From the course: Business Analysis Foundations

Content of a business case

From the course: Business Analysis Foundations

Content of a business case

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- The Business Case is used to justify initiating a project as well as providing a summary of previous needs assessment activities. Now, there are two major components of a Business Case the Business Needs and the Previous Analysis of the Situation under consideration. The summary of the business needs includes the identified needs of the situation statement, identification of stakeholders, and the initial scope of the proposed project. The key stakeholders can include those involved in the needs assessment as well as those individuals or groups of stakeholders, that will be impacted by the results of the project effort. Previously obtained information that pertains to the result may include, the organizational strategies, goals, and objectives, which will be supported by this effort, the analysis of the situation and root cause of the problem, or supporting data for a new opportunity, critical success factors, which need to be met. Analysis of the potential gaps between current capabilities and those required to support the future state. High-level risk assessments, assumptions, constraints, and regulations, which will need to be further validated as additional project work is done. Also, recommendations for alternative implementation options and approaches. High-level milestones, dependencies, roles, responsibilities, and risks. We have to justify the resources required for the project so we can use various benefit measurement methods to help choose the project, providing the greatest benefits. Some of these financial measurements include, payback period, net present value, internal rate of return, depreciation, cost benefit analysis, as well as ROI. Even though much of the development of these methods are done by those in the finance organization, the data used is provided by the business analyst through the previous analysis that was performed. The business analyst then works with a sponsor or other key stakeholders, for the proposed project to help understand the business need, feasibility, and potential success factors.

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