Business Case purpose
The Business Case determines whether the project is, and remains, desirable, viable and achievable. It answers, is the investment in this project still worthwhile?’
An outline Business Case is created within the Project Brief to determine if it is worth investing in the initiation stage. The detailed Business Case forms part of the Project Initiation Documentation and is used by the project board to determine if we have a worthwhile project.
The Business Case is used and updated throughout each stage with current information to determine if the project remains viable. If the Business Case ceases to be feasible, then the project should be changed or stopped.
The output of a project is the specialist products; the outcome is the result of the change derived from using the project outputs, and the benefit is a measurable improvement resulting from an outcome seen as an advantage by at least one of the stakeholders.
Usually, the outcomes and benefits of the project are realized after the project has been completed. However, some projects can use a phased delivery where some products are released into the operational area, and benefits may accrue during the project’s life.
PRINCE2 Business Case approach
The PRINCE2 approach to the Business Case is that it first must be developed, meaning it contains the correct information; verified, meaning that the project is still worthwhile; maintained, indicating that the business case is updated with actual costs and benefits for both current and forecast time-frames; confirmed, meaning assessing whether the benefits have been, or will be realized.
The project board executive is responsible for the Business Case; however, its development, as above, may be delegated to the project manager or someone else with appropriate finance knowledge and skills, including the business assurance role, if the executive has delegated their responsibilities.
The Business Case will be reviewed at the end of the Starting Up a Project and again at the end of the Initiating a Project processes and will form part of the evidence for the project board to decide what to do next. During a stage and as part of any impact assessment for issues or risks, the Business Case should be checked to see the impact.
At the end of each stage, the project manager will update the Business Case based on the next Stage Plan and updated Project Plan, and this will be presented to the project board for them to decide what to do next.
The investment appraisal section of the Business Case provides the project will with information to verify that it justifies the authorization and continuation of the project.
The Senior User is responsible for specifying the benefits within the business case and will be held to account by corporate or programme management that the forecast benefits are eventually realized.
The Benefits Management Approach is created from the detailed Business Case during the initiation stage, and this will be updated at the end of each management stage as part of the evidence for the project board to consider whether to proceed. The project’s Benefits Management Approach defines the scope, timing and responsibility for several reviews of the expected benefits.
Each End Stage Report should include the benefits that can be measured during a project.
The purpose of the PRINCE2 Business Case Theme
It is to establish mechanisms to judge whether the project is (and remains) desirable, viable and achievable as a means to support decision-making in its (continued) investment.
The PRINCE2 Business Case Development Path
Develop – getting the correct information such that decisions can be made.
Verify – assessing whether the project is (still) worth doing.
Maintain – updated with the latest actual/forecast costs and benefits
Confirm – assessing whether benefits have, or will, be realized.
The PRINCE2 project should not include products that do not directly or indirectly enable the realization of benefits.
Wherever possible, benefits should be expressed in tangible ways.
The quantification of benefits enables benefits tolerance to be set, and the measurability of the benefits ensures they can be proven.
Investment Appraisal.
This compares the aggregated benefits and dis-benefits to the project costs (extracted from the Project Plan) and ongoing incremental operations and maintenance costs for a PRINCE2 project.
May use techniques such as:
Through-life costs
Net benefits
Return on Investment (ROI)
Payback period
Discounted cash flow
Net present value
Sensitivity Analysis
Internal Rate of Return
The Benefits Management Approach.
Used to define how and when a measurement of the achievement of the project’s benefits expected by the Senior User can be made. It contains the following information:
The scope of the Benefits Management Approach and details of the benefits that are to be measured
Who is accountable for the expected benefits
How achievement of the expected benefits are to be measured
When the expected benefits can be measured
What resources are needed for the review work
Baseline measures against which the improvements will be calculated
How the performance of the project’s product will be reviewed
End Stage Report – the steps to its creation
The PRINCE2 process Managing a Stage Boundary is used to prepare for an end-stage or an exception assessment. For this article, I will only concentrate on all the former.
The purpose of an end-stage assessment is to provide the project board with sufficient information to make an informed choice about whether to proceed with the project or not.
Before discussing the content of an end-stage report, it is, therefore, essential to understand the sources of information that will be included. It makes sense to first look at the activities within the Managing a Stage Boundary process.
Managing a Stage Boundary
The following diagram shows the typical route:
Business Case Justification
When the project manager sees the current stage nearing completion, he will refer to the Managing a Stage Boundary process as above.
The first step this to create the next stage plan, which will be drawn from the top-level details within the project plan.
The Stage Plan
Using the PRINCE2 product-based planning technique, these top-level details will be decomposed into a detailed level suitable for day-to-day management within the next stage.
The project manager will want to involve as many appropriate and relevant people as possible to create a robust and achievable stage plan. In particular, specialists, team members, senior suppliers, and project assurance should be involved in creating the next stage plan.
The project initiation document should be referenced, particularly for the relevant standard documents, since risk, quality, configuration management, and communication aspects of the project will heavily influence the next stage plan.
As part of Product-Based planning, new products will be identified. These may consist of further refined existing products or entirely new products. Whichever the case may be, new product descriptions and their relevant quality criteria will need to be created. The quality register will need to be updated with the relevant information to carry out quality checks within the next stage.
Also, configuration item records will need to be created or modified for each new product to track the status of that product.
As part of planning for the next stage, new or modified risks may be identified, and these, too, will need to be entered into the risk register and their appropriate response actions included within the next stage plan. Similarly, any ongoing issues and their actions may need to be included within the stage plan (unless they are currently being dealt with).
As a consequence of creating a more detailed next-stage plan, the project plan will likely need to be updated and refined. There are several reasons for this:
- The newly created next-stage plan will typically have a different stage end date, cost, products, and resources than those estimated initially within the project plan.
- Since the current stage is coming to a close, information such as products, cost, and end dates will need to be entered into the updated project plan.
- The business environment may have changed since the project initiation document was signed off. For example, the user group may have different objectives, or market forces may have changed.
Once the project plan has been updated, the business case must be updated to ensure that the project is still providing continued business justification. For example, project or operational costs may rise, schedules may be delayed, or new competitors may have arrived, and hence the end product may need to be modified or enhanced.
Typically, the project manager and the Project Board executive will review sections of the business case and update them as necessary.
Similarly to the above, the project manager and executive should review the organization’s risk appetite and the overall risk situation to ensure it remains within risk tolerances.
They should also review the benefits management approach to ensure there has been updated that the results of any benefit reviews that may have taken place and that such results should be compared with the expected results. Similarly, any planned benefit reviews are included in the stage and project plans.
All of the above culminate in the creation of the End Stage Report as shown in this activity:
Business Case Justification
In the report stage end activity, the end stage report will be created, which will be reviewed by the project board along with the other outputs of the Managing a Stage Boundary process to decide whether to proceed to the project’s next stage.
As you can see in the diagram above, the project manager may create a lessons report, mainly if specific lessons should be applied to the remainder of this project or would be helpful to other projects.
It might be helpful to remind you of the content and structure of a lessons report:
Lessons Report
Executive summary
Scope (project or stage)
What went well, what went poorly, plus any recommendations?
Should cover:
project management method
specialist methods used
project strategies
project controls
any abnormal events
Review of any valuable measurements such as:
the effort to create products
effectiveness of the Quality Management Approach.
Important lessons may be clarified with details on the following:
details of the event and its effect/impact
causes or trigger
early-warning indicators
recommendations
Was the triggered event identified as a risk?
Writing a PRINCE2 Business Cаѕе
Project Documentation Overview
A Project Brief outlines what needs to be accomplished
The Project Plan details how to achieve those goals
The Business Case explains why the project is necessary
In PRINCE2 methodology the Business Case is the projects driving force.
Senior management reviews it before authorizing each project stage It serves as a benchmark for measuring progress
Any changes to the Project Plan must be evaluated based on their impact on the Business Case
Without a Business Case projects cannot proceed
PRINCE2 Business Case Structure
The Business Case justifies the investment in a project by highlighting its benefits It consists of eight key sections
Reasons
Explain why the project is necessary
Align with corporate/programme strategy
Address specific needs (eg improving customer satisfaction boosting profits updating outdated systems)
Options
Present different approaches to address the identified need
Justify why the chosen option (the project) is the best solution
Demonstrate thorough consideration of alternatives
Benefits
Persuade stakeholders of the projects value
Include both tangible and intangible benefits
Provide evidence and detailed projections to support claims
Risks
Identify main risks to project success
Be transparent to gain management confidence
Demonstrate foresight and realism
Costs
Present the total projected cost
Justify each area of expenditure
Provide an accurate budget forecast
Timescale
Outline the project duration
Detail activities and goals for each stage
Explain the rationale behind the proposed timeline
Investment Appraisal
Compare costs and benefits
Demonstrate the projects value for money
Quantify return on investment over a fixed period
Evaluation
Objectively assess your own Business Case
Highlight the strongest and most certain benefits
Reinforce why the project is necessary and the best approach
By thoroughly addressing these elements the Business Case provides a comprehensive justification for the project enabling senior management to make informed decisions about its approval and ongoing support
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