identify business area, your role in the business and a general problem that you plan to address for your business case, as this is the time that you would have selected your topic for your research paper. The following are some of the key points to list in your business case:
Executive Summary -
Introduction and Overview
Analysis of the Situation
Project Description
Assessment of Benefits
Risk
Data Flow Diagram
Budget and project timeline
Conclusions
Template Example: http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/project-initiation-templates/business-case.html#axzz4sOaPgvbK
Executive Summary
The Executive Summary should provide a short, informative headline summary of the Business Case document to follow. It should typically be no longer than 1 page and contain:
A short narrative to identify the subject, scope, method of analysis and key results and findings;
A short list of the key objectives of the project
A summary of the financial metrics ( table below, provides a very basic and high-level example of summarizing outlay and ROI)) from the investigation, highlighting the most significant;
A brief summary of the conclusions as a result of the study
Introduction and Overview
This section should describe the setting, background and context of the Business Case. It should serve to clarify and elaborate the subject matter of the Business Case. It should clearly state the purpose of the Business Case, e.g.
To obtain financial approval to either commence a project or proceed to the next stage;
To compare alternative solutions, etc…
It should explain the objectives, needs or problems addressed by the requirement. The objectives should be stated in clear and measurable terms with a specified time frame, e.g.:
To have improved communication systems against more competitive cost options from December 2007
To invest £xx in a performance improvement project that will ultimately provide a 10:1 return on the initial investment (spend to save)
It should outline any relevant related initiatives – is the project part of a larger programed? Are there dependencies on the delivery of other projects to realize the benefits?
It should include a statement how the project is “right-sized”; that is ensuring that the proposed solution is realistically scoped to ensure that the benefits and costs to deliver are in line.
Problem Statement (Issue)
This section of the business case should briefly describe the business problem that the proposed project will address. This section should not describe how the problem will be addressed, only what the problem is.
Anticipated Outcome
This section should describe the anticipated outcome if the proposed project or initiative is implemented. It should include how the project will benefit the business and describe what the end state of the project should be.
Recommendation
This section summarizes the approach for how the project will address the business problem. This section should also describe how desirable results will be achieved by moving forward with the project.
Data Flow Diagram
A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) shows what kind of information will be input to and output from the system, how the data will advance through the system, and where the data will be stored. It does not show information about process timing or whether processes will operate in sequence or in parallel.
Budget and Project Timeline
Timeline: The proposed start and end dates should be provided
Budget: The resource requirements and costs associated with the recommended option should be summarized i.e. external costs for equipment, external service costs e.g. for consultancy and internal staff costs. The summary is to include investment and running costs.
Conclusion
Bring the document to a close by concluding the findings and making recommendations.
