A business case explains the benefits and values your company will get if you go for a business initiative or investment. This can be any initiative from messaging for a product or launching a new feature, a proposal to spend on new initiatives, or an investment in a new agency or with a new contractor. It outlines the expected benefits of an investment decision.
Stakeholders use a business case to determine if they want to move forward and take the initiative. We have gathered 54 business case templates on word here. Get a sneak peek below.
Business Case VS Business Plan
A business case serves as a proposal for a large initiative or a new strategy. It outlines the benefits and business needs of your company if the initiative is pursued. On the other hand, a business plan outlines a new business. A business plan is typically drafted to map out the strategy of your business, your vision and mission statements, and the way you plan on getting things done. There might be cases where you make a business plan for an existing business but you only do so if you wish to take the business in a new direction.
Do you need a Business Case
Not every project needs a project charter or a business case. You only plan to create a business case for investments or initiatives that will need a large number of business resources. If you plan to work on a small initiative, create a project charter to communicate your idea to stakeholders.
Even if you don’t want to communicate your project to stakeholders, you must be ready to respond to basic questions about your project, like:
- What is the purpose of the project?
- Why is the team working on the project?
- How does the project integrate the organizational objectives and goals?
- Which metrics will be used to analyze project success?
- When will the project be completed?
Business Case Online Tools
Miro
Get stakeholders’ buy-in and impress them with this Miro business case template. It covers all elements of a business case and ensures you pitch your project successfully.
Source: https://miro.com/templates/business-case/
Monday
The Monday business case template allows you to pitch your new project to senior leadership and put things together.
Source: https://monday.com/blog/project-management/business-case/
Creately
Use the Creately business case template to put together a winning and practical business plan and case and take your business to the next level.
Source:https://creately.com/usage/business-case-template/
Lucidspark
The Lucidspark business case template allows you to create a one-page business case and collaborate behind a proposed project or initiative.
Source: https://lucidspark.com/templates/business-case
Business Case Best Practices
You might find business cases requiring a lot of information, but you can keep it simple if you apply a few things:
- Define the strategic goals and role earlier in the project case study
- Discuss the project’s background and history to create a context
- Identify similarities and differences between previous projects and proposed projects.
- Show fixes to problems and find and highlight opportunities in your case study
- Discuss the benefits that the project will produce when completed
Business Case FAQs
What makes a successful business case?
A successful business case will identify the problems, and the possible solutions to the problem, and enable decision-makers to decide the action that will be best for the company. It will also allow scope changes or project time scale to be analyzed against the purpose. It doesn’t review business brokers’ party vendors for the company.
How do you analyze a business case?
Investigate the organization’s growth and history, identify weaknesses and strengths, examine the environment, analyze the findings, identify organizational strategy, identify business strategy, and analyze implementation.
What three main components make up the business case?
The main components that make up a business case are why the business case is put up, the risks and benefits of the options, and the solutions to the problem.
Who creates the business case?
A business case is created by the project manager during the project initiation stage and is one of the documents looked at by the project board before they authorize the start of the project.