A business case Is a tool used to manage business process Improvement satellites from Inception through Implementation. A business case Is a document that identifies functional alternatives and presents economical and technical arguments for carrying out alternatives over the life-cycle to achieve stated business objectives or imperatives. Each business case will look different depending on its application. However, essential ingredients remain constant.
Essential ingredients include functional process descriptions, technical architecture descriptions, cost projections, action plans, measures of performance, and risk assessment for each alternative under consideration. Its focus is on process improvement and reengineering, not on technology insertion. Technology’s role is to enable or support meaningful process change. To be effective as a management tool, a business case must never begin with any predetermined notions of the outcome or predetermined technological solution. It must be completely and totally unbiased In Its conduct and presentation.
Do We Need A Business Case? Yes. In most cases, projects are Implemented to Improve the efficiency of an excellent seines process, possibly in conjunction with a business process re-engineering effort. Both the costs and benefits are considered when making the financial analysis. Business cases should support the organizations’ strategic goals and objectives. This guider’s purpose is to bring consistency and understanding to business case development efforts within the SORROW. It highlights the process steps required to produce a simple, straightforward and easy to understand Business Case Model/Analysis (BCC).
Its objective is to promote the use and consistent application f business cases as the tool for the evaluation and management of change within the SORROW Garrison Directorates to support the WHQL-IMAM PRI Initiative. What Is a PRI? A meeting of leaders, managers, and supervisors within an organization that addresses relevant cost and other performance data that focuses on a process, their relevant cost and performance with the goal of improving a process and driving down cost. Initiatives Considered Develop high-level plans that describe new or different approaches to doing business according to performance targets and business objectives.
It is likely that several improvement ideas and plans will be identified. However, not all of them can, or should, be put into place. Find possible ways to do each approach and then parse these into achievable packages of work and results. Project-level groupings of work that produce distinct deliverables are named initiatives. Initiatives can vary in scope and size. There must be a narration of each Initiative Included in the business case. Describe how strategies will be put into place In terms of specific actions, timeliness, and resources. Evaluate Initiatives against demonstrated Implementation experience r other’s best practices.
Identify and assess each candidate Initiative’s risks and define different paths to abate such risk. Match each candidate initiative to common situations that tend to be outside the span of control of those making change, or that have prevented desired outcomes of previous attempts to adopt new ideas or technologies. Similar implementation efforts must find ways to overcome or bypass these barriers to achieve closure. For most individuals, change is difficult. Therefore, resistance may be encountered when gathering accurate information from individuals within the organization.
These barriers are overcome with proper communication. Explain why certain questions that are being asked can promote a more open environment for dialog. Sometimes there is nothing to do except document within the business case, any issues relating to the people barrier. Each initiative must reflect progression (including phased achievement) toward affected performance targets. Convert performance targets into provisional performance objectives. These objectives can frame stepped-investment Justification and selection decisions, and drive downstream development of the TO-BE process.
Providing Leary defined initiatives give the decision-maker an understanding of what the business case is about, because in the end, the business case is about initiatives. How Do I Begin? Establish a dialog among all of the parties involved. Those designated to prepare the business case must know what is important to the decision-maker. They must also understand the initiatives and alternatives to be included in the business case and gain an understanding of how the business case will be used to come to a decision. The decision-maker should identify the critical elements of the decision process for hose who will develop the model.
Preferences for presentation of alternative comparisons should be discussed, agreed upon, and documented. Specialist and/or training, if any, required to support the process should be identified and scheduled. Activity modeling, financial analysis and Activity Base Costing (BBC) are areas that are most likely to drive the need for training and or support from specialists. Business cases are about choice. They must present the decision-maker with alternatives and the consequences of those alternatives. In general, not less than three alternatives would be presented.
The figure at right provides the general information that should be included for each alternative. What Should My BCC Include? Business cases are about choice. They must present the decision-maker with alternatives and the consequences of those alternatives. In general, not less than three alternatives should be presented. The following table provides the general information that should be included for each alternative. Transvestite Process Descriptions Projections | 5. Risk Assessment | 1. Functional | 2. Cost | 3. Action Plans | 4. Measures of Performance Who Should Prepare a Business Case and What Should They Know?
The most important requirement is to be thoroughly versed in the organization’s processes case. Know what is important to the decision-maker. Activity modeling and financial analysis skills are also required or alternatively, specialists may be used to assist in these areas. Use of specialists, when available, is highly recommended. They can significantly reduce the time required to prepare a business case. What Should the Decision-Maker Know? The decision-maker must have an understanding of how to use the business case ND how it will apply to the expected change.
