outline business case

 

The Business Case states why the work of a project is worth doing and is therefore vital in ensuring that the project cost time and risk is justified.  

 

At this early point the outline Business Case will only contain a high-level view, however this is sufficient to authorise the initiation stage, where the detailed business case will be created.

 

It is the project board executive who is responsible for drafting the outline business case, and the following information will need to be included:

 

Clarification of the objectives and hence the reasons for the project as defined in the project mandate.

 

A clear understanding of how the project will align and contribute towards corporate and/or programme management objectives and strategies.

 

The project funding will need to be understood and stated here.  This might just be  a simple lump-sum statement, or it may be some form of key payment milestones taking into consideration the cash flow situation.

 

The lessons log needs to be reviewed to determine if there are any lessons related to business justification.  There may also be organisational standards which must be followed with regards to the format and presentation of the Business Case, for example the use of investment metrics and standard templates.

 

The project board executive will want to check if there is any relevant background information such as contracts service level agreements, feasibility reports and so on, in which case these should be included within the outline Business Case.

 

If required the project board executive will want to seek approval of the outline business case from corporate programme management.

 

Although the project board executive is responsible for the Business Case, it may well be that the project manager or representatives from an appropriate finance department that actually create draft versions of the Business Case for the project board executive to agree or otherwise.

 

Meanwhile, the project manager will seek advice and guidance from the senior user and executive roles to define what the project is to deliver and from that created the project product description.

 

The project product description contains the customer’s quality expectations and acceptance criteria and the information for both of these will need to be gathered.  Also if there are any timescale requirements stated in the project mandate, these will have to be checked for their feasibility and included in the outline business case. Any key milestones need to be determined and also included.

 

The Daily Log will need to be reviewed and any risks identified will need to be summarised in the outline business case.  The objective here is to provide sufficient business information for the project board to make an informed choice when authorising the initiation stage. 

 

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