Business Case Assurance Resources

Reviewing A Business Case

The information in this guide is intended for general purposes only. For more specific guidance around your organisation’s projects, please get in touch with our team.

In this section, you will find:

After months of research and planning, and then the effort of writing your business case, you’re likely so close to it you can’t see the wood for the trees anymore. It’s important to not fall at the last hurdle by submitting your business case for approval before conducting a really thorough and critical review of what you’ve written. . So take a break, let the business case sit and approach the review with fresh eyes. Better yet, use someone else’s eyes. This review will provide you with extra checks and balances to close any holes in the case, and tidy up the writing to a point where you’re highly confident in the business case’s ability to argue for the investment proposed. When the business case is of a high quality, it can do more of the heavy lifting in getting a positive outcome, allowing in person meetings on the business case to flow easier.

In this guide, we cover off some of the important aspects of undertaking a business case review – including what you should look for in your business case draft to make sure it’s complete. Thinking about these factors will help you submit a better final business case and lift your chances of approval.

Managing risks in a project portfolio IQANZ

Why reviewing carefully is important for a business case being accepted

Think about the last document you wrote for work. When you read back through your draft were there things you wanted to change? Chances are there were, and sometimes these changes make a big difference to the effectiveness of the document. A business case with any details that are inaccurate or incomplete can derail the investment. There are so many different aspects to a business case to think about, from the financial figures to the procurement process to how the project will be delivered.

Reviewing the whole business case thoroughly helps to make sure each of these aspects has been triple-checked against data and information available, but also to help all of these individual parts make sense together. Sometimes a business case will be written by different people, assigned to different sections based upon their expertise. Whilst this makes sense for efficiency, there still needs to be an overarching story and clear flow of information from section to section.

Getting input and feedback from across the business

While the research and information gathering will require engaging staff from across the business with specialist expertise in a given area of the business case, you shouldn’t neglect to involve them at the end when the final draft is ready for review. A business case can morph over time, and it’s important to ensure that stakeholders agree with the facts and assumptions included in the document – especially if their name is associated with the business case as a contributor. This review will be valuable to refining the detail on each section, but also to allow stakeholders to understand the full context of the proposed activity and start planning for potential resources required to deliver.

Feedback on the business case doesn’t just come from those who actively contributed information to it however. In some cases the provision of info may have been delegated out, but the head of that business unit needs to review the final business case draft before putting their endorsement to it.

There may also be stakeholders within the business who didn’t actively contribute to it but may need to be across it. Use these opportunities for feedback and things to change to make the document easier to understand. Engaging people in the business with a good understanding of the strategic objectives but not direct involvement in the business case make for excellent test subjects to see if your business case will land with the senior leadership team approving the investment. These non-contributing stakeholders will often ask questions no one has asked to date, helping you address these before it’s formally submitted for approval.

Staying conscious of changes in the business that may impact this investment’s value

While many organisations may start out optimistic about the speed they can develop and submit a business case, in reality the process can often span months in order to get right. If this does happen in your organisation, take care to continually review the information included in your case and whether it’s still relevant before submitting as it was when the information was obtained. An example of this type of change could be an investment in a technology platform to enable a business unit to deliver work more efficiently. If the business undergoes a restructuring of business units, the investment may not be as well aligned as it was originally. For this reason, it’s important to continually review a business case’s validity and scope if it’s developed over a longer period of time.

Engaging risk analysis expertise

Reviewing a potential investment is best done with the help of those working in the risk management space. They’ll be able to apply their visibility of business risks to the business case and provide better guidance around delivering the project to avoid or manage these.

Risk assessment during the review creates more confidence in the investment. There may be new risks created by the proposed activity that are good to get in front of in the business case itself. A risk specialist can help establish these. Senior leadership who are ultimately responsible for the successful performance of the organisation care deeply about the risks and rewards of certain activities in the business. If you’re able to demonstrate a level of detail around risk assessment and mitigation, the business case will hold more credibility come approval time.

Has the Five Case Model been utilised?

We suggest getting familiar with Treasury’s Better Business Cases and its preference for the Five Case model. This model, originally developed in the United Kingdom’s public sector, is a great way of reviewing a business case’s completeness. The model, which includes strategic, financial, commercial, management and economic cases, helps business cases deliver thorough assessments of an investment, but also creates consistency between different business cases. This is useful for leadership teams who will need to choose from and compare multiple investment opportunities. Even if your organisation doesn’t use the Five Case model as the basis for your business case, the questions it asks of business case writers can help you make sure you’ve covered your bases.

Has enough time been spent on understanding the details of engagement with third-party vendors?

Business case development sometimes rides a fine line between the planning and scoping and the actual rolling out of the project. If there’s the time and resources allowed for the pre-project business case, consider speaking with potential suppliers about the requirements from their perspective. If this is detailed, it may require paid scoping, but could save the organisation long term by properly detailing the level of work required. Hidden costs or out of scope work is one of the more common reasons for a project to fail or run into problems, so having the business case and investment outline exactly what’s required from 3rd parties is a smart move to mitigate these blindsides. It may be that engaging with a 3rd party is not prudent. If this is the case, the procurement team may be able to provide useful insights, along with business analyst research.

Have financial aspects of the proposal been through rigorous checks?

The strategy, outcomes, approach to running the project and governance are all areas that may evolve over time and have at least some room for refinement during the approval stage. But the financial facts have no such wiggle room.. The financial practicality of proposed work needs to have been reviewed by the financial controller and anyone else responsible for managing the project budgets across the business. The quickest way for a business case to be declined is through unmanaged or mitigated uncertainty in the numbers. Those signing off a business case will be very close to the financials of the business, so this must receive close attention during the final review prior to submission.

Showing consideration of resourcing practicalities

Does the business case involve a large project? The people needed for the project should be captured in the business case. Costs of people manifest in a number of ways for a large project or programme:

  • BAU staff required to provide information, review, or testing.
  • BAU staff directly involved in the delivery of the project.
  • Business Unit leadership required to approve stages of the project.
  • Attendance by BAU staff and leaders of project meetings.
  • Cost of contractor resources to deliver the project and which stages they will be required on.
  • The impact on BAU teams’ efficiency during the transition to a new way of working as delivered by the project (such as onboarding to a new technology platform).
  • Project sponsorship committee meetings and communication.
  • Internal communications of the project’s deliverables and updates.
  • Marketing and external communications.
  • Risk and legal team involvement.
  • Technology and network security.

This is just a selection of potential people that need to be considered in the business case – so make sure you’ve reviewed your project’s resourcing carefully.

How well have you articulated the connection between this investment and the broad strategic objectives?

This might sound like a no-brainer, but it’s actually very easy to lose clarity between the business case’s investment request and what the organisation’s strategic vision is. In businesses where the leadership team consistently reinforces strategic objectives through its internal communications, business cases may find it easier to draw these connections. In absence of this, the senior responsible owner of the business case should actively seek out the priorities of the leadership team and directly tie the investment’s outcomes to these. In essence, ‘how does this investment get the business closer to where it needs to go this year, in 3 years, 5 years etc?’.

Has there been recognition and mitigations offered for the potential negative impacts?

There may be outcomes of a project that aren’t necessarily positive for everyone, for example the implementation of a new system may change the requirements of certain roles. There may also be cases where this investment prevents another from being approved due to lack of budget or an overlap of resources. A complete business case will make note of these and if necessary, offer a rationale for proceeding with this investment. Or, it may be in the business’ best interest to delay this proposed activity until another has concluded. Maintaining an objective, impartial approach helps give the business case more credibility and is better for the organisation’s strategic success.
Managing risks in a project portfolio IQANZ

Plain Language pays off

Plain language is not about ‘dumbing down’, but rather creating business documentation that’s effective at communicating regardless of audience. Jargon is removed, acronyms are expanded and words are used efficiently. Your business case is just one piece of reading in a sea of material leadership will consume that week. Reducing reader fatigue through plain language is showing respect for the reader’s time and attention.

Aim for minimal ‘what do you mean by…’ questions by running the business case past stakeholders prior to submitting for approval. Even better if you can use people who aren’t intimately familiar with your business. Their questions should indicate which parts of the business case you need to reword to articulate better in plain language.

Summarising the key elements

Does your executive summary pull out the themes of each part of the business case? The summary should enable anyone to quickly understand the reason the investment is being proposed, why it will benefit the business, how it aligns with the broader strategic objectives, and the high level approach to delivering the outcome. Try to not repeat too much of what’s in each section, as the summary should largely encourage readers to explore more of the business case.

Discuss your business case with us

IQANZ have been providing business case assurance to some of the most complex public and private organisations in New Zealand. We know both from experience and our proven methodologies the elements that create a compelling business case. If you’re wanting assurance on your own business case, start by contacting our team to discuss.

Where to next?

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