2 years later, I would hope she's not still waiting for an answer....
It is, however, an interesting question. I had the exact same problem a month ago, and all I had was Wikipedia's article on Business Cases.
So I patched together a presentation - not a Word document, I find writing tedious, since most executives I know find reading tedious, and they don't have time for it anyway. At least colourful pictures and slick-looking charts keep their attention just long enough. I'm not gonna upload the file, but here is the basic breakdown:
- Current situation (a bunch of numbers about our projects), and a statement: to put it simply, we aren't doing great
- A quick explanation of why the numbers aren't good
- Definitions: it's so nice when everybody knows what we're talking about
- A maturity matrix showing where we are and where we can go
- Requirements: what we need in order to start moving in the right direction
- Business benefits: I made assumptions ("what if this number was better?") and explicitly wrote the mathematical formula used to prove the positive impact it would have
- A list of foreseeable challenges: nope, the project won't do itself
- A few suggested next steps to get the ball rolling
And that's it. All in all, 10 slides, to sell the necessity of better project and portfolio management to the higher-ups.
Now, if anyone has ideas/suggestions on what I could add in there, it's never too late to make a v2. I'd also be interested in getting some feedback from people who have done this exercise already, and can warn me of any pitfalls they've been in.
Thanks! Saving Changes...
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can't find them, make them."
