Business Case Development

Table of Contents

• Overview
• When to Use
• Quick Start
• Reference Guides
• Best Practices

Overview

A strong business case combines financial analysis, strategic alignment, and risk assessment to justify investment decisions and secure leadership approval.

When to Use

• Requesting budget approval
• Justifying technology investments
• Planning major initiatives
• Evaluating vendor solutions
• Resource allocation decisions
• Strategic priority setting
• Change management planning

Quick Start

Minimal working example:

Business Case Template:

Project: Customer Portal Modernization
Date: January 2025
Prepared By: Product Manager
For: Finance & Executive Review

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## Executive Summary

Proposal: Modernize customer portal with cloud-native architecture,
improve UX, and enable real-time features.

Investment Required: $800K (one-time)
Annual Operating Cost: $150K (vs $200K current)
Payback Period: 18 months
NPV (5-year): $2.1M
IRR: 45%

Recommendation: APPROVE - Strong financial case with strategic benefits

---

## Strategic Alignment
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)

Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:

Best Practices

✅ DO

• Tie business case to strategic goals
• Quantify benefits wherever possible
• Be realistic about timelines and costs
• Include detailed risk assessment
• Show multiple scenarios/alternatives
• Get stakeholder input early
• Executive sponsor support
• Use professional presentation
• Address tough questions proactively
• Define success metrics upfront

❌ DON'T

• Over-promise benefits
• Underestimate costs
• Ignore alternative solutions
• Skip risk assessment
• Rely solely on intangible benefits
• Present without executive support
• Use overly optimistic assumptions
• Forget to include contingency
• Present incomplete financial analysis
• Ignore competitive pressures