Business Case Development Guidelines

Business Case Development Guidelines

Introduction

Any request for funds in support of activities that are essential to a business unit's base activities may be considered for incremental program funding and are driven in response to:

* Documented user needs

* Work process changes

* Information systems changes

* Significant network or technology enhancements

* Quality and service improvements

* Major operating efficiency improvements

* Market, Technical or concept trials

The Business Case should answer the following questions:

* What is the opportunity/problem you are trying to solve?

* What is the desired result you are looking for?

* What is the nature of the improvement?

* What must be invested to get the desired result?

* What are the new production operational costs?

* What are the spending reductions, revenue improvements or profit improvements?

* What are the qualitative benefits, such as customer satisfaction, strategic value, cycle time improvements, etc.?

* What are the concerns or risks?

* What is the exit strategy if an initiative is not returning investment?

Documentation

* Should be in the form of a business case or proposal for market or technical trial funding.

* Submission should be able to adequately substantiate the request for incremental funding by establishing the:

* Need for funding

* Benefits to be derived

* Corporation's ability to execute the program

* Program's ability to provide adequate financial return

* Resources identified within financial justification

* Incremental marketing

* Product development

* Network

* Systems

Objectives of Business Case Guidelines

* Provide assistance in the preparation of the business cases and their financials

* Provide a common basis for the information that is required for funding through the resource allocation and program prioritization process

* Define the parameters and criteria for program prioritization decisions

* Communicate the resource allocation as it relates to incremental funding

Purpose

* Incrementally funded business cases

* Document the upfront market, technical, operational and financial analysis for requests

* Is the official document by which the results of the business analysis of a proposed business opportunity is communicated by a business unit to the corporation

* Serves as a basis for prioritization of funding requests for the allocation of corporate resources

* Provides the parameters for measurement

* Sets the milestones by which the program will be tracked

* Establishes accountability and documentation for the benefits that are committed

The business case is typically divided into sections which include:

Section 1--Purpose Statement

* Include one or two pages that documents why the project is necessary

* Identifies user's clear needs--answers how the program came about and the benefit to users

* Provides linkage to corporate strategies and business unit value drivers, i.e., service, market, quality, efficiency, etc.--answers why the program will succeed

* Describes the corporation's capacity to successfully implement the program while meeting financial objectives

Section 2--Executive Summary

* Summation of opportunity

* Relevance to corporate strategies and business Unit value drivers

* Description of the system or program

* Description of the benefits

* High level view of resource requirements

* Additional factors that materially impact the case such as service, cost, efficiency, volume, quality and deployment objectives

Section 3--Program Rationales

* Frame the need for the program and relate it to corporate and/or business unit priorities and strategies

* Describe major decision drivers and how they influence the need for the program

* Describe the benefits and urgency for