Tips for winning business cases

I was asked recently what it was about my business cases (BC) which has kept clients coming back for more - and recommending me to their friends.?I’ve written dozens of business cases in the course of my career to date, many of them following the UK Government’s #GreenBook methodology.

Below I simplify my answer to a few of the key principles - many learned through painful experience!

1.????Create a simple, compelling story:

• The approval decision is usually made by very busy people with little time to read a full BC and reach a considered conclusion. A carefully-honed summary containing the pitch for the benefits of investing in the change – ideally as free from jargon as possible – will make it easy for them to say yes.
• Most BC templates – and the #GreenBook format itself – make it tricky to write a logical, flowing document.?This is where the pithy, simply-told narrative can be the difference between getting people on board and not.?

Tip – Ask someone not associated with the project to read it through to make sure it’s compelling to the uninitiated.

2.????The clue is in the title:

• It’s a “business” case – the bit of the organisation which will benefit from the investment and the change needs to sponsor and produce it.
• Resist calls for a department that will get budget to spend (e.g. IT, Estates) to write it. They may be project-oriented and have staff who are familiar with doing a BC – or just have capacity - but politely decline their kind offer! It’s an opportunity to upskill the business.
• These departments should contribute, for sure. They may be important delivery vehicles for the project, but they will only ever have a partial view of the total business change and future benefits. Don’t let them be the “tail that wags the dog”.

3.????Agree the approvals strategy:

• At the outset, get clear about who needs to approve it. Find out a bit about their likes and dislikes (e.g. are they a details person, only interested in the numbers).
• Get buy-in to the approval process (meetings, review steps etc).
• Create a realistic timeline – do yourself a favour and don’t be heroic about how long it will take to develop all the inputs and write it up.
• Make sure the timetable is integrated into the project plan, repeating often and loudly to anyone who will listen that it can run in parallel with other project activities.

Tip - Make sure the final approval is a critical path milestone in the plan.

4.????Get - and keep - the decision-making and -influencing stakeholders onside:

• Ensure everyone impacted by the change knows the BC is coming and when they will get to see it (good practice for developing #1).
• Increase the chance of buy-in and reducing resistance by getting it to them with plenty time for them to read it, ahead of making the decision. A summary is better than nothing, but best of all is a face-to-face introduction to get direct feedback.?

Tip - Give yourself enough time to factor in the feedback - objections, challenges, alternatives. You might need to explain why specific feedback can’t be accommodated, but do so explicitly.

5.????Double check all the numbers in it.?Then check them again:

• This wins the Basil Fawlty “bleeding obvious” prize (kids: ask your grandpa), but you would be amazed by the number of business cases derailed at the last minute when a decision-maker does the sums and finds a table doesn’t add up. It may be minor and easily explained, but will be enough to create doubts about the BC and cast a shadow over the credibility of the project.
• Where tables are being copied from a supporting spreadsheet to a Word document, triple-check them, in case formulas don’t carry through.

Tip - Keep a tight grip of change control to ensure that all tweaks to numbers are reflected in all the tables in the final BC document, especially those in the summary, because that’s the bit the senior decision-maker will definitely read!

Good luck! ?

And if you’ve tried all these, been on the training course and still can’t get your business cases approved, call me! [email protected]

If you’re a business case writer, please comment below with your favourite tips and hacks – I always like to learn! ??

#businesscase #GreenBook #projectapproval #benefitsmanagement