When to create a Business Case

When to create a business case

In many ways, the process of building a business case is similar to solving a problem. For example, suppose you don't have enough staff to accomplish your responsibilities, or you believe that your company's competitors use more efficient processes that allow them to have lower costs than your firm does.

Developing a business case would not only help you identify potential solutions to such problems, it would also help you "sell" your ideas to key decision makers.

A business case is useful when you want to:

• Demonstrate the value a proposed product or service would generate for your organization,
• Prioritize projects within your group and identify which ones to eliminate,
• Demonstrate the value of a product or service to a customer to make a sale,
• Obtain additional resources for a new project, initiative, or organization,
• Modify an existing offering,
• Invest in a new capability, such as a software program or training,
• Or decide whether to outsource a particular function.

Do you need to demonstrate a product's value? Do you have projects to prioritize or need new resources? If so, it's time to build a business case.

As you might imagine, building a business case for a relatively simple decision—such as whether to buy a new copier for your department and, if so, which one to select—is a pretty straightforward process. But when you're making a case for a more expensive, complex course of action, the process requires more thought.

The process vs. the product

Still, it is important to distinguish between the process of building a business case and the product you deliver to decision makers and stakeholders. The product is a document or presentation. Many organizations have their own templates and specific guidelines for how to create this product—including how to format the information, how to treat graphics, and so forth.

This topic focuses on the process of gathering the necessary information, analyzing it, and preparing to sell your ideas. After all, building a business case is about identifying and considering multiple alternatives before making a well-informed recommendation to support one option. The creation of a document or presentation is the final step in this process—and can happen only after you've completed the earlier steps.