Cost cutting and quality improvement are constant demands in business and government. Everyone has a “great idea” for increasing the ROI on marketing initiatives, reducing IT costs, or making government smaller. But as managers do you trust the numbers from your team? Have they done proper due diligence? Does your team have the time or ability to fully evaluate the proposed solution without bias to personal or departmental objectives?
ScotCro develops business cases for projects by analyzing the need, researching the opportunities, and defining success. We complete the due diligence to justify the project before it ever starts – a basic step but one often overlooked. A successful business case provides managers with fact based analysis to influence decisions benefiting the whole organization and is instrumental in gaining project approval. Have you completed the following steps for your project with unbiased rigor?
- Calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) or benefits you will realize
- Defined project requirements
- Assess risks and how to mitigate
- Calculated reliable cost estimates
- Conduct market surveys of available solutions
- Estimated the effort required from internal resources and determined the resource gaps
- Defined success
- Know the timeline for implementation and resource planning
The business case is essential for setting common expectations for all team members. It determines how the success of the project is measured. Projects are approved and success more likely when you can provide data driven answers to these questions. What is your answer to these questions?
- Are we doing the project for the right reasons or are there other means to reach the desired outcome?
- Do we know the true ROI on this project?
- Are we confident that the ROI will be realized?
- Will the success of the project help us reach our strategic goals?
- What are the specific measures used to determine success?
- Can we get approval for the project?