Business Case Writing
Business Case Writing
Business Case Writing Training
A business case is a comprehensive well written argument justifying why a certain project should be taken up and why the project plan is the best fit route to take. It is the basis if any business project, a starting point without which a project plan would be unable to take off. Senior management review a business case before authorizing the start of a new project as well as at every intermediate step throughout the course of the project. In fact, since the business case is the ‘driver’ of a project, any changes to a project plan are often deeply supervised so as to measure its impact on the business case. The business case justifies the investment put into a project by specifying the benefits of undertaking the project.
Writing a Business Case:
A business case intends to convince a decision maker to approve of whatever action plan is mentioned in it. It needs to be a formal, well-written and crafted argument.
Before writing a Business case, you must understand and thoroughly analyse the situation and conditions leading to the initiation of the project. Once done, you need to outline the various resources and requirements of the project in terms of money, time, deadlines on ROI etc. The next step would involve collecting all the sources of data that you would need to mention in the business case. A written argument must contain quantitative information. Proceeding further, you must take the preliminary outline of your business case to 1 or 2 people to verify the quality as well as to take inputs from them. Only after you complete these steps, should you sit down to write a well formed document.
A Business Case should contain the following 8 parts:
Executive Summary
This summarises the Business Case, including you recommended plan of action. It is advised to write the summary at last when you are clear about your recommendations and have proper reasons to back them up. It must contain every relevant topic since many decision makers do not read further.
Introduction
This introduces the Business Case and in brief, explains what it is about.
Statement of the Problem
This portion is to identify and state the problem from the point of view of the organization and should relate to the strategy and vision of problem-solving.
Analysis
This is a detailed analysis of the problem including reasons why needs to be tacked, projected impact that the problem would have and reason why the problem might have arisen. It is best to have hard evidence and quantifiable information to back the importance of the problem and how it affects the organization.
Discussion of Possible options
You must talk about all possible options that might exist to tackle the given problem including the option of letting the problem go. You must discuss the benefits, cost , timescale and possible risks for every option. These should be based on reasonable sources and backed by proper data.
Recommendation
This is where you present your idea of tackling the problem from among the options mentioned in the last paragraph. You must provide good reason as to why your recommended option is the best among the other possibilities.
Details of your chosen option
Try to be very analytic about your chosen option and if possible, present an outline project plan. Include as many details as you can about your recommended option and demonstrate that you can analysed the option well and have a reasonable idea about its implementation and practicality
Conclusion
You must remind the reader of the initial problem and why it is important to address it and wish the reader to agree with the course of action or approve further work. Ensure that the reason why your proposal is the best course to follow is very clear.
About the Course
Educba bring you a step-by-step comprehensive tutorial for writing down a convincing business case. The course teaches you the following major concepts in Business Case writing-
Stakeholder responsibility and influence
Business Case compatibility
Elements of Business Case and techniques
Contents of business case and report
Business case development Capability
The course is an online video lecture series available on the educba website. The tutorial is of extreme importance to all corporate. The course is completely online and does not involve any paper work or fixed schedule. The flexibility of such an online course makes it perfect for working professionals and full-time businessmen who can take it as and when they find time.
Course Details:
The educba online tutorial breaks the art of writing a quality business case into 8 video lectures viz
Agenda and Introduction- a brief introduction to Business Case writing and overview of the course
Stakeholder- to introduce the concept of a stakeholder, stakeholder responsibility and influence along with a case model.
Elements of Business Case and technique- To touch upon the various inputs for a Business Case and its subsequent elements. Techniques of writing a Business Case along with tips to identify and quantify costs.
Contents of a Business Case and Reports- To teach you the contents of a Business Case, the framework and how to create and develop a Business Case report
Business Case Development Capability- To help you analyse and develop a Business Case. To touch upon Gap Analysis and how to conclude a business case. Summarize key points and terms.
All aspects of writing a business case are discussed in the tutorial.
Prerequisites for the Course:
A proper device:
Since the course is completely digital without any involvement of paper, you need to ensure a proper device with a good display- desktop, laptop, smart phone etc so as to be able to watch the video and apply the learning on a sample business case of your own.
Web Connectivity
Since the tutorial is completely online, you need to ensure a steady internet connection for proper streaming of the video lectures one after the other
Passion to learn
Nothing is more important than the passion to learn. The course is strategically designed and the lectures are well delivered but they can only make an impact if you have the right attitude towards learning. We urge you to remain committed to the course, once registered.
Benefits of the course:
Improved skill-set
A business case is a staple of any business project and is of utmost importance. It can ensure the authorization of a project if researched and written well. Knowing how to write a convincing business case can be a great asset in the corporate world.
Greater Productivity
You have already seen how important a business case is. Ensuring a well formed business case can guide an organization into choosing the best course of action to take for a project so as to give best results. A fitting business case ensures that the project plan taken reach its productive maximum since every step of the plan will include referring to the business case.
Online learning
There are some huge benefits of learning online. The course material is yours to decide when you want to study what, there is no fixed schedule you need to stick to or a stipulated period within which you are to finish the course. Neither do you have to leave your home or office and attend lectures nor do you need to adjust your pace.
You get to learn from your own home and at your own pace.
Target Audience:
The course is designed for absolute beginners, ensuring that anybody can take up the course adn benefit from it. Considering direct benefits to profession, the following form the target audience for this course
Students
Students wishing to take up this course are more than welcome to do so. This is a great addition to your skill set and reflects well in your CV. It will turn out to be a major help going forward. Additionally, this course will also improve you over factual writing skills.
Professionals
Particularly for business professionals, this course is of utmost importance. Business case writing is an essential skill and this course will help improve your writing to a great extent. The course is flexible enough to accommodate full-time job requirements.
True learning knows no stipulation of profession. The project is so designed that anybody can learn from it, provided they are passionate about learning and remain committed to the course. With ever-changing job description and requirements, learning the skills of writing a business case will always be a benefit. We encourage anybody, target audience or otherwise, to take up this course if they have the interest for it.