How to write a business caseLearn how to use AI tools in everyday project work.

What is a business case?Learn the fundamentals of ITIL service management.

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.Strategist DPI

A business case forms an essential component of the curriculum of the 3-day ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI) course.best project management coursesSpecialist: DSV .3-day ITIL Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV) course.

Personal business caseSpecialist: CDS

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.3-day ITIL Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support (CDS) course.

Why have a business case?IT Learning Library (ITLL)™

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 BUSINESS LEARNING LIBRARY (BLL)™projectsAgile Learning Library (ALL)™.Business Analysis Learning Library (BALL)™

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.

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.Compliance Learning Library (CLL)™

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.IT Learning Library (ITLL)™

Who uses a business case?Business solutions

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 _blankportfolio managementAbout 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._blank

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.Blog

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

What form does a business case take?EXPLORE SUBJECTS

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.Select your preferred subject.

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

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.PROJECT MANAGEMENT QUALIFICATIONS & WORKSHOPS

For those of you interested in Select your preferred qualification or workshop.project management , the project management methodology known as PRINCE2 COURSESPRINCE2Select your preferred training course below: focuses its decision-making on a project on having a viable business case.

Business case examplesAPM COURSES

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.Select your preferred training course below:

Business case example 1: Moving home

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.AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSES

ReasonSelect your preferred training course below:

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 Why?PRINCE2 AGILE COURSES In fact, there are two problems here – the local school and John’s long commute.Select your preferred training course below:

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.BETTER BUSINESS CASES COURSES

BenefitsSelect your preferred training course below:

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.

TimescalesP3O COURSES

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 Select your preferred training course below:projects or activities.WORKSHOPS

The final section is the investment appraisal. The investment technique used in this example is called net benefits. As you can see from the table, the project and operational costs are recorded for each year of the investment.AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSES

The project lasts 1 year which is why the project costs are zero after year 1. Of course, the benefits won’t be realized until the solution is in place and the company starts to use the handheld devices.Select your preferred training course below:

The net benefits are simply the total benefits minus the total costs. This shows that the company will start to get a return on its investment sometime towards the end of year 2. This knowledge is vital if the decision-makers are to take a sensible decision about whether to invest in the project.

Business case templatePRINCE2 AGILE COURSES

This simple Select your preferred training course below:business case template is free to download.SCRUM COURSES

SummarySelect your preferred training course below:

A business case is the most important document on any project. That’s because it justifies the investment.

It helps an organisation be clear about why a project is needed, and what the results of the investment will be. This is crucial because no organisation has unlimited funds to spend on an unlimited number of projects. Therefore, a business case gives confidence to senior managers when deciding to invest in one project rather than another.LEAN SIX SIGMA COURSES

However, as you have seen in this article, a business case is something which you can find useful when taking major decisions in your own personal life. Remember – a business case doesn’t need to be a lengthy document. It could easily be a few notes scribbled on the back of something or even sent in an email.Select your preferred training course below:

Whatever form your business case takes, remember one thing – it will help you or your organisation take sensible decisions about committing time and resources to a project or activity.

Remember, if you want to learn more about developing a business case, and learn many of the techniques useful for assessing business problems, consider attending a classroom BUSINESS ANALYST COURSESbusiness analyst courseSelect your self-paced training course topic..

Business case FAQsSelect your preferred qualification.

Who approves a business case?

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.ITIL COURSES

What makes a good business case?Select your preferred training course below:

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!

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:LEARNING LIBRARIES

1. Are the reasons for the project consistent with the corporate, Select your preferred training course topic.portfolio or AI QUALIFICATIONS & WORKSHOPSprogramme managementSelect your preferred qualification or workshop. strategies?
2. Is the AIPGF COURSESproject planSelect your preferred training course below: aligned with the business case? (e.g. are the costs and timescales in the project plan correctly reflected in the business case?)
3. Are the benefits clearly identified and justified?BCS AI COURSES
4. Is it clear how the benefits will be realized?Select your preferred training course below:
5. Is it clearly defined what will judged a successful outcome?
6. Is the preferred business option clearly stated, along with the reasons why?AIPGF COURSES
7. If the project requires external procurement, is the preferred sourcing option stated, and why?Select your preferred training course below:
8. Is it clearly stated how any necessary funding will be obtained?
9. Does the business case include non-financial, as well as financial criteria?AI WORKSHOPS
10. Does the business case include operations and maintenance costs and risks?Select your preferred workshop below:
11. Does the business case include project costs and risks?
12. Does the business case conform to organisational accounting standards (e.g. break-even analysis and cash-flow conventions)?Knowledge Train is a PRINCE2 Accredited Training Organization.
13. Are the major risks faced by the project explicitly stated, together with any proposed responses?

How do you write a good business case?Knowledge Train is an AgilePM Accredited Training Organization.

A good business case must contain certain key information including:

• The reasons for doing the project;Knowledge Train is a PRINCE2 Agile Accredited Training Organization.
• 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;Knowledge Train is a Better Business Cases Accredited Training Organization.
• Project and operational timescales;
• Benefits, expressed in measurable terms;Knowledge Train is a P3O Accredited Training Organization.
• Investment appraisal (or cost benefit analysis);
• Major risks and their mitigation plans;Knowledge Train is an AgilePM Accredited Training Organization.

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.Knowledge Train is a PRINCE2 Agile Accredited Training Organization.