Project Management Documentation Series: Introduction and Business Case
Welcome to the project management documentation series where we will be discussing what important documents you will need for your project.
Each blog will outline a different project document including what it is, why it is important and any of our top tips in creating them.
These will be realised chronologically starting with the key documents that you will need to get started
to document all the necessary information for your project.
Discovery Stage
Starting off your project with discovery stage. In this stage, We will discuss the different logs you will need to set up, plans to put into place and any other charts, criteria’s or lists all of which would be produced alongside our Build phase of the BEE methodology (click this link to find out more). After that, we will move into the other stages.
The discovery stage involves three key documents: Business Case, Project Initiation Document, and Project Brief. In today’s blog, it is about what you need to complete to get started, so your project gets the go ahead to happen. Therefore, It will be focusing on the Business Case.
The Business Case
Fundamentally, the business case asks, is this project worthwhile? is there justification to go ahead with this project? It provides clarity on the options the business could undertake to solve a current challenge, with the project being regarded as the best option.
Even though the project may be believed to be the best option, it is still necessary to consider and evaluate the timescales, cost, and risks against the benefits to the business. This is why the business case is important. If a business started every project without proper consideration, it runs the risk of being unnecessary, and could potentially waste money and resource time.
A project needs to be suitably viable to go ahead, and the business case is the best way to ensure that. We need to confirm that the business will have a high return on investment on project completion, before we begin a new project.
Going forward, the Business case will need to take this into consideration and discuss the various options available, in order to combat their current challenges. This will always include a “Do Nothing” option and an assessment of the outcome if this option was chosen.
All of this is supporting information for the project, and provides the explanation as to why the project would be the preferred solution and that it should commence.
What’s included in the business case:
Executive Summary
Options
Benefits
Costs
Timescales
Risks
The business case is normally owned by the Project Sponsor and could take many different forms, it does not always have to be an official word document.
Project Sponsor – The person who owns the project and is accountable for ensuring that the project delivers the objectives.
The business case doesn’t need to be long; it only needs to clearly outline the most important information so that any decision makers can make a concise and informed decision. We put together a simple, easy to use template for you to get started with your business case. Check it out here.
Well, that leaves the more intricate details for later, save them for the Project Initiation Document which we will be discussing next time.
Ciao,
Anna
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