A business case outlines an opportunity and a recommendation to invest resources to take advantage of it. See the business case as a marketing or sales brochure for your project idea.
It may be your one shot to get approval for a project that may have a significant strategic, structural, or political corporate impact, and a compelling case requires enough information about the recommendation to make it credible and the correct positioning of the audience for reader to buy into it.
With PRINCE2 you are already ahead of the pack, since you are encouraged to include an outline business case before the project even starts, and then go on to refine it further as part of detailed planning. The project plan timescale, costs and risks will provide rich information for you to include within your business case.
The objective of this set of articles is to focus on the “front end” of the business case in terms of defining the opportunity, providing the executive summary, mission statement and the approach used.
The PRINCE2 business case is owned by the project board executive, but is often co-written by the project manager, so it makes sense for you to be able to articulate your ideas clearly.
Let’s start with the executive summary:
PRINCE2 Business Case – The Executive Summary
The executive summary should be the cover page or opening scene for your business story, it is the first thing that is read and so is the most critical section of the business case for your intended audience – the project board and senior management.
It is important therefore that the executive summary must be concise, keep it to one page maximum as any longer and the chances are you’ll then I have too much information.
The objective of this section is just for the reader to be interested enough to keep an open mind and continue reviewing the rest of the business case.
Your executive summary should include the following sections:
- The current situation and opportunity
- Describe what is going on in the business or in the marketplace that necessitates action. For new opportunities or products, discuss why the time for these new products to be developed is right now
- Give a very high-level, big picture description of the opportunity. This is your 2 to 3 sentence elevator pitch – short enough to be delivered during an elevator ride, that sums up the opportunity
As an example, suppose that business costs for training promotes employees takes a large chunk out of your fiscal budget, and you have an idea about using self-paced training or are available via an intranet company website. The opportunity here is instant access to vital training whenever it is needed.
Your elevator pitch may be, “some of our remote employees do not have the knowledge and skills to perform their jobs, and we must find a solution or will be forced to hire new staff that are already trained. The time delays, and travel plus accommodation costs are high, and the new intranet website will reduce training costs to at least 25% for all corporate employees wherever they are based”
Business drivers behind the recommendation
Business drivers are the primary business reasons that you are presenting in your recommendation. These explain how the business will be impacted if they are approved. Using the above example, you would want to relate your recommendation toward the business problem that lack of training brings, and show the impact to the business of employee lack of skills or knowledge.
If you have positive financial statistics, include the ones that support your case must effectively in this area. Do not make the mistake of including detailed statistics such as cost-benefit analysis here, as that will be included in a later section.
Only include those statistics that directly relate to the business success but within this section.
Business Case recommendation description
The recommendation is the solution you are proposing to take advantage of the opportunity. Describe it at a very high-level in this section with just enough detail for the ordinance to be able to articulate it to someone else.
Again, using the above example, if the opportunity is to provide at least for self-paced training causes per year four or remote location individuals, two potential recommendations to meet this goal may be a live remote training class, and an interactive self-paced training module.
Be aware that the executive summary is not the area to describe the exact classes being held, the technology to deliver the virtual classes, all the classes development. You only need include those details in the identification and prioritization of alternative solutions and any supporting material section of the business case.
If you feel your business case is extremely compelling and you think your audience members will be so moved by the executive summary alone that they made sign off on the case right then and there, you should add a play for signature approvals to it – in fact your standard templates should include this feature as standard!
