Business cases are created to justify embarking on a project or task. They put forward potential benefits and outline predicted costs – both financial and non-monetary – and risks. Creating a business case enables individuals to evaluate potential tasks against the criteria that project managers need to execute against, such as time constraints.

Developing a Business Case involves in-depth research, forming an implementation strategy and producing a detailed set of recommendations.

This blog outlines the reasons why completing a business case is so essential for ensuring benefit realization and improving business efficiency.

Boost your chances of project success

Creating a business case effectively lays out a roadmap for running a successful project. It enables you to predict any potential risks and find ways to mitigate them before a project gets off the ground. Additionally, a business case makes the goals of a project clear, enabling those running it to have an accurate idea of what success will look like and how it will tie into existing business strategy.

Track progress and outcomes

Not only does your business case outline the desired outcomes of your project, but it also then enables progress to be monitored. Storing the original business case in a central space allows project managers to easily refer to it and identify any potential issues that could cause it to divert from its intended outcome.

Knowing how a successful project was completed, compared to how it was envisaged, allows you to learn lessons from the progress made and remove any bottlenecks.

Use your resources wisely

Business cases not only look at the idea being suggested, but also analyze it compared to alternatives. This provides reassurance that this best possible option is being explored. Additionally, they ensure that potential risks and pitfalls have been thoroughly analyzed and therefore there is a greater chance of success.

By creating business cases for projects, organizations can assign valuable resources – including time, technology, and money – to those ideas that will bring in maximum benefit. A business case enables stakeholders to judge the value of projects against one another and choose those they feel will provide the greatest value.

Improve efficiency

Creating a business case ensures that each project has been thought through and meticulously planned. It reduces the likelihood of unforeseen setbacks occurring and wasting valuable time and resources.

Pre-planning your projects and selecting based on potential benefits versus risk, will naturally improve the efficiency of your activities.

Create transparent approval processes

Business cases enable your organization to create a standard definition of “value” in terms of which potential projects will be moved on to the next stage. They create a means of analyzing future projects in terms of predicted benefits, cost, and risk, and ensure that the projects that align closest to business strategy are prioritized – keeping you on track.

You can further improve transparency by using a centralized tool – such as business case software – for storing and collaborating on business cases.

Speed up approvals

As business cases provide all the key information needed to make the decision to approve a project, they speed up the approval process and enable your business to implement important projects faster. This enables you to react quicker to changing markets or global events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Get buy-in from stakeholders

For a project to be successful, it needs the support of key people within the organization. The business case is effectively a tool for selling your project to the people needed to make it a reality. Not only will it highlight potential benefits, but it also provides reassurance that decisions have been made based on data and facts.

In summary

Taking the time to create a business case improves your chances of not only choosing the best projects for your business but ensuring that they are completed efficiently and achieve their desired outcomes. It also allows greater decision-making transparency and reassures stakeholders whose buy-in is needed for success.