You have many ideas, goals, opportunities, but limited resources, time, people and finances. You need to decide "what is worth pursuing as a smart investment?"
Using our business case framework, we quickly present clear options, benefits, costs, and high level project plans that allow you make informed decisions.
Our comprehensive approach, reduces the time between idea and decision, presents an unbiased view, backed up with data, aligned to delivery, increasing quality of decision making.
We can quickly develop thorough, high quality, business cases (cases) using our Business Case Framework (CASE) solution, that we tailor for organisations who want this capability permanently,
Our project delivery expertise ensures your case will be grounded in the realities of project implementation, because more often than not, cases are delivered using project or programme management (we don't assume this, see our promise below).
Our cases are developed as stand alone decision making support tools, but are organised following best practice not only to ensure they provide the best in practice cases, but also become core documents that future project teams can build on and progressively elaborate as they progress. They become the touchstone for the organisation that ensures the goals approved by senior management are achieved, and continuity of strategic direction, original outcomes, and benefits.
We present a range of options with a number of future scenarios for each, examined and presented using the available data. These best case and worse case scenarios and resulting consequences and influences are identified. Our experience delivering projects, our databases of empirical data, and knowledge of past project performance, increases our case accuracy. We carry out a risk analysis,
We include the appropriate lifecycle for the case, during any associated project, programme and beyond into the life of its solution, We will ensure that the unique governance needed for the life of any case is included.
While our independence is an advantage, we know the importance of working with the impacted organisational functions, how to source and follow policy, and the importance of planning out a path for business case ownership.
strategy. business need
Our staffs experience from creating business cases in business and analysing cases as members of PMOs
We are independent, which eliminates natural organisational bias
Your organisation has a decision to make.
If your organisation implemented every idea, opportunity that came your way, you would soon run out of resources. Everyone in the organisation would have all their time utilised and all your financial resources would be consumed.
To improve on this situation, you need a tool that allows a metohd of comparing the impact of these ideas on peolpe, opperunities, cash , benefits.
The approach is to first determine the benefits.
The Strategic Case
The Economic Case
The Commercial Case
The Financial Case
The Management Case
Your organisation has a decision to make.
You need a buiness case to outline the benefits, costs, best approach,
When you expect your idea will be delivered by project management, and
the combination of our independence, experience and business case framework will ensure that your decision makers will be presented with as valued a case as you need with all the benefits, measured against costs.
Our independent opinion We understand the realities and limitations of business cases, meaning you will get the most value from this service by us being quick.
Every organisation has an internal bias toward a solution, or an approach, the actual benefits, the real nature of the costs.
All Benefits. All Options. More Value.
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What the business need is
What benefits are expected and how they are aligned with business strategy
What factors are critical for a defined successful outcome
Why a particular option is preferred from among the others
How external resources will be sourced and why this offers the best deal
How funding will be provided and whether the cost will be affordable
When and how the benefits will be delivered
What the risks are and how they will be managed
We use our Business Case Framework (CASE) solution, that we tailor for organisations who want this capability permanently, to quickly develop thorough, high quality, cases.
More often than not, cases are delivered using project and programme management, but we dont assume this (see our promise below). Our project expertise, prepares us to be better at business cases development. This has the added advantage that the cases we develop, are not stand alone documents, but become core documents used by future project team that will be elaborated.
While our independence is an advantage, we know how to work with the impacted organisational functions, how to source and follow policy, and the importance of planning out a path for business case ownership.
strategy.
Our staffs experience from creating business cases in business and analysing cases as members of PMOs
We are independent, which eliminates natural organisational bias
business need
strategy
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Initiation Stage & Risk
Formal authorisation of the project by Senior Management
While a business case can stack up, it initiself will not convince
Authority delegated to a project manager by Senior Management
Experienced people can deliver and should navigate through and negotiate with their organisation using the network of connections they have developed over time. This is fine when the size of the effort of the activity can be accomplished on a quid pro quo, "this for that" basis. However, the size, complexity and higher risk characteristics of projects means the organisation cannot rely on grace and favor and so, senior management need to delegate authority to the project manager for the duration of the project to deliver the agreed objectives.
Project Managers need to be aware that this is a delicate responsibility that in itself they need to manage. Its a balancing act between not running roughshod, against "this is the way the organisation has authorised to proceed". Senior management have not the time to manage the project (no matter how much they want to) so the charter mechanism is in place to clear the way.
and the principles before personalities, agreements instead of favours.
People will attempt to secure and manage resources that they are not authorised to e.g.
○ To ensure good understanding of the project terms and conditions;
The unofficial team will not have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities (not that anyone has authorised them anyways)
○ To confirm the expectations or requirements of stakeholders;
Stakeholders will not have expressed their high level requirements (from which you can work to determine the project requirements)
Stakeholders will not have expressed their expectations (meaning that there is no way to manage these)
○ To initiate the administrative aspects of project.
Administrative aspects of the organisation will have been circumvented.
Benefits of initiating a project
The key benefits to initiating a project:
Common agreement between customer, project manager and project stakeholders.
Opportunity to find and bring to light any serious problems or questions that require immediate attention prior to initiation.
Prevention of costly mistakes that can accompany the initial excitement of a new project.
Clearing up of any false expectations.
Confidence that the project manager will be capable of delivering the project.
We bring our prepared process database and experience.
Your team will get up and running on how to proceed.
Entering the initiation stage of the project you still don't know the effort required to bring the idea into existence. Not having a clear picture of the project needed to achieve this means that you cannot be sure you can choose the right project manager. Yet someone needs to bring initial focus to the project, so sometimes an interim project manager is assigned. It is one of the stage outputs and so we can help bring the stage to completion.
We will work with you to further elaborate on the size of the the project in terms of time, cost and scope, using your business case as the foundation. We will gather and document high level requirements, needs, and expectations from all key people and produce a clearer picture of the project enough to identify the right project manager, and secure a project team that can develop the project plan that will ultimately show the most accurate size of the project effort.
or even execute elements without a plan (this even goes against the operations management but goes against project management.
ALL stakeholders need to be identified early
All stakeholders need to have an opportunity to give high level requirements, agree high level objectives
Business cases have a high level and need further elaboration in order to secure resources, and manager needs formal authorisation,usually this is on a low level
its this formality that authorises the project manager.
Initiation Stage outputs:
The key outputs of the stage are:
and are ready for planning stage.
, and they will communicated that
is supported by them and is to proceed.
the organisation will know that the project exists, what it will achieve.
This is where the wider organisation high level requirements and expectations are gathered, giving a more accurate picture of the project size and cost and timelines
It elaborates the idea to a point where a team can be formed and
Given proper management it ensures that planning is successful and therefore the project is too.
Increased probability of project success through
immediately reduced risk.
Common agreement between customer, project manager and project stakeholders.
We will seek and bring to light any serious problems or questions that require immediate attention prior to planning.
Prevention of costly mistakes that can accompany the initial excitement of a new project.
Detect and clear up any false expectations.
Organisations that need support making a decision on an idea that has one or more of the following dimensions:
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Relative Effort and Time:
Relative Effort and Time:
You will have:
- explored and chosen the best option to deliver your idea
- captured the benefits that will define success
- identified initial estimated costs and resources
- decided that project management is the correct management approach to use
If you need pre initiation support click here >
We will work with you to:
create your project charter. This gives explicit authority from senior management for the project to proceed into planning.
We will further elaborate on the business case to achieve an order of magnitude
- Clearly identify the stages and phases of the project and the objectives of each one.
- Identify all the stakeholders, not just the obvious ones
- gather high level requirements
- gather high level expectations
- Initial communications plan stakeholder plan put forward a plan on how stakeholders will be managed and communicated high level scope agreement Agree project success criteria
- summary milestones Identify the order of magnitude budget for the project, stage or phase
- Confirm that the project is aligned with the organisations strategy
- Communicate the roles and responsibilities within the project
- If you haven't an internal project manager assigned we will assist you selecting the right one.
You can be confident that:
Senior decision makers will be confident that they can justify the commitment to:
- authorise the formation of the project team with enough resources for the planning stage
- delegate authority by assigning responsibility to a project manager.
formally authorise the project to proceed by a project charter that sets out
To delegate authority by assigning responsibility to a project manager;
The project team is formed and will understand
- their project roles and responsibilities for the planning stage
The project team will be ready for perhaps the most important stage of any project, the planning stage. It is this highly driven stage where front loading of effort occurs reducing the chances of failure and the costs of change once
All stakeholders are identified and a plan is in place to work with them
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If you want project initiation (along with all other project management capabilities) organisation wide and always to hand, our core solution, "Pro" project management framework solution, tailored to your company, can be put in place at a fraction of the cost of a few individual initiation engagements.
Learn more about a permanent solutionYou need optimal investment and to achieve your strategic goals are achieved
Establish, develop and maintain appropriate support structures to facilitate decision making, benefits realization and successful delivery of projects and programmes.
Assure that a joined-up set of outcomes and benefits is measured, managed, monitored and refined to ensure that optimal investment and strategic goals are achieved.
Deliver strategy, reduce benefits loss and deliver programmes and projects more effectively.
Provide assurance, coaching and mentoring to build a workforce capable of first-class programme and project delivery.
Protect revenue and spend while enhancing value for money.
before decisions should be made,
Support for decision makers
Decision makers need support
Decisions shape destiny
Organisations are products of their decisions
Organisations are decisions made reality
When you have a decision to make.
When you need decision support.
When you need to know the Benefits, have Options. More Clarity. More Value.
You have an idea, a goal, an opportunity.
You need to decide is this idea worth pursuing as a smart investment?
We present options, benefits, costs, and high level project / programme plans to help you make your decision.
Business Case Authorship Create a business case from your idea, that will compare and justify one project or activity over another.