How to Write a Business Case - Project Managment Training

[Music] today we're talking about how to write a business case well over the past few years we've seen the market or maybe organizations companies or even projects move away from doing business cases but these days companies organizations and those same projects are scrutinizing the investments and they're really seeking a rate of return so now think of the business case is your opportunity to package your project your idea your opportunity and show what it means and what the benefits are and how other people can benefit so we want to take a look today to see what's

in the business case and how to write one so want to be clear that when you look for information on a business case it's not a briefcase someone called the other day and they were confused because they were looking for something and they kept pulling up briefcases so that's not what we're talking about today what we're talking about our business cases and they include information about your strategies about your goals it includes it is your business proposal it has your business outline your business strategy and even your marketing plan so why is that so important

today again companies are seeking for not only their project managers but their team members to have a better understanding of business and more of an idea of business acumen so this business case provides the justification for a proposed business change or plan it outlines the allocation of capital that you may be seeking and the resources required to implement then it can be an action plan it may just serve as a unified vision and then it also provides the decision-makers with different options so let's look more about the steps required to put these business cases together

so there are four main steps one you want to research your market really look at you know what's out there where the needs were the gaps that you can serve look at your competition you know how are they approaching this and how can you maybe provide some other alternatives you want to compare and finalize different approaches that you could use to go to market then you compile that data and you present strategies your goals and other options to be considered and then you literally document it so what does the document look like well there are

templates out there today the components vary but these are the common ones and then these are I consider what's essential so there's the executive summary so this is just a summarization of your company what your management team may look like summary of your product and service and your market the business description gives a little more history about your company and the mission statement and really what your company is about and how this product or service fits in then you outline the details of the product or service that you're looking to either expand or rollout or

implement you may even include in their patents maybe that you have pending or other trademarks then you want to identify and lay out your marketing strategy like how are you going to take this to your customers are you going to have a brick and mortar store are you going to do this online and what are your plans to take it to market you also want to include detailed information about your competitor analysis how are they doing things and how are you planning on I guess beating your competition you also want to look at and identify

your SWOT and the squat is your strengths what are the street the strengths that you have and going to market and where are the weaknesses maybe some of your gaps and further where your opportunities and maybe threats that you need to plan for then the operations overview includes operational information like your production even human resources information about how the day-to-day operations of your company and then your financial plan includes your your profit statement your profit and loss any of your financials any collateral that you may have and any kind of investments that you may be

seeking so these are the components of your business case this is why it's so important and if you need a tool that can help you manage and track this process then sign up for our software now at projectmanager.com