Business Case

The business case is a document that explains how a project's benefits overcome its cost and why it should be executed. The business case document is created during the project initiation phase to give different stakeholders the reasons to invest in a particular project. It contains the financial appraisals, proposal, strategy, and marketing plan. Using this document, you can present your project to other stakeholders and convince them to invest in your project. If all the stakeholders approve your business case, your project can go to the next phase.

Business Case

When a company or an individual plans to start a new project to achieve some business goals, they should consider all the factors affecting the project's success. Before investing large amounts into a project, the company, or the project manager, should work on identifying whether a project is worth investing in or not. Secondly, if the project is feasible, how much money should be spent on it, and what the users or the project owner will get after completing this project?

A business case is a document covering everything mentioned in the above paragraph. In addition to previously stated data, the business case also presents the project's business benefits and gives the stakeholders a reason to invest in the project. It includes all costs, financial information, proposals, strategy, and marketing plans. The project can develop if a business plan is strong enough to convince all the stakeholders. But, if the stakeholders do not like or approve the business plan, the project will not be successful.

Elements of a Business Case:

A business case is composed of various parts:

Executive Summary:

Gives a quick overview of your business case to all the stakeholders. It summarized all the parts of your business case.

Project Definition:

This is a brief definition of your project. It answers what your project is and what business objectives it would address.

Vision, Goals, and Objectives:

This part explains your vision, goals, and objectives that you want to achieve by a project. It helps you in defining your project scope and identifying the deliverables.

Project Scope:

This section explains what is included in the project and what is excluded from it. It determines the tasks and deliverables needed to achieve a goal.

Background Information:

Explain the problem your project will address and how it aligns with the organization's strategic goals in this section.

Success Criteria:

Provide all the standards that the final product must fulfill to determine the success of your project.

Project Plan:

This part briefly explains how a project will be executed. It defines the tasks needed to complete a project and their timelines (when a certain task must have been done).

Project Budget:

The project budget estimates all the costs you will pay during the execution.

Project Schedule:

Defines the timelines, i.e., when a project is started, when it is expected to end, how long it will take, how much work will be done each day, what tasks will be performed at what time, and so on.

Project Governance:

Define all the rules and processes you will apply to govern your project. It also defines the roles and responsibilities of all the team members.

Communication Plan:

Identify how the project team will communicate while keeping different stakeholders up-to-date about the project status.

Progress Report:

Explain how you will track the project's progress and your team members' performance.

Financial Appraisal:

Identify all the financial needs, including the project costs, and explain how you will fulfill the financial requirements.

Market Assessment:

Assess the market, competitors, and industry to identify the opportunities and threats.

Competitor Analysis:

Research your competitors and their position in the current market.

SWOT Analysis:

Perform the SWOT analysis to identify your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Marketing Strategy:

Explain different ways that you will be adopting to promote your product.

Risk Assessment:

Identify all the risks associated with your project and ways to mitigate them before they become problems.

How to Write a Business Case?

It is a concise yet detailed document that defines the project's what, why, how, and who. Here are the steps to write down a strong business case:

• Research the current market, competition, and product alternatives you will create in a project.
• Choose and finalize your business management approaches after comparing various approaches.
• Analyze the data and present your strategies, goals, and plans to other stakeholders.
• Document everything for future reference.