Chapter 19
Ten Tips for a Good Business Case
In This Chapter
Checking that you can measure benefits
Keeping the Business Case up to date
Considering the Business Case during stages and Issue handling
The Business Case is the most important element of a PRINCE2 project. It’s the justification – the reason you do the project. You don’t run projects for fun, though they may be fun. You run projects to deliver a business benefit or meet a business imperative. Although some projects have complicated Business Cases and developing them involves huge amounts of work, most are much simpler. Here are ten pointers to help you produce a good Business Case, and then keep it up to date.
Measuring Benefits – Wherever You Can
Wherever possible, you need to be able to measure business benefits so that you can show that they were achieved. Sometimes measuring is hard and it takes a lot of thinking to work out how to do it, but as far as possible have measures, even if it is only for part of the benefit. Beware of ‘non-quantifiable’ benefits because, although sometimes real and valid, they’re by definition not measurable and you can easily fool yourself that the project is delivering more than it really is; more of that later in these tips.
Benefits can come on stream at different points, not just after the project. Particularly where things are being taken into operational use during the project, benefits may start to be seen during the project as well. Think carefully about this because even ...
