7. Is it clearly defined what will judged a successful outcome?
8. Is the preferred business option clearly stated, along with the reasons why?
9. If the project requires external procurement, is the preferred sourcing option stated, and why?
10. Is it clearly stated how any necessary funding will be obtained?
11. Does the business case include non-financial, as well as financial criteria?
12. Does the business case include operations and maintenance costs and risks?
13. Does the business case include project costs and risks?

Does the business case conform to organisational accounting standards (e.g. break-even analysis and cash-flow conventions)?

Are the major risks faced by the project explicitly stated, together with any proposed responses?

• How do you write a good business case?
• A good business case must contain certain key information including:
• The reasons for doing the project;
• The business options which have been considered, including the base business options of do nothing, so something, or do something else;
• Project and operational costs;
• Project and operational timescales;
• Benefits, expressed in measurable terms;

Investment appraisal (or cost benefit analysis);

Major risks and their mitigation plans;

How long is a business case?

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?
• The following are the most important items to put into a business case:
• Executive summary – summarizes the key points;
• The reasons for the project (answers the question ‘Why are we doing this?’);
• The options considered – e.g. do nothing, do something, or do something else – (answers the question ‘What’s the best option?’);
• 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?’);
• Timescales – for the project and for realizing benefits – (answers the question ‘How long will it take?’);

Investment appraisal – weigh up costs, times, risks against benefits – (answers the question ‘Is it worth it?’);

Major risks – (answers the question ‘What if?’).

What is a business case template?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

business case template here