Business Case Essentials: A Guide to Structure and Content

The Concise, Complete Introduction to Business Case Analysis.

Business Case Essentials was written in response to requests from consulting clients and seminar participants for a brief but complete outline of what belongs in a business case and why it belongs. It assumes no prior background in finance or business planning. The focus is on questions like these:

• How do I prove that one choice is the best business decision?
• How do I show that all important costs and benefits are included?
• How do I show that alternative action proposals are compared fairly?
• How do I establish value for benefits--even non financial benefits?
• How do I build a business case when I am in a government or non profit organization?
• How do I minimize risk and show management how to maximize business results?

Since 1998, Business Case Essentials has helped professionals in all lines of business develop practical answers to such questions. Essentials was first published as a white paper in 1998, and revised in 2006. With nearly one million copies in circulation, Essentials has become one of the world's most frequently cited busines case resources. (Search Google for the book's title to see tens of thousands of citations.) Now published as a 100 page book, Business Case Essentials is the leading, complete, concise, authoritative guide to what belongs in a business case and why.

Practical Guidance and Proven Methods

Business Case Essentials is the textbook provided to participants in Solution Matrix Business Case seminars. It presents the same structured approach to business case analysis that Solution Matrix Ltd. delivers to organizations like ABB, BP, Cisco, Ericsson, IBM, Microsoft, NASA, NSA, Royal Bank of Canada, the US Department of Defense, and others. Like our companion publication, the Business Case Guide, the Essentials provides practical, step by step guidance and a methodology with proven benefits for case builders and their organizations.

Business Case Essentials Chapters

Chapter 1 - What's a Business Case? A high-level overview of what belongs in a business case and why. Explains the nature of the case and where the proof lies that a recommended course of action is a good business decision.

Chapter 2 - Introduction and Overview. Building blocks that define the case, including the subject of the case (the proposed action and the business objectives it addresses), and the purpose of the case (who will use the case, for what purpose, and what information they need to meet the purpose).

Chapter 3 - Methods and Assumptions. Establishing credibility and making results understandable. Illustrates building the comprehensive cost model for the case and establishing the benefits rationale--the reasoning that legitimizes benefits and shows how their value is determined. Also shows how non financial benefits are made tangible and brought into the case.

Chapter 4 - Business Results. The case's reason for being. Interpretation is minimimal and the numbers speak for themselves. Includes projected financial results in terms of cash flow outcomes and financial metrics such as NPV and ROI. Also includes expected non financial outcomes.

Chapter 5 - Sensitivity and Risk Analysis. Case readers need to know which assumptions are most important in controlling predicted results, and the likelihood that results turn out better or worse than predicted outcomes.

Chapter 6 - Conclusions and Recommendations. These may be obvious to those who propose and develop the case, but for the wider audience, they need to be developed clearly and concretely. Recommendations include practical guidance on how to maximize gains, reduce costs, and minimize risks.

Marty J. Schmidt is President and Founder of Solution Matrix Ltd, a US-based management consulting firm. Dr Schmidt has twenty years business experience, managing software development, international marketing and sales support, and, management consulting on business issues. He is a recognized authority on the application of cost/benefit analysis and business case development. He also taught graduate and undergraduate statistics at the University of New Hampshire, is the author of a college textbook on statistics, and publishes often on professional management and business issues. He is also the author of the Business Case Guide. He holds the Ph.D. degree from Purdue University and the M.B.A. from Babson College.