Business Case Template

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Table of Contents

When to Use this Template

When to use this Template........................................2

1. Cover Page........................................4

2. Executive Summary............................4

3. Project Background............................5

4. Project Description including DELIVERABLES.........6

5. Environmental Analysis......................7

6. Alternatives (Options)........................7

7. Business and Operational Impacts......8

8. Technology Assessment.....................8

9. Project Risk Assessment....................9

10. Cost/Benefit Analysis.......................9

13. Conclusions and Recommendations 10

14. Implementation Strategy................10

15. Review and Approval Process.........10

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1. Cover Page

Each business case analysis should include a Cover Page similar to the example below.
At a minimum, it should include the project name, department name, document issue date
and version number.

2. Executive Summary

Purpose of an Executive Summary:

The reason for writing an Executive Summary is to provide a concise summary of the key
highlights of the business case analysis. The reader should be able to understand

 what the project is about,

 the role of the project in the department’s and company business plan/direction, and
 the business justification of the project.

Often, the Executive Summary is critical to obtaining executive level approval for a
proposed project, since it may be the only section that is read. As such, the Executive
Summary should be written to capture an executive’s attention and to obtain support for
the project.

Description:

While the Executive Summary appears at the beginning of a business case analysis, it
should be written last.

The Executive Summary will describe the objective of the project, the current state of the
problem and the resulting opportunity. It should include the following:

 Describe how the project will take advantage of an opportunity or meet a

challenge that is directly related to the fundamental mission of the organization;
 Explain how the proposed solution will provide better service to the citizens of
South Carolina or solve a standing problem that the organization is experiencing;
 Describe how a proposed solution is in harmony with other information
technology initiatives of the organization and is compliant with the Enterprise
Architecture;
 Provide a brief description of the business impact, and the risks of undertaking the
project; and,
 Conclude with recommendations and the financial impact of the project.

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The Executive Summary should stand alone as the single source of the overall project
purpose, goals, proposed actions, cost/benefits, risks, and success criteria. It should
allow an executive-level sponsor assess the value of the project that it is being pursued
under a managed process such that it provides a reasonable expectation of a successful
implementation.

The Executive Summary Section should be brief – ½ page - enough to give a full
understanding of the business case supporting the proposed project, including all relevant
facts and key issues, and should be clear, understandable, and precise.

3. Project Background

Purpose of the Background Section:

The reason for writing the Project Background Section is to provide the reader with an
introduction to the subject of the business case analysis. This section describes the
history and current state of affairs giving rise to or relating to the general business
problem or opportunity that is the subject of the business case analysis.

Description of Problem/Opportunity:

This section should include a brief description of the business problem or opportunity
that the project is trying to address.

Examples of general business problems are:

 Not meeting service level expectations

 Escalating service costs
 Change in business requirements
 Change in legislation or other mandates
 Inefficient business processes

4. Project Description including DELIVERABLES

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Purpose of the Project Description Section:

This section will include

1. Business SMART Objectives (you can take from the case study)

2. BENEFITS – please determine these per the class discussion and

examples Mark showed

3. Alignment of the Project to the Business Strategy – how will the project
contribute to the Business Objectives?

4. What are the key deliverables for the project? what the project will and will
not include (scope – PRODUCT SCOPE = requirements, capabilities,
PROJECT SCOPE = milestones

Notes :

BUSINESS Objectives:

Examples of objectives include:

 Reduce processing time from 1 hour to 30 minutes, by March 2003

 Reduce administration costs from $1.2 to $1.1 million for the 2003 fiscal
year

BENEFITS :

As discussed in class – a Benefit to a stakeholder will contribute in all or partially

to a Business Objectives

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5. Environmental Analysis

Provide 2- 3 sentences on the following Environmental Factors

1. Political – there is no information for this so you can ignore – however an

example would be that Pria is losing influence among the executive suite
and Board members and needs to turn the revenue and customer decline
around

2. Social – this can be the social demographics in the case study

3. Economic – this can be

a. the general economy – is business generally good for everyone,

what are the macro indicators such as labor participation, inflation
rate, GDP growth, etc

b. are interest rates favourable for borrowing?

c. If economy is SLOW such as Covid times it still may be a good time

to invest

4. Technical – this is commentary on new or existing technologies that either

a. we can take advantage of eg 5G wireless , or
b. inhibits the project

6. Alternatives (Options)

Alternatives analysis is the process of achieving the same outcome through

different means or ways

Some examples of alternatives for Strategy to greatly reduce costs could

be :
 Outsource vs. in-house business management.
 Business process redesign versus technology enhancement or
replacement.

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  Consolidation or centralization of resources vs. new distributed
technology.

Compare 3 alternatives for Acme Hotels in how they can realize their strategic
business objectives

1. Alternative 1 – upgrade reservation with Cell phone based service – we

will choose this one

2. – brainstorm something else we could to realized strategic business

objectives – 2 – 3 sentences

3. Alternative 3 – brainstorm something else we could to realized strategic

business objectives – 2 – 3 sentences

Each alternative should be compared in terms of metrics, risks, assmptions

7. Business and Operational Impacts

Please add 2 sentences on what you believe the Impacts will be to the Business
and Operations.

Examples could be (you can use these)

 Employees will require training for how to use the new reservation system
 The upgraded reservation system will have to be sandboxed (isolated)
from the production reservation system

8. Technology Assessment

For this exercise you can state here that the technology exists to provide the cell
phone enabled services through integration with the reservation system

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9. Project Risk Assessment

List 5 risks

10. Cost/Benefit Analysis

Provide your view of Cost/benefit of the option we selected

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13. Conclusions and Recommendations

Approx 2 sentences to make the recommendationt Schedule

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