Making The Compelling Business Case

Providing the necessary background information and hands-on tools to build compelling business cases, this book will increase the reader's capability to champion new business development ideas, take them to senior management, and facilitate the decision process by understanding the key theories and practices of finance and corporate investments.

Providing the necessary background information and hands-on tools to build compelling business cases, this book will increase the reader's capability to champion new business development ideas, take them to senior management, and facilitate the decision process by understanding the key theories and practices of finance and corporate investments.

If you want to ask your boss to spend money on something, you're going to have to present a compelling business case. If you want to make sure that your idea gets implemented, you're going to need a sound business plan. This book shows how HR can present its options, develop a sound business plan and contribute to its implementation.

A Business Case is a decision-making tool. Business Case authors therefore have a responsibility to write a Business Case that balances brevity with clarity, in a way that is easy and interesting to read and helps Decision Makers make the best decision for the organisation and key stakeholders. Writing a Business Case can be a daunting task. Many organisations do not have standard templates that support the author, or the templates are old and long-winded. Penned by a seasoned consultant who has supported professionals across industry to write better business cases, this book is the only blueprint of its kind. The guidance in this book, together with a host of useful templates and tested techniques, demystifies the task of writing Business Cases and propels professionals into the echelons of mastery. This book is a field coach that will help Business Case authors craft a narrative that resonates with decision-makers. From simple business case scenarios to large complex cases, this book is a universal blueprint. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned corporate veteran, the principles in this book will guide you and improve the way you write business cases. If you aim to complete a business case writing qualification such as Better Business CasesTM, this book is highly recommended as pre-reading to first understand all key aspects of a business case. If you have completed a qualification and have not read this book, it is guaranteed to provide you with unique tools, techniques and insights that are not included in the Better Business CasesTM qualification and supporting text book. When you follow Emanuela’s guidance in this book, you will be equipped to write and present compelling business cases more confidently, professionally and successfully. As always with this author’s books, there is no waffle, page filling theory or unnecessary padding. Practical. Relevant. Useful. Templates in this book include a: · Benefits Tracker · Project Business Case Template · Clarification Questions Log · Stakeholder Mapping · Stakeholder Insights Analysis · Strategic Fitness Scorecard · Ideas Comparison Scorecard · Simple Options Appraisal · TCO Options Comparison Table · Simple Options Appraisal with x-year TCO · Scored Options Appraisal Showing TCO · Impact v Net Position Chart · Weighted Scored Options Appraisal Showing TCO · Investment Appraisal · Business Case RACI Matrix · Simple Risk Assessment · Residual Risk Assessment · Business Case Review Checklist · Business Case Assumptions Log EMANUELA is a performance improvement coach with over 20 years’ experience in project management. She has trained thousands of people on the subject around the world and has a knack for explaining complex topics simply. Whether training in-person or virtually, she engages individuals and teams with her energy, enthusiasm, and her passion for continuous improvement.

"You've got a great idea that will increase revenue or productivity--but how do you get approval to make it happen? By building a business case that clearly shows its value. Maybe you struggle to win support for projects because you're not sure what kind of data your stakeholders will trust, or naysayers always seem to shoot your ideas down at the last minute. Or perhaps you're intimidated by analysis and number crunching, so you just take a stab at estimating costs and benefits, with little confidence in your accuracy. To get any idea off the ground at your company you'll have to make a strong case for it. This guide gives you the tools to do that"--

Provides a concise guide to making a business case. Shows how to develop a strategy, articulate your options, define the benefits, establish the costs, identify the risks and make a compelling case. Uses practical examples as case studies and includes exercises at the end of each chapter.

How do you decide on the best course of action for your company to take advantage of new opportunities? By building a business case. This book provides a framework for building a business case. You'll learn how to: Clearly define the opportunity you'll want to address in your business case Identify and analyze a range of alternatives Recommend one option and assess its risks Create a high-level implementation plan for your proposed alternative Communicate your case to key stakeholders

"Just the understanding and insights you will pick up about how people encounter and cope with combinations of technical, social, political, and economic opportunities and challenges make the book a joy to read and worth much more than the price of it alone." --Barry Boehm, from the Foreword This practical handbook shows you how to build an effective business case when you need to justify--and persuade management to accept--software change or improvement. Based on real-world scenarios, the book covers the most common situations in which business case analyses are required and explains specific techniques that have proved successful in practice. Drawing on years of experience in winning the "battle of the budget," the author shows you how to use commonly accepted engineering economic arguments to make your numbers "sing" to management. The book provides examples of successful business cases; along the way, tables, tools, facts, figures, and metrics guide you through the entire analytic process. Writing in a concise and witty style, the author makes this valuable guidance accessible to every software engineer, manager, and IT professional. Highlights include: How and where business case analyses fit into the software and IT life cycle process Explanations of the most common tools for business case analysis, such as present-value, return-on-investment, break-even, and cost/benefit calculation Tying the business process to the software development life cycle Packaging the business case for management consumption Frameworks and guidelines for justifying IT productivity, quality, and delivery cycle improvement strategies Case studies for applying appropriate decision situations to software process improvement Strategic guidelines for various business case analyses With this book in hand, you will find the facts, examples, hard data, and case studies needed for preparing your own winning business cases in today's complex software environment.