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Business Case

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A business case captures the business justification for initiating a task or project. Clearly whenever an organisation plans to commit finance or resources to a task or project, it should be in support of a demonstrable business need. Organisations should make use of a business case to:

  • Demonstrate the business need for a given action;
  • Confirm that a project is feasible before expending significant funding;
  • Consider the strategic internal and external drivers for the project; and
  • Assess, compare and contrast the costs and benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) of choosing one course of action over another.[1]


Developing a Business Case[2]
The process of developing the business case is important; a well-executed process enables you to develop a solid business case that increases the benefits and value and reduces the risks. This also leads to a much greater likelihood of securing support to proceed with the investment.

Here are the five key steps for creating the business case.


Steps to developing a business case
source: Chase Consulting Group


Step 1: Confirm the opportunity: Describe the situation and the business opportunity that your proposal will impact. This will include the background to project, the investment logic and the high-level business requirements.

Step 2: Analyse and develop shortlisted options: Identify the alternative approaches and select three or four options to analyse. Gather information about each alternative, analyse the options and develop the shortlisted options.

Step 3: Evaluate the options: Evaluate how the alternatives will deliver on the business objectives, then select the preferred option, taking into account the strategic and financial value created and the risks.

Step 4: Implementation strategy: Create the implementation plan for the preferred option, detailing how to achieve the business objectives, who will be accountable for each milestone, and how to mitigate the project risks.

Step 5: Recommendation: Confirm the recommended option. Create the business case documents and present the business case recommendation to the board and management team for approval to proceed.


See Also

IT Investment (Information Technology Investment)
Investment Management Lifecycle
IT Investment Management (ITIM)
IT Investment Management Framework (ITIM)
Business
Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business Application
Business-Driven Development (BDD)
Business-to-Business Gateway
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Business Accelerator
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
Business Analysis
Business Analytics
Business Application
Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI)
Business Architecture
Business Asset
Business Capability
Business Capability Modeling
Business Ethics
Business Case
Business Centric Methodology (BCM)
Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Business Cycle
Business Diversification
Business Driven Technology
Business Drivers
Business Ecosystem
Business Environment and Internal Control Factors (BEICF)
Business Excellence
Business Expansion
Business Function
Business Function Model
Business IT Alignment
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Business Incubator
Business Insurance
Business Integration
Business Intelligence
Business Interruption Insurance
Business Life Cycle
Business Logic
Business Management System (BMS)
Business Model Innovation (BMI)
Business Model for Information Security (BMIS)
Business Motivation Model (BMM)
Business Objects
Business Operations
Business Oriented Architecture (BOA)
Business Mission
Business Vision
Business Model
Business Goals
Business Objective
Corporate Structure
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy)
IT Governance
Enterprise Architecture
IT Sourcing (Information Technology Sourcing)
IT Operations (Information Technology Operations)


References

  1. Business Case Definition ANSEC IA
  2. 5 Steps to developing a solid business case Chase Consulting Group