The document discusses how to prepare and present an effective business case. It explains that a business case makes the business reason for a project clear to decision makers and provides information for them to determine if the project should be funded. The document outlines what should be included in a business case such as the project description, costs, benefits, risks, and implementation plan. It also provides guidance on how to present the business case by knowing the audience and tailoring the presentation to their decision making style.

1. Preparing and Presenting an Effective
Business Case
Presentation to SLIS Wellington
July 2007

2. 2
Table of Contents
 What is a business case?
 Why develop a business case?
 What goes into a business case?
 Presenting your business case
 Summary

3. 3
What is a business case?
“A business case describes the business reason for
undertaking a project. It provides decision makers
with the information they need to make a fully
informed decision on whether funding should be
provided and/or whether an investment should
proceed.”
Examples of potential projects in the library/information
context
 Cataloguing systems
 Major acquisitions
 Digitisation
 Staffing

4. 4
The business case should answer these questions:
What is the project?
• Description
• Value proposition
• Likely impact(s)
• Who are the
stakeholders?
What will it take to
implement?
• What operational
changes are
necessary to achieve
desired financial
benefits
How much value will it
create?
• NPV of the investment
• Resulting time-phased
cash flow impact
• IRR and payback
period
Is this project worth doing?

5. 5
Table of Contents
 What is a business case?
 Why develop a business case?
 What goes into a business case?
 Presenting your business case
 Summary

6. 6
Creates
Discipline
Minimizes Risk
Advantages
of
Creating a
Business
Case
• Creates a climate for rigorous analysis
of new ideas and the ability to quantify
expected outcomes
• Calls for the consideration of issues
before a project is launched and/or
implemented
• Identifies financial and business
owners of a project; establishes
accountability for results
• Establishes a benchmark
against which the
performance of the project
can be monitored and benefits
can be tracked
• Allows for identification of
problems and tracking of
expected costs/benefits
• Identifies the financial impact of
the project (i.e. IRR)
• Assesses the impact of the risks
and rewards associated with the
project
• Provides management with an
outline of the key steps necessary to
complete the project(s)
• Gives stakeholders a sense of where
things are headed if projects are
implemented
• Highlights the operational changes
necessary to implement a project
Why is a business case necessary?
Provides
Control
Establishes
Direction

7. 7
Table of Contents
 What is a business case?
 Why develop a business case?
 What goes into a business case?
 Presenting your business case
 Summary of key concepts

8. 8
Preparing the business case
 Use your organisation’s methodology which will include:
 Evaluation of the level of significance of the project
 Information on the scope/details of the project
 Who will it affect?
 What is the policy context?
 Utilise those people who have the information and skills to supplement your
business case.
 Optimistic or unrealistic budgets and implementation schedules can destroy
the credibility of a business case.

9. 9
Business case components
Executive
Summary
Analysis of
Opportunity
Costs and
Benefits
Risks and
Rewards
Implementation
Plan
• Implementation timeline, deliverables, resources
• Operational changes required to achieve financial targets
• Business owners and operational owners of the project
• How will you recognise when the need has been met?
• Detail non financial risks and rewards eg impact on employees
• Mitigation plans for risks
• Can be a strong factor in the success of a business case
• Detailed description of costs and benefits (generally quantifiable)
• Initial and recurring costs and benefits
• If there is uncertainty in the numbers, presents a range of numbers and describes the
uncertainty (including “best case,” “worst case” and “most likely” scenarios)
• Cost/benefit assumptions
• Where are we now?
• What are the various options
• Summary of opportunity (value creation and value drivers)
• Relevant internal and external factors
• High level summary of opportunity
• Description of the project and resources required to implement
• Summarise how the project aligns with organisation needs or strategy

10. 10
Table of Contents
 What is a business case?
 Why develop a business case?
 What goes into a business case?
 Presenting your business case
 Summary

11. 11
Presenting your business case
 Raise idea verbally first
 Ask what level of detail is needed
 First decide how formal you want to make your business case.
 Ensure you are presenting the business case to the right person
 Does your organisation have a set business case structure?
 Is there a multi-step approach in gaining approval?
 Usually depends on either the amount of money you are asking for, or the
extent of change you wish to make.
 The larger the sum of money, or the greater the degree of change, the more
formally the business case should be presented.

12. 12
Presenting your business case
 Does funding have to come from a specific budget?
 When presenting the business case, try to imagine every possible question
that could be asked and have the answers ready.
 Make sure the language used is right for the reader and the case is relevant,
concise and interesting.
 Talk to people in your organisation that have presented a successful business
case in the past – what factors were important?
 Create a story that speaks directly to user needs and offers help with their
problem.
 Understand the key ‘sway’ factors – is it financial, political etc
 The argument should be based on sound data and logic but also contain an
emotional appeal. (If I had 30 seconds with the decision maker, what should
I say to convince them to fund the project)

13. 13
Presenting your business case – know your reader
 Present your business case in a way that matches the style of the decision
maker.
 As a general guideline, most business people display character traits that
indicate their broad business style.
Expressive
Analytical
Direct Driver
Social/Amiable
Spontaneous
Controlled
Easy Going
Dominant

14. 14
Presenting your business case – know your reader
 How do you persuade a “Driver”
 Keep it short
 Use a structured presentation
 Your questions should show incisive thinking and knowledge
 Your answers should be direct, brief, targeted and decisive
 Their main overt interest is in results
 Need to show specific evidence

15. 15
Presenting your business case – know your reader
 How do you persuade an “Amiable”
 Use an informal, friendly presentation style
 Your questions should show the interest in people
 Your answers should be friendly with a human content
 Their main overt interest is in team building and how it is seen by others
 Need to include facts and sentiment, personal experience, build on the
familiar
 Avoid to much pushing, urgency or too technical comments

16. 16
Presenting your business case – know your reader
 How do you persuade an “Analytical”
 Be disciplined and on time with all facts in order
 Use a logical, process oriented presentation style with support for details
 Your questions should be pointed and technical
 Your answers should be specific and supportable
 Their main overt interest is in the factual detail showing how it works and
the logic
 Avoid to much flamboyance, absence of facts, inaccuracy or
incompleteness of detail.

17. 17
Presenting your business case – know your reader
 How do you persuade an “Expressive”
 Personal focus is important
 Use an informal, or informal but warm presentation that is creative and
expressive
 Your questions should show achievements and pride
 Your answers should be personal and show charisma and warmth
 Their main overt interest is in the big picture/vision
 Need to include imagination, creative data
 Avoid to many details or being impersonal

18. 18
Table of Contents
 What is a business case?
 Why develop a business case?
 What goes into a business case
 Presenting your business case
 Summary

19. 19
Summary
 Know your organisation
 Research the issues well and discuss the proposal extensively internally
 Write the business case with all costs and issues explained
 The business case should include the relevant financial justifications, but it
should not be the sole purpose of the document.
 The business case must cover a broad range of topics and issues that address
all stakeholders’ concerns from economic, social and environmental
perspectives.

20. 20
Key concepts
Use the business case as a leadership tool
A business case is not just a requirement for securing approval of major project expenditures. It can also serve as an effective
leadership tool to weigh the merits of various approaches, communicate the intent of a proposed plan, and align key
stakeholders behind the proposal. Clients are far more likely to make good decisions if they consider a reasonable set of
alternatives, the benefits and costs of the alternatives, and the potential risks that might derail implementation of each
alternative.
1
2
4
5
Build a business case to evaluate options, not justify a position
Explore alternative possibilities, not just one option.
Align key decision makers and stakeholders
Include all key stakeholders in discussions who would be affected by the proposed changes. Use the discussions to surface
information to improve the proposal and lay the groundwork to ensure buy-in from all those whose support would be needed to
successfully implement the plan. Confirm assumptions and assess alternatives during stakeholder discussions.
Identify and consider potential problems that could derail the proposed plan
Once issues and problems have been identified, define potential mitigation strategies to address potential problems and issues.
3
Identify each alternative's "hard" and "soft" costs and benefits
When developing a business case, consider and calculate the costs and benefits from all points of view—financial, customer,
executives, employees, and the public. Although decision makers take a deep interest in the IRR of large capital investments,
they also want to weigh softer issues such as an idea's potential impact on employee morale, customer satisfaction, innovation,
and legal risk factors. Many of these areas are just as important as hard numbers in helping a company realize its strategy and
goals.

21. 21
Key concepts (continued)
Use benefits tracking to update the business case
A business case is not something that should be put in a binder and stored on a shelf to gather dust. Once a business case has
been approved and implementation has begun, actual benefits and costs should be tracked vs. planned benefits and costs. If
there is significant variance between actual vs. planned results, the business case should be updated to reflect actual benefits
and costs.
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8
Develop and communicate a powerful story showcasing your idea's advantages
Develop a pitch to "pre-sell" the proposal. Develop a concise but compelling strategic story to emphasize the benefits of the
proposal. If necessary, develop a short and concise graphic presentation to sell the concept to executives and key stakeholders.
6
Identify project owners and business owners for required operational changes
In addition to project owners, business owners should also be identified for each of the operational changes required to achieve
the desired financial benefits. Operational changes necessary to achieve the benefits highlighted in the business case must be
clearly articulated, along with key metrics, baseline assumptions and desired financial/operational targets.
Ultimately, a good business case helps the client make a decision
At the end of the day, a business case “looks” like whatever the client needs to make a decision . . . the goal is to help the client
make a decision, no matter what the format of the business case.
9

22. 22
Some useful definitions
 The Payback Period: The number of years that it takes to generate enough
cash flows to recover the initial investment.
 Return on Investment (ROI): The cashflows generated by the option
divided by the total investment in the option. Discounted cash flows should
be used to calculate ROI.
 Discounted Cash Flows: A discounted cashflow is equal to the present
value of a cash flow received in the future.

23. 23
Key Questions
 What is the business problem to be solved?
 What is the value of solving the problem?
 What is the cost of not solving the problem?
 What is the proposed solution?
 What are the major deliverables?
 What is the estimated cost?
 What is the estimated duration?
 Who will implement the solution?
 Where is the funding coming from?
 Who has what responsibilities?