Business Case

Scope

This document provides justifications for undertaking a project in terms of evaluating the benefits, costs and risks of alternative options and the rationale for the preferred solution. Its purpose is to obtain commitment and approval for investment in the project.

It will be used any time arises from either a risk or issue whose impact on the outcome will impair the expected results.

Quality

1. The reasons for the project must be consistent with the corporate or program strategy.
2. The proposed options have to be presented within their proper frames, in order to make them fully understandable..
3. Each option has to be presented in the following aspects:
   1. Business
   2. Organization
   3. Financial
   4. Technical
4. The chosen option will be supported by strong case that can be confronted with the eliminated ones.
5. The benefits should be clearly identified and justified
6. It should be clear how the benefits will be realized
7. It should be clear what will define a successful outcome defining the logic to be used for creating the metrics
8. The Business Case conforms to organizational accounting standards (e.g. break-even analysis and cash flow conventions)
9. Where external procurement is required, it should be clear what the preferred sourcing option is, and why
10. The Business Case must be use for aligning all documents. For this reason, any update shall be timely communicated to the Project Manager, who will verify the impact on the modifications on the existing versions.

RACI (who does what)

Operation desc./Roles	Owner	Spr	PM	SME	BA	Stkhd
Assessment of the situation	C	A	C	C	R	C
Verifying that all necessary information is consisted with the company’s current standards.	I	A	C	I	R	I
Assessing the feasibility of the preferred option	C	A	C	C	C	C
Compiling the Business Case	C	A	R	I	I	C
Approving	A	R	C	I		C
Updating whenever the board authorizes it	C	A	R	I	I	C

Document structure

Distribution list

This kind of information can be considered highly important. Therefore, it is suggested to inform all the interested stakeholders as described in the “Communication Management Strategy”.

Registrar section

These are the key fields

Business Case
Reasons	Defines the reasons for undertaking the project and explains how the project will enable the achievement of corporate strategies and objectives.
Business Options	Presenting the available options (as stated in the Quality Section). These will be analyzed in order to make the proper recommendations.
Expected Benefits	The benefits that the project will deliver expressed in measurable terms against the situation as it exists prior to the project. Benefits should be both qualitative and quantitative. They should be aligned to corporate or programme benefits.
Tolerances	They should be set for each benefit and for the aggregated benefit. Any benefits realization requirements should be stated.
Negative impacts	Outcomes perceived as negative by one or more stakeholders. These Dis-benefits are actual consequences of an activity whereas, by definition, a risk has some uncertainty about whether it will materialize. Dis-benefits need to be valued and incorporated into the investment appraisal)
Timescale	There are two elements: Delivery date, which needs to be evaluated and confirmed by estimations made on the basis supplied by the available resources. This information is subsequently used to help timing decisions when planning Useful product (outcome) life. The period over which the benefits will be realized.
Costs	A summary of the project costs (taken from the Project Plan), the ongoing operations and maintenance costs and their funding arrangements
Investment Appraisal	Compares the aggregated benefits and dis-benefits to the project costs (based on bottom-up estimations) and ongoing incremental operations and maintenance costs. The analysis may use techniques such as cash flow statement, ROI, net present value, internal rate of return and payback period. The objective is to be able to define the value of a project as an investment. The investment appraisal should address how the project will be funded
Major Risks	(Gives a summary of the key risks associated with the project together with the likely impact and plans should they occur). These are some strategical risks to be examined Will use new or emerging technology. Will require a new work process. Are intended for a new customer or unproven market. Will impact numerous departments or organizations. Are highly critical to the success of the business. Are a known high risk. Avoid over-allocating limited skilled resources. Any coordination with other active projects.
Approved by	Project Owner / Sponsor

Technical domains

1)      Project Mandate

Financial / Commercial domains

1)      Project Brief

Notes