Business Case Development Framework (PowerPoint PPT Slide Deck)

The Business Case is an instrumental tool in both justifying a project (requiring a capital budgeting decision), as well as measuring the project's success. The Business Case model typically takes the form of an Excel spreadsheet and quantifies the financial components of the project, projecting key metrics for making any important business decision: e.g. Net Present Value (NPV), Return on Investment (ROI), Payback Period, Cost of Investment.

If a project has been justified by the Business Case (both financially and non-financially) and receives the go-ahead from executives, the Business Case model is then continuously maintained and adjusted to track the project's progress against the initial financial projections and assumptions. This model then becomes a working document used during the project management process.

This presentation will detail the process of creating a robust Business Case. It also includes a working sample Business Case model (in Microsoft Excel).

The Business Case Stream Charter outlines clear objectives, critical success factors, and deliverables to ensure comprehensive analysis and validation of business cases. It emphasizes the importance of identifying major revenue and cost drivers, quantifying financial impacts, and validating the business case to gain executive sign-off. This structured approach ensures that all relevant data and insights are captured, analyzed, and presented in a manner that supports informed decision-making.

The document also delves into various quantitative analysis elements, such as financial analysis, business modeling, and both top-down and bottoms-up business cases. Each analytical element is designed to address specific business questions and challenges, using a range of techniques from ratio analysis to scenario modeling. By combining these approaches, the framework provides a holistic view of the business case, ensuring that all potential benefits and impacts are thoroughly evaluated and quantified.