IntroductionAGILE

This article explains how to write a business case. It includes 2 business case examples and a free business case template for you to AgilePMdownload®. – Agile Project Management

You’re probably reading this article because you want to know how to write a business case. Perhaps your organisation is embarking on a major project to develop a new product. Or, perhaps you’re thinking of moving house so your family can enjoy a better life. In either case, you write a Foundation business caseLearn the key principles of Agile Project Management. to ensure the investment is worthwhile.Practitioner

In this article we’ll give you 2 business case examples, provide you with a simple business case template for you to use, and explain how to write a business case.Includes Foundation & Practitioner combined option.

What is a business case?PMI

A business case is the justification for some activity (e.g. a project) undertaken by your organisation. It weighs up the timescales, costs and risks of doing the activity against the benefits to be gained. Think of it as weighing up the pros and cons and then taking a sensible decision.®

A business case forms an essential component of the curriculum of the PMI-ACP best project management coursesSelf-paced course to prepare you for the exam (exam not included)..Kanban

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

You may also use a business case to justify an investment you make in your personal life. For example, when you’re thinking of moving home to another area. You and your spouse will need to understand the costs of moving, the timescales and risks involved, and weigh these up against the benefits to be gained e.g. saving time traveling to your office, or your children able to go to a better school.BCS Business Analysis

Why have a business case?Business Analysis Foundation

Projects should not just start on a whim or because of vanity – although a lot of money has been wasted over the years on such Learn the fundamentals of business analysis.projectsModelling Business Processes .Gain practitioner certificate in modelling business processes.

For business organisations, justification for a project usually takes a commercial form i.e. evaluating how much money could be made from the investment. For example, investing money in developing a new software app to bring first to market, might be deemed to bring certain monetary benefits (in terms of sales) which exceeds the costs of investment.Business Analysis Practices

For government organisations, justification is probably not a commercial one, but could be based upon giving value for money to achieve certain benefits. For example, a public health campaign extolling the benefits of flu-vaccinations for elderly people, might be judged as giving greater value for money than having no campaign, and instead relying on treating patients in hospital once they have contracted the virus.Gain practitioner certificate in business analysis practices.

With so many competing claims being made on scarce funds, organisations need the assurance that the decision they are taking is the right one. After all, there will not be enough funds to pay for all the ideas for projects which are floating around the organisation.Requirements Engineering

Who uses a business case?Gain practitioner certificate in requirements engineering.

Business cases can be used by many different levels of management within an organisation. Not only are they used to justify the investment in an individual project, but also they are typically used by a Business Analysis International Diploma portfolio managementAll 4 courses bundled into this Diploma certification package. office to help it decide which projects will contribute to the organisation’s strategic goals. That way, they can filter out the bad ideas for projects, and only fund projects which will contribute to strategic goals.AgileBA

A business case is also often used by a project sponsor or project executive to help it decide if they should invest in a specific project.®

In all cases, the business case must be written and approved prior to any major commitment of resources. – Agile Business Analysis

What form does a business case take?Foundation training

Business cases can take many forms – digital or analogue. The tools you use to create one are also many and varied. Common business tools such as Microsoft Office might be used. Rather than being a document or slide deck however, it could equally be in the form of an email.Learn the fundamentals of Agile Business Analysis.

Equally, a business case could be written by hand on a whiteboard or flipchart, or on the back of a cigarette packet!Practitioner

What you should always remember is that a business case does not have to be a huge long document. In fact, it should be as short as possible, and only include the most important information. That way it cuts out the noise and provides decision-makers with just the right information to enable them to take sensible decisions.4-day course including Foundation.

For those of you interested in PMIproject management®, the project management methodology known as PMI-PBA PRINCE2Self-paced course to prepare you for the exam (exam not included). focuses its decision-making on a project on having a viable business case.Business Analysis Learning Library (BALL)™

Business case examplesCHANGE MANAGEMENT

We will now give you 2 business case examples. The first example is one which you might find useful for taking decisions in your personal life. The 2nd business case example is more business focused project.APMG Change Management

Business case example 1: Moving homeFoundation

Suppose you and your spouse are considering moving to a new home. You will need to weigh up the pros and cons of moving. This is done using a business case. You might not call it that, but that’s what it is. Let’s look at an example.Learn the fundamentals of enterprise change management.

ReasonPractitioner

As you can see from the example, the first thing to be clear about in a business case is the reason for doing the project or activity. In this example, the couple has answered the question Includes Foundation & Practitioner combined option.Why?PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT In fact, there are two problems here – the local school and John’s long commute.MSP

Options considered®

A business case should weigh up the competing options which have been considered. After all, there is usually more than one option. Perhaps an alternative option would have been for John to change his job to one nearer their current house. However, this wouldn’t solve the issue with the school.Foundation

BenefitsLearn the fundamentals of programme management.

The benefits of a project or activity are the positive things you’re going to get back in return for your investment of time and money. In this case, the kids will get a better education, and John will save time each day.Practitioner

TimescalesIncludes Foundation & Practitioner combined option.

It’s also important to understand how long the investment of resources will take. This is so that the organisation (or family in this case) knows when the resources will be freed up to work on other INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)projectsITIL or activities.®

There are usually 2 timescales to consider. First, the timescale of the project or activity – in this case 3 months to find a new house and move there. Second, the time over which the benefits shall be realized. In this case it’s 5 years until the kids leave school.Foundation

CostsLearn the fundamentals of ITIL service management.

The costs of doing the project or activity is the next important bit of information. On this project, the costs of moving to a new house will be £5,000. These are the project costs.Strategist DPI

However, the couple will spend an additional £2,000/year for every year over which the business case is calculated. For a project in an organisation, this is usually referred to as the operational costs of maintaining and operating the projects outputs e.g. an IT system. At this point, the couple knows the total costs over the timescales when the benefits shall be realized.3-day ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) course.

RisksSpecialist: DSV

For any activity or project, it’s also important to understand the major risks involved. Risks are the uncertain things which may or may not happen during the period of the investment. There is only one risk identified here, which is the risk that the couple might lose touch with friends who live close to them right now.3-day ITIL Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV) course.

Investment appraisal

The next section is where the costs and timescales and risks are weighed up. For this project, it’s a simple decision for the couple to decide if it’s worth spending money over the next 5 years to give their kids better schooling and to save John 2 hours a day commuting.

For an organisation to decide if an investment is worthwhile, however, there are several different ways in which it can decide about the investment.

Often in organisations there are rules defined to help business analysts or project managersSpecialist: CDS write what’s called an investment appraisal. In the next example, we’ll look at one example known as net benefits.3-day ITIL Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support (CDS) course.

Business case example 2: Handheld device projectIT Learning Library (ITLL)™

Imagine a heating repair services company that uses a paper-based set of forms filled in by an engineer during site visits. The spare parts required to fix the heater are recorded on a form which is given to staff to process back in the office. They then order the parts, and schedule a follow-up visit for the engineer to fix the heater.BUSINESS LEARNING LIBRARY (BLL)™

Business case FAQsPRINCE2 AGILE COURSES

Who approves a business case?Select your preferred training course below:

Usually on a project, the project sponsor (the person or people who are committing the funds) will approve a business case. Before approving it, they need to have confidence that the problems have been addressed and the right solution has been selected, that the benefits are achievable and realistic, when the investment will pay off, and how big will the return on investment be.

What makes a good business case?BUSINESS CASE COURSES

As you have seen in this article, there’s several important bits of information which goes into a business case. Don’t spend unnecessary time though adding information which isn’t required. Your project sponsor will have to read your business case before they approve it, and you don’t want to make their job any harder than it already is!Select your preferred training course below:

There are several things you can use to check whether your business case is adequate or not. Here’s a checklist of 13 questions to ask yourself before you submit your business case to your sponsor for approval:

1. Are the reasons for the project consistent with the corporate, AGILE COURSESportfolioSelect your self-paced training course topic. or programme managementAGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSES strategies?Select your preferred training course below:
2. Is the project planPRINCE2 AGILE COURSES aligned with the business case? (e.g. are the costs and timescales in the project plan correctly reflected in the business case?)Select your preferred training course below:
3. Are the benefits clearly identified and justified?
4. Is it clear how the benefits will be realized?SCRUM COURSES
5. Is it clearly defined what will judged a successful outcome?Select your preferred training course below:
6. Is the preferred business option clearly stated, along with the reasons why?
7. If the project requires external procurement, is the preferred sourcing option stated, and why?LEAN SIX SIGMA COURSES
8. Is it clearly stated how any necessary funding will be obtained?Select your preferred training course below:
9. Does the business case include non-financial, as well as financial criteria?
10. Does the business case include operations and maintenance costs and risks?BUSINESS ANALYST COURSES
11. Does the business case include project costs and risks?Select your self-paced training course topic.
12. Does the business case conform to organisational accounting standards (e.g. break-even analysis and cash-flow conventions)?
13. Are the major risks faced by the project explicitly stated, together with any proposed responses?BCS BUSINESS ANALYST COURSES

How do you write a good business case?Select your preferred training course below:

A good business case must contain certain key information including:

• The reasons for doing the project;CHANGE MANAGEMENT COURSES
• The business options which have been considered, including the base business options of do nothing, so something, or do something else;Select your self-paced training course topic.
• Project and operational costs;
• Project and operational timescales;APMG CHANGE MANAGEMENT COURSES
• Benefits, expressed in measurable terms;Select your preferred training course below:
• Investment appraisal (or cost benefit analysis);
• Major risks and their mitigation plans;PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT COURSES

How long is a business case?Select your self-paced training course topic.

A good business should be long enough that it contains all the information needed for the decision-makers to take an informed decision about whether to invest in the project. That means, remove any waffle, and only include information which helps decision-making.

What’s included in a business case?MSP COURSES

The following are the most important items to put into a business case:Select your preferred training course below:

• Executive summary – summarizes the key points;
• The reasons for the project (answers the question ‘Why are we doing this?’);IT QUALIFICATIONS
• The options considered – e.g. do nothing, do something, or do something else – (answers the question ‘What’s the best option?’);Select your preferred qualification.
• The expected benefits – in measurable terms – (answers the question ‘What’s the return?’);
• Costs – both project and operational – (answers the question ‘How much will it cost?’);ITIL COURSES
• Timescales – for the project and for realizing benefits – (answers the question ‘How long will it take?’);Select your preferred training course below:
• Investment appraisal – weigh up costs, times, risks against benefits – (answers the question ‘Is it worth it?’);
• Major risks – (answers the question ‘What if?’).IT QUALIFICATIONS

What is a business case template?Select your preferred qualification.

A business case template serves as a starting point when writing a business case. It is reusable and can be used across all your projects. Depending upon its needs, your organisation may have different business case templates, each one used for different scales of projects.

You can download an example ITIL COURSESbusiness case template hereSelect your preferred training course below:.

What is the purpose of a business case?LEARNING LIBRARIES

The purpose of a business case is simple – it’s used to justify an investment in an activity. Typically, in an organisation this activity is a project. It helps give confidence to management that their investment is worthwhile and will realize benefits for the organisation.Select your preferred training course topic.

Who owns a business case?

A business case is owned by the person who is funding the project. The name of this role is different across organisations, but commonly this role is known as a project sponsor, or project executive.AI QUALIFICATIONS & WORKSHOPS

By owning the business case, it means this person is accountable for ensuring that any investment decisions which are taken based upon the information within the business case are worthwhile.Select your preferred qualification or workshop.