Making the Business Case — A 2-Day Course

 Closed In-House Course

Course Synopsis

The course can run in either of two ways. As a public course, it is presented using a realistic running case study. For an in-house audience, it can be used as a workshop to focus on and develop the outlines of a real business case, using the participants' own projects as a basis for the practical exercises. Because of the amount of ground covered in a short time, the course provides an intensive training experience.

A comprehensive manual, including references for further reading, is supplied as part of the course.

Publicly scheduled dates, locations, and prices

Course Contents

What is a business case?

• The drivers of business change
• When business cases are needed
• Framework for constructing a business case

Understanding the audience

• The concept of stakeholder analysis
• Generic project stakeholders
• Identifying stakeholders
• Stakeholder management strategies
• Exercise – stakeholder analysis

Assessing feasibility

• Aspects of feasibility – business, technical and financial elements
• Using PESTLE analyses to assess feasibility
• Force-field analysis
• Exercise – feasibility analysis

Defining the benefits

• Tangible and intangible benefits
• Immediate and longer-term benefits
• Identifying the benefits
• Quantifying benefits
• Presenting intangible benefits
• Exercise – identifying the benefits

Defining the costs

• Tangible and intangible costs
• Once-off and recurring costs
• Identifying the costs
• Quantifying the costs
• Dealing with intangible cost
• Exercise – identifying the costs

Impacts and risks

• Identifying non-cost impacts
• Identifying risks
• Devising risk management strategies
• Exercise – impacts and risks

Assessing the financial case

• Payback calculations
• The time value of money
• Discounted cash-flow/net present value
• Internal rate of return
• Exercise – financial case development

The shape of business communication

• Four A's of design
• Four C's of quality control
• Barriers to effective communication

Presenting the business case (1) – report writing

• Focusing on the audience
• Structure of the document
• The importance of the management summary
• Details and appendices
• Appearance of the document

The elements of good writing

• Paragraphs
• Sentences and clauses
• Punctuation
• Readability
• The benefits of brevity and précis
• Difficult words

Presenting the business case (2) – presentation skills

• What makes an effective presentation?
• Focusing on the audience
• Structure of a presentation
• Presenting the issues
• Visual aids
• Presentation techniques

Presenting the business case (3) – practical exercises

• Summarising a report
• Presenting the business case