The purpose of this document is to quantitatively justify the project. For smaller projects, the business case may be no more than 1-2 pages in length. For larger, more complex projects, the business case may be much larger and contain far more detail.
If you have to make a business case for a major proposal (a serious undertaking), you need a plan.
This Powerpoint presentation dishes up formulas to help you make a bullet-proof business case for component-based application package development and deployment.
Document a business case to persuade upper management to fund your project. Keep it short and succinct enough that the busy executive management audience will read and digest it. It should directly convey the information they need to know with salient, hard-hitting, supporting evidence that addresses the bottom line. This is a basic instructional framework of the information you should include in your business case. Enhance it as you wish!
Successful business execution is dependent upon having timely and accurate financial information. But too often, little thought is put into how to present the data in a meaningful way. From a project or portfolio perspective, what does a C-Level executive expect to see from the PMO for actionable decision-making?
Need to sell your business case to executive management? They will want to see the bottom line, which includes the benefits stated in quantifiable terms of value to the organization. Don't be vague. Quantify those benefits, as this example illustrates!
This excellent project justification guide will provide sophisticated advice to maximize the impact of your business case, making it accurate, complete and persuasive. In addition, learn some handy tips, techniques and strategies to complement existing procedures, templates and spreadsheets that you already use.
Why build a data warehouse? Be sure you have good justification in the form of a solid business case before taking the plunge.
This sample business case provides a proposal for the development of a Web service that directly supports the successful launch of an affiliate program.
Finding sponsors to back your project is an art. Make a compelling case for the project to gain sponsor support when you are pitching your business case to executive management. Here is an example of a brief, direct project concept designed to lure sponsors into your camp.
Getting off the ground starts with a business case. This project plan is the first giant step you'll need to move forward with your proposed project.
A concerted effort to manage and document the realization of business benefits is an indispensible key to the success of any program. It requires a well-defined business case and a structured approach to measuring and tracking the planned benefits throughout the program lifecycle.
Mission-critical projects need to be well-justified, with clear goals that can be referenced throughout the life of the project. This business case template offers an excellent approach to goal-setting and a way to communicate those goals effectively.
You know that your proposed project solution is the right one for your client. Now, how exactly do you convince the client of that? This form will help you state your case.
This document provides a high-level Change Readiness Summary to be inserted to the Business Case. For smaller projects the Change Readiness Assessment may be more useful to relate this change to the other changes planned or underway in the area of the organization affected, contributing to the cumulative change picture. For large projects this represents a key element where absolute clarity is required at the senior decision-making level prior to embarking upon detailed planning of the change.
Are you putting together a data warehouse? This Microsoft Project plan will help you keep tabs on all the complex stages and steps involved in building decision support systems and a knowledge-based applications architecture and environment.
Need to plan a data warehouse project? This synopsis outlines the steps, deliverables and team roles for strategizing, architecting, designing and planning the implementation of a data warehouse.
Outline your project's business case for high-level viewing by corporate brass.
You just spent the past month building a fantastic business case. You spoke to the right people, got the right numbers and have put it all together in a nice, tidy package. Now, the only hurdle is to get management's approval. This file requires the WebEx Player. It is 4.8Mb.
You have a great idea for a proposal. Here's a way how to put it in writing to catch the attention of sponsors, potential stakeholders and your upper management.
If you need a simple, straightforward project plan template for an IT project, we have what you are looking for.
This document outlines the Enterprise-wide Analysis, which describes the enterprise application package’s features and functions, analyses on its cost-benefit and risks, and the technical requirements to be supported.
Formulating a business case and proposing your project to senior management for buy-in can be tricky. Don't dive right in and start writing. Begin with a solid checklist of guidelines to ensure a business case that's more than buzzword hype.
You think you can justify that? Some organizations conduct an objective and formal analysis of their project opportunities, appropriately evaluate and prioritize them against objective criteria and make reasoned choices based upon independent assessment. There just aren’t many of them. Here, we’ll explore what does happen, and why. We’ll evaluate some alternatives and considerations in approaching project justification and talk about some of the changes that can lead to organizations making better decisions.
Presenting a winning business case with the right amount of the right information for the right audience is the key to getting approval and funding for your project! Here is a presentation that will give you the fine points on how to do just that.
Sound risk assessment practice demands that you look at every aspect of a contract before signing on the dotted line. This checklist will walk you through the nitty-gritty details.
What is our purpose in acquiring and using an application package and what compromises are permissible? Determine the key business drivers, must-haves and tradeoffs before you begin the acquisition and implementation process. This information is critical to making a business case for a packaged application business solution.
Use this project plan to implement the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web accessibility initiative. The plan outlines various activities and considerations for planning the implementation of Web accessibility initiatives across an organization.
How much will your project cost? Management will want to know before they commit to it. Use this spreadsheet to estimate your costs, broken down by project phase and classified according to the cost categories that will be most meaningful to the decision makers.
Do the costs and benefits of your project balance out to a worthwhile return on investment (ROI)? Management will use that as important criteria for authorizing your project. Use this spreadsheet to calculate the ROI of your project.
Sell your business case with a respectable return on investment. Here's how to calculate ROI. We've also thrown in an example so you can see how it all works.
You need more than a boss idea to make a project come to life. You need a project plan solidly rooted in a business case.
If you have to put together a business case, use this sample presentation to help you organize your thoughts and pitch the idea to management.
Our inaugural Project HEADWAY webinar addresses Creating the Project Business Case, one of the most important steps to a solid foundation for a successful project. This file requires the WebEx Player. It is 4.6Mb.
Need help with project recovery? A whole new skill set and strategy is needed to recover an IT project from free fall. Here we provide practical recovery pointers on four project areas for failing IT projects, with a focus on software development for business applications.
A major step in any portfolio is ensuring that the organization selects the right projects to proceed with at the right time. While most projects have some merit, that merit has to be weighted against the value that other projects will bring to an organization. Not every project should be done right here and right now. This Portfolio HEADWAY webinar will examine the process of selecting a project--from documenting and screening the original idea, developing a business case, making the final selection and then prioritizing those selected projects. Join us for this webinar! This might just be the right presentation at the right time for you.
This document will help you assess and address the workforce needs of your business unit or organization now and for years into the future.
What are the benefits of doing an IT project? Our A-Z checklist (well, actually it's A-V) lists key benefits and asks the hard questions for you to consider when putting together that business case or project proposal.
It might seem obvious that once a project makes it through the approval process, it is good to go. This is not always the case, particularly when there is a gap between approval and the actual start date. There is one more step that should be taken before a project begins — authorization.
For most IT investments, business cases are either missing or unbelievable. In the first of a series of articles, John Finneran explains what has gone wrong and outlines how to fix the business case.
Many potential projects that are considered for funding will ultimately not be approved despite significant time and effort spent on their business cases. Starting with a Value Proposition document can help weed out the less promising projects before a more detailed business case is necessary.
As enterprises grow their project portfolios, they'll need to establish a project office to reflect their corporate best interests. But that's not all that project offices do. Click here for more.
Many organizations don’t do a good job measuring the benefits of the projects within their portfolios, and many more fail to formally compare the realized benefits to the estimated benefits in the business case. The process of business realization management can help.
Changing an iconic product can be perilous. Think New Coke. But sometimes change is necessary. From assessing the business case to implementation, here is a look at how a manufacturing giant used a fundamental project management approach to minimize risk when it sought to modify its most popular products.
It scares this writer how many project managers believe that projects start with the planning phase. It scares him even more that their employers often agree.The project starts during the justification phase of the initiative, and the project manager needs to be a part of that process.
Building a believable business case takes time and work. Preparing a full business case for a marginal project is wasteful and annoying. In this article, John Finneran explains how to check whether a full business case is worthwhile.
Just what is governnance, and how will you know you’re not getting it? In fulfilling the project governance role, there are a number of key activities that any project sponsor and steering committee member should be addressing, regardless of the underlying paradigm being adopted and the overall philosophy of the project manager.
A project failure is seldom caused by unknown or mysterious factors. In fact, failure is often predictable based on symptoms and warning signs. And it can be prevented by following a disciplined approach to recovery. Here, an experienced project recovery specialist shares his methodology for fixing a failing initiative.
Call us optimistic, but we want you to be prepared for the economic comeback that we're sure is just around the corner, or at least somewhere on the horizon. Sooner or later (we hope sooner), this recession is going to recede, and by planning for that now, you can be first in line when management starts handing out all that new funding.
Organizations may use dozens of documents and templates in the portfolio management process, but the ones that define the nature of their projects are perhaps the most important. There are three common documents that are essential to this effort.
