Making a Business Case

Onsite Training: Technical and Project Management
  • Course:Making a Business Case
  • Course ID:BIZCASE Duration:2 days Where: Your Office (7+ Persons)
  • Available as a private, customized course for your group at your offices or ours and in some cases as a WebLive(TM) class.

  • Download Course Description (PDF)

Course Outline

 

Making a Business Case: The Business Case in Context

 

  • Importance of Projects
  • Managing Your Investment in Projects: Portfolio Management Overview
  • How Projects Support Strategy
  • Business Value and Return on Investment (ROI)
  • Definition of Project Success
  • Project Selection Process: Using a Business Case
  • How the Business Case Adds Value
  • Building Project Success

 

Making a Business Case: Business Case Structure and Content

 

  • Project Overview and Background
  • Problem / Opportunity Qualification
  • Project Approach
  • Authorization

 

Making a Business Case: Developing Data for the Business Case

 

  • Developing Useful Estimates
  • Project Costing Tool
  • Risk Evaluation Tool
  • Financial Analysis Worksheet

 

Making a Business Case: Establishing the Business Case

  • Select Projects for Exercises
  • Review the Business Case Template
  • Exercises: Fill out Each Section of the Template
  • Project Overview and Background
  • Project Approach Details
    • Effective Estimation with PERT
  • Benefit and Cost
    • Demo: Project Costing Tool
    • In-depth Financial Analysis (e.g., NPV, Benefit/Cost Ratio, Payback Period)
  • Stakeholders
    • Stakeholder Analysis
    • Project Impact on Stakeholders
  • Assumptions and Constraints
  • Risk Assessment
  • Business Case: Next Steps

 

Making a Business Case: Dealing with Multiple Project Approaches

 

  • Objective Methods for Evaluation of Project Approach
  • Alignment with Strategy
  • Weighted Scoring
  • AHP
  • Decision Tree

 

Making a Business Case – Wrap-up: Recap and Discussion

 

Course Overview

Course in a Nutshell

Organizations often take on projects that far exceed their capacity. To help them fund projects that offer a high ROI at an acceptable risk level, they rely on the Business Case, which when properly written, tells the management all it needs to know to make an informed decision. But major projects are inherently complex, and it can be difficult to estimate costs and benefits. How can the management team identify the best project candidates?

In Making a Business Case, fully PMBOK® and BABOK® compliant, you will learn the purpose and function of the Business Case and its role in the project selection process. Then using a series of 15 exercises and facilitated discussions, you will learn how to systematically build this critically important document in a hands-on, practical manner using a professional template provided by us.

 

Customize It!

  • Do you have multiple audiences for this topic? This course can be tailored to suit the specific learning requirements of executives and managers, project teams, project stakeholders and others.
  • Have you identified specific problems with project delivery in your organization? The content of this class can be delivered with special emphasis on the topics of greatest concern.

 

Audience / Prerequisites

Aimed At

Making a Business Case is intended for all concerned with management of the overall investment in projects, including business analysts, project sponsors, portfolio managers, and anyone with responsibility for fulfilling Business Strategy.

 

Prerequisites

Making a Business Case course assumes some experience with concepts related to the selection of projects.