Business Case

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Business Case

The business case is the documented justification for starting, continuing with and assessing a project against.

What is it? A business case is a set of information, that defines the reasons and justifies taking on and continuing the project. There are two sides, the estimated costs and the expected business benefits and, or, savings from use of the projects final outcome.

The composition of the business case will differ from project to project. At the very least it would contain:-

*Reasons Why the project outcome is needed. These should be in project mandate, probably in outline form.
*Options The various options that were considered for achieving the desired outcome. This shows that alternatives were considered.
*Benefits Each benefit and saving, claimed for the project.
*Cost and timescale Usually from the project plan.
*Investment Appraisal The balance between the costs of the project including development, support and maintenance costs versus the benefits or savings to be made.

Why? In Prince2 the business case is the main driving force of the project.

Historically, government based projects (for which Prince2 was developed initially) have a tendency to not meet their objectives. The business case is an attempt to keep everybody focused. The project board and project manager need to ensure that the project's progresss is continually aligned to the business objectives outlined in the business case.

Indeed if a satisfactory business case does not exist, then the project should not go ahead. If the project is in progress, and the business case ceases to be applicable then the project should be stopped.

The amount of consideration given to the business case throughout the project will differ from project to project.

Take for example two projects. The first is the installation of a newly developed software application in a business critical environment. Secondly, an annual event, in the same critical area, Council Tax billing, done in March, for instance.

Constantly, through the first case, everyone should refer back to the business case, asking do we continue to implement the software with its inherent risks?

In the second, case it is a no-brainer. The bills have to go out, come hell or high water. In this instance, the business case is very simple, and will play much smaller role in the project.

At project closure, the business case is used to confirm that the project has delivered the desired outcome. Formally this is the Post Project Review Plan.

Project issues are reviewed in the light of the business case to measure their impact.

Who The business case is owned by the project executive. This aligns the role with reponsibility for go or no go decision making with progress to meeting objectives.

Development of the business case, may be delegated to the project manager. Ownership, however stays with the executive.

How A number of processes are involved in producing and maintaining the business case.

During Starting Up A Project (SU), the business case might have to expand on the project mandate, before it can be included in the project brief. Alternatively, the mandate might have been based on feasibility studies or corporate management knowledge, in which case it will largely have been written.

Initiating a Project (IP) in particular IP6 is where the business case is fully fleshed out. Included now are the timings, costs and benefits.

At the start and end of every stage, Managing Stage Boundaries (SB) involves revising the business case for the stage end report.