Preparing a Business Case

Overview/Description
Why put time and effort into preparing, writing, and presenting a business case for new projects? Why not just talk to the manager and get his approval for the project? The answers to these questions lie in the fact that organizational budgets for new projects are typically very tight and, as such, your project will be competing against other projects for funding. Without a written business case, your chances of persuading decision makers within your organization to implement your new project idea, instead of a competing project, stand little chance. This course prepares learners interested in the development of effective business cases. You will learn what a business case is and when one is used, what research you need to do before you start to write a business case, and what information should be included in your business case. Finally, you will learn how to plan and position your business case to maximize its effectiveness.

Target Audience


Managers and experienced business professionals

Expected Duration


2.5 hours

Objectives :

Lesson Overview

  • identify the benefits of writing a good business case

    • What is a Business Case?

  • identify the purposes of developing a business case

    • Organizational Culture

  • identify the features of a business case and its development that are influenced by corporate culture

    • Lesson Overview

  • recognize why it is important to research your business case

    • The Scope of the Business Case

  • determine the scope of a business case in a given scenario
  • identify the benefits of defining the scope of the business case

    • Cost-benefit Analysis

  • distinguish between the potential benefit types of a proposed project in a given scenario

    • The Stakeholders

  • effectively manage stakeholders in a given scenario

    • The Audience

  • identify the benefits of correctly identifying the decision makers
  • identify the methods you should use to convince decision makers

    • Lesson Overview

  • identify the advantages of dividing a business case into clearly identifiable sections

    • The Business Case Document Opener

  • recognize examples of appropriate project titles
  • recognize the information that should be included in the executive summary
  • identify examples of mission statements that contain all the recommended elements
  • identify appropriate objectives to be included in the business case for a given scenario

    • The Main Body of a Business Case

  • identify the information that should be included in the main body of the formal proposal


    • Course Number: comm_01_a01_bs_enus