Questions to Ask When Approving Business Cases
As a leader, you must understand the business case behind the investment project you approve.Organizations are often tempted to take the easy way out when approving business cases without detailed thought, analysis and planning. But, unfortunately, this can lead to problems.
You need to know the strategic logic of the benefits and how they will affect your organization's ability to achieve its goals.
- What are the risks?
- What are the upsides?
- What is the cost of doing nothing?
- What is the financial impact of this investment?
The Business Case
The business case document is a written justification for an investment in a new product or service, a market expansion strategy, a CAPEX project, an innovation, or an investment opportunity.All business cases ask for something:
- Approval to do something, to make changes.
- Resources, funding, or investment.
- Approval to form strategic alliances or partnerships.
- Approval to proceed to the next stage.
The business case is critical to getting approval for any project.
When approving business cases, ask yourself these questions:
Strategic Fit
1. What is the purpose of this project?
- What is the real opportunity or problem this business case is solving?
- Is the opportunity desirable, feasible, and viable?
- Is the business case aligned with the business strategy?
- Has appropriate weighting been placed on the need for shortlisted options?
- Is the recommended option fully justified?
- What are the benefits, and how will they be realized?
- Have the benefits been overstated?
- Is the sensitivity testing detailed in the business case robust and transparent?
- What is our time frame for the Return on Investment (ROI)?
- Is the expected ROI well described and quantified?
- Is there an investment appraisal?
- Is the cost of the project well planned?
- Have all of the project costs, ongoing costs and resources been identified?
- Is there a lower-cost option that will deliver the outcomes and benefits?
- Have all the stakeholders involved in the project been identified and consulted?
Deliverability
6. Deliverability
- Has the deliverability of each option been evaluated?
- Have the major risks associated with each option been thoroughly assessed?
- Have the risks of the preferred option been understated relative to the other options?
- Has the project team been identified?
- Do we have enough internal resources to implement the recommendations?
- Is the implementation of the project well planned?
- Is the project plan aligned with the business case?
- What are the risks, and does our organization have the capacity to manage them?
Learnings
9. Is the business case robust and compelling?
- Is the investment decision clearly explained?
- Has all the information been included to understand the business benefits of the project?
- Is the business case well written?
- Is the business case well planned?
- Is the business benefits realization of the project well described?
- Is insufficient evidence that the recommended option is the most appropriate response to the problem or opportunity we are solving?
Chase Consulting can help you develop a good business case process with the right information to make the best decision.
Strategic Business Case Coaching
If you are a CEO, professional manager, finance director of an organization needing to review and approve business cases - we are here to help.
If you're looking for ways to improve your business case processes, then you've come to the right place!
We'll show you how to create robust business cases in our strategic business case coaching sessions.
Let us help you create robust business cases.
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Need Business Case Templates?
Our Business Case Workbook and Templates are an in-depth resource that breaks down each stage of the business case process, so you can have a comprehensive overview of what needs to get done. In addition, the customizable business case templates will set you up for success.The Workbook details the critical information you need in the business case document and provides valuable tips and insights.
The Business Case Templates consists of all the ready-made templates to analyze business problems, opportunities, benefits, risk, costs, including investment appraisal, feasible technical solutions, timescale, impact on operations, and organizational capability to deliver the project outcomes in no time.
SEE THE BUSINESS CASE TEMPLATES
Write better business cases with less effort than ever before using our business case templates.
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