1.1 Business Case Template

8/12/2019 1.1 Business Case Template

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BUSINESSCASETEMPLATE

This Business Case Template is free for you to copy and use onyour project and within your organization. We hope that you find

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BUSINESSCASE

COMPANYNAME

STREETADDRESS

CITY, STATEZIPCODE

DATE
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Business Case Templae

!!!"P#$%e&Mana'emenD$&s"&$m

TABLEO(CONTENTS!."#ecuti$e %ummary......................................................................................................................&

!.!.'ssue......................................................................................................................................................................&!.&.(nticipated )utcomes...........................................................................................................................................&!.*.+ecommendation..................................................................................................................................................*!.,.-ustification...........................................................................................................................................................*

&.Business Case (nalysis Team......................................................................................................,*.Problem Definition........................................................................................................................,

*.!.Problem %tatement................................................................................................................................................,*.&.)rganizational 'mpact...........................................................................................................................................*.*.Technology Migration...........................................................................................................................................

,.Project )$er$iew........................................................................................................................../,.!.Project Description................................................................................................................................................/,.&.0oals and )bjecti$es............................................................................................................................................1,.*.Project Performance..............................................................................................................................................1,.,.Project (ssumptions.............................................................................................................................................2

,..Project Constraints................................................................................................................................................2,./.Major Project Milestones......................................................................................................................................2

.%trategic (lignment......................................................................................................................3/.Cost Benefit (nalysis.................................................................................................................!41.(lternati$es (nalysis..................................................................................................................!!2.(ppro$als....................................................................................................................................!!

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)" E*ECUTI+ESUMMARYThis section should pro$ide general information on the issues surrounding the businessproblem and the proposed project or initiati$e created to address it. 5sually6 this section iscompleted last after all other sections of the business case ha$e been written. This is because

the e#ecuti$e summary is e#actly that6 a summary of the detail that is pro$ided in subse7uentsections of the document.

This business case outlines how the Web Platform 8WP9 Project will address current businessconcerns6 the benefits of the project6 and recommendations and justification of the project.The business case also discusses detailed project goals6 performance measures6 assumptions6constraints6 and alternati$e options.

)")" Issue

This section should briefly describe the business problem that the proposed project willaddress. This section should not describe how the problem will be addressed6 only what

the problem is.

Because of an e#panding client base6 %mith Consulting has mo$ed to a de:centralizedbusiness model o$er the last & years. (s we continue to support more clients in morelocations6 the administration of our wor;force has become more difficult. 5ntil now6many of our internal re7uirements such as reporting6 payroll acti$ities6 and resourcemanagement ha$e been done $ia legacy mainframe systems. (s our wor;force e#pandsin numbers and area6 these legacy mainframe systems ha$e become inade7uate toeffecti$ely manage these administrati$e acti$ities. This inade7uacy is manifested inhigher costs and increased employee turno$er which we ha$e seen o$er the last !&months. 'n order to more effecti$ely manage our administration6 reduce costs6 and

impro$e employee turno$er6 %mith Consulting must mo$e to a web:based application asoutlined in this business case for the WP Project. By doing so6 employees will assume agreater role in managing their administrati$e issues6 ha$e access to timesheets securelyonline6 and the company can manage its administration from one central and commonplatform.

)"" Ani&ipae- Ou&$mes

This section should describe the anticipated outcome if the proposed project or initiati$eis implemented. 't should include how the project will benefit the business and describewhat the end state of the project should be.

Mo$ing to a centralized web:based administrati$e platform will enable %mithConsulting to manage its employee payroll systems and administrati$e functions in aseamless and consolidated manner. This technology migration will reduce o$erheadcosts associated with the large wor;force currently re7uired to manage these tas;s. De:centralized employees will ha$e more autonomy to manage their payroll elections6training6 reporting6 and $arious other administrati$e tas;s. The company will alsobenefit from more timely and accurate financial reporting as a result of our regionalmanagers< ability to enter and continuously update their financial metrics. This real time

&


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access reduces errors6 impro$es cycle time6 and is readily a$ailable to any authorizeduser.

)"." Re&$mmen-ai$n

This section summarizes the approach for how the project will address the businessproblem. This section should also describe how desirable results will be achie$ed bymo$ing forward with the project.

=arious options and alternati$es were analyzed to determine the best way to le$eragetechnology to impro$e the business processes and reduce the o$erhead costs within%mith Consulting. The approach described herein allows us to meet our corporateobjecti$es of continuously impro$ing efficiency6 reducing costs6 and capitalizing ontechnology. The recommended WP Project will methodically migrate the data andfunctions of our current mainframe system to our new web:based platform in order topreser$e data integrity and allow ade7uate time to train all employees and managers ontheir responsibilities and respecti$e administrati$e functions. The web:based platform iscompatible with all other current 'T systems and will impro$e the efficiency andaccuracy of reporting throughout the company. %ome of the ways that this technologywill achie$e its desired results are

"mployees will be able to enter and edit their timesheet data at any time from any

location instead of phoning their data to their regional manager for entry into themainframe system

Timesheet and payroll data will be immediately accessible for 7uality control and

reporting purposes which will reduce the need for staff in non:billable positions togather6 analyze and compile data

"mployees will ha$e the ability to register for training which reduces the burden onmanagers and training staff

)"/" Jusi0i&ai$n

This section justifies why the recommended project should be implemented and why itwas selected o$er other alternati$es. Where applicable6 7uantitati$e support should bepro$ided and the impact of not implementing the project should also be stated.

The migration of payroll and other administrati$e functions from the legacy mainframesystem to the web:based platform will result in greater efficiency with regards tocompany resources and business processes. The WP Project is also aligned with

corporate strategy and objecti$es since it uses technology to impro$e the way we dobusiness. While other alternati$es and the status 7uo were analyzed6 the WP Project wasselected for proposal in this business case because it pro$ides the best opportunity torealize benefits in an e#pedited manner while also allowing for the greatest impro$ementin efficiency and cost reduction. )ther alternati$es assumed greater ris;6 pro$ided lessbenefits6 were too difficult to define6 or were not suitably aligned with current corporatestrategy and>or objecti$es.'nitial estimates for the WP Project are

*


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!? reduction in o$erhead costs in the first !& months

!4? decrease in employee turno$er in the first !& months

4? immediate decrease in time to generate wee;ly and monthly financial reports

&? immediate decrease in the amount of time it ta;es to resol$e payroll issues

" BUSINESSCASEANALYSISTEAMThis section describes the roles of the team members who de$eloped the business case. 't isimperati$e that participants and roles are clearly defined for the business case as well asthroughout the life of the project.

The following indi$iduals comprise the business case analysis team. They are responsiblefor the analysis and creation of the WP Project business case.

Role Description Name/Title

Executive Sponsor Provide executive support for the project John Doe, VP Operations

Technology SupportProvides all technology support for theproject

Jane Smith, VP nformationTechnology

Process mprovement!dvises team on process improvementtechni"ues

Jim Jones, Process Team #ead

Project $anager$anages the %usiness case and projectteam

Steve Smith, Project $anager

Soft&are SupportProvides all soft&are support for theproject

!my 'hite, Soft&are (roup #ead

." PROBLEMDE(INITION

.")" P#$1lem Saemen

This section describes the business problem that this project was created to address. Theproblem may be process6 technology6 or product>ser$ice oriented. This section shouldnot include any discussion related to the solution.

%ince its inception6 %mith Consulting has relied upon a mainframe system to managepayroll and other administrati$e employee functions. (s the number of employees

grows6 so does the burden placed upon head7uarters to effecti$ely manage thecompany


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concerns regarding payroll and administrati$e tas;s. This places a large burden onmanagers who much balance these re7uirements with their day to day billable tas;s.

+eporting is another problem area associated with the legacy mainframe system. (ll

wee;ly and monthly financial reports must be generated manually which allows for ahigh probability of error and re7uire significant amounts of time. These manual tas;sfurther add to the burden and e#pense of the company.

."" O#'ani2ai$nal Impa&

This section describes how the proposed project will modify or affect the organizationalprocesses6 tools6 hardware6 and>or software. 't should also e#plain any new roles whichwould be created or how e#isting roles may change as a result of the project.

The WP Project will impact %mith Consulting in se$eral ways. The following pro$idesa high:le$el e#planation of how the organization6 tools6 processes6 and roles andresponsibilities will be affected as a result of the WP Project implementationTools the e#isting legacy administration platform will be phased out completely as theWP Project is stood up and becomes operational. This will re7uire training employeeson the WP tools and their use in support of other organizational tools.

Processes with the WP Project comes more efficient and streamlined administrati$eand payroll processes. This impro$ed efficiency will lessen the burden on managers andpro$ide autonomy to employees in managing their administrati$e and payroll tas;s andactions.+oles and +esponsibilities in addition to the WP Project allowing greater autonomy toemployees and less burden on managers6 the manpower re7uired to appropriately staffhuman resources and payroll departments will be reduced. While we greatly $alue ouremployees6 the reduction of non:billable o$erhead positions will directly reflect in ourbottom line and pro$ide an immediate return on our in$estment. The new platform willbe managed by the 'T group and we do not anticipate any changes to 'T staffingre7uirements.

Aardware>%oftware in addition to the software and licensing for the project6 %mithConsulting will be re7uired to purchase additional ser$ers to accommodate the platformand its anticipated growth for the ne#t !4 years.

."." Te&3n$l$'4 Mi'#ai$n

This section pro$ides a high:le$el o$er$iew of how the new technology will beimplemented and how data from the legacy technology will be migrated. This sectionshould also e#plain any outstanding technical re7uirements and obstacles which need tobe addressed.

'n order to effecti$ely migrate e#isting data from our legacy platform to the new Web:based platform6 a phased approach has been de$eloped which will result in minimal>nodisruption to day to day operations6 administration6 and payroll acti$ities. The followingis a high:le$el o$er$iew of the phased approach


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Phase ' Aardware>%oftware will be purchased and the WP system will be created in theweb:based en$ironment and tested by the 'T de$elopment group.

Phase '' 'T group will stand up a temporary legacy platform in the technology lab to beused for day to day operations for payroll and administration acti$ities. This will beused as a bac;up system and also to archi$e all data from the company mainframe.

Phase ''' The web:based platform will be populated with all current payroll andadministrati$e data. This must be done in conjunction with the end of a pay cycle.

Phase '= (ll employees will recei$e training on the new web:based platform.

Phase = The web:based platform will go li$e and the legacy mainframe system will bearchi$ed and stood down.

/" PROJECTO+ER+IE5This section describes high:le$el information about the project to include a description6 goalsand objecti$es6 performance criteria6 assumptions6 constraints6 and milestones. This sectionconsolidates all project:specific information into one chapter and allows for an easyunderstanding of the project since the baseline business problem6 impacts6 andrecommendations ha$e already been established.

The WP Project o$er$iew pro$ides detail for how this project will address %mithConsulting


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result of pro$iding employees with greater autonomy and fle#ibility. (dditionally6managers will once again be focused on billable tas;s instead of utilizing a significantportion of their time on non:billable administrati$e tas;s.

%mith Consulting will issue a +e7uest for 'nformation in order to determine whichproducts are immediately a$ailable to meet our business needs. )nce the product isac7uired6 all implementation and data population will be conducted with internalresources.

/"" 6$als an- O1%e&i7es

This section lists the business goals and objecti$es which are supported by the projectand how the project will address them.

The WP Project directly supports se$eral of the corporate goals and objecti$esestablished by %mith Consulting. The following table lists the business goals andobjecti$es that the WP Project supports and how it supports them

Business Goal/Objective Description

Timely and accurate reporting'e% %ased tool &ill allo& real)time and accurate reporting of allpayroll and administrative metrics

mprove staff efficiency*e&er + and payroll staff re"uired for managing these activities &illimprove efficiency

educe employee turnover(reater autonomy and flexi%ility &ill address employee concerns andallo& managers to focus on %illa%le tas-s

educe overhead costs *e&er staff re"uired &ill reduce the company.s overhead

/"." P#$%e& Pe#0$#man&e

This section describes the measures that will be used to gauge the project


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Key Resource/Process/Service Performance Measure

Staff esourcesElimination of 4 staff positions in + and payroll &hich are no longerre"uired as several functions &ill no& %e automated2

/"/" P#$%e& Assumpi$nsThis section lists the preliminary assumptions for the proposed project. (s the project isselected and mo$es into detailed project planning6 the list of assumptions will mostli;ely grow as the project plan is de$eloped. Aowe$er6 for the business case thereshould be at least a preliminary list from which to build.

The following assumptions apply to the WP Project. (s project planning begins andmore assumptions are identified6 they will be added accordingly.

(ll staff and employees will be trained accordingly in their respecti$e data entry6

timesheet6 and reporting tas;s on the new web:based system

unding is a$ailable for training

unding is a$ailable for purchasing hardware>software for web:based system

(ll department heads will pro$ide necessary support for successful project

completion

Project has e#ecuti$e:le$el support and bac;ing

/"8" P#$%e& C$ns#ains

This section lists the preliminary constraints for the proposed project. (s the project isselected and mo$es into detailed project planning6 the list of constraints will most li;elygrow as the project plan is de$eloped. Aowe$er6 for the business case there should be at

least a preliminary list from which to build.

The following constraints apply to the WP Project. (s project planning begins and moreconstraints are identified6 they will be added accordingly.

There are limited 'T resources a$ailable to support the WP Project and other6

ongoing6 'T initiati$es.

There are a limited number of commercial off the shelf 8C)T%9 products to support

both payroll and administrati$e acti$ities.

(s implementation will be done internally and not by the product de$elopers or

$endors6 there will be limited support from the hardware>software pro$iders.

/"9" Ma%$# P#$%e& Miles$nes

This section lists the major project milestones and their target completion dates. %incethis is the business case6 these milestones and target dates are general and in no wayfinal. 't is important to note that as the project planning mo$es forward6 a base:linedschedule including all milestones will be completed.

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The following are the major project milestones identified at this time. (s the projectplanning mo$es forward and the schedule is de$eloped6 the milestones and their targetcompletion dates will be modified6 adjusted6 and finalized as necessary to establish thebaseline schedule.

Milestones/Deliverables Taret Date

Project 5harter 67367386xx

Project Plan evie& and 5ompletion 69367386xx

Project :ic-off 69376386xx

Phase 5omplete 6;374386xx

Phase 5omplete 61374386xx

Phase 5omplete 6


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9" COSTBENE(ITANALYSISMany consider this one of the most important parts of a business case as it is often the costsor sa$ings a project yields which win final appro$al to go forward. 't is important to 7uantifythe financial benefits of the project as much as possible in the business case. This is usually

done in the form of a cost benefit analysis. The purpose of this is to illustrate the costs of theproject and compare them with the benefits and sa$ings to determine if the project is worthpursuing.

The following table captures the cost and sa$ings actions associated with the WP Project6descriptions of these actions6 and the costs or sa$ings associated with them through the firstyear. (t the bottom of the chart is the net sa$ings for the first year of the project.

"ction

"ction

Type

Description #irst year costs

$% in&icates

anticipate&

savins'

Purchase 'e%)%ased productand licenses

5ost nitial investment for 'P Project @;66,666266

Soft&are installation and training 5ost5ost for T group to install ne& soft&are and forthe training group to train all employees

@766,666266

educe + and payroll staff %y 4employees

Savings!n immediate reduction in overhead e"ual tothe annual salary of 9 + specialists and 8payroll analysts2

)@7


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:" ALTERNATI+ESANALYSIS(ll business problems may be addressed by any number of alternati$e projects. While thebusiness case is the result of ha$ing selected one such option6 a brief summary of consideredalternati$es should also be includedone of which should be the status 7uo6 or doing

nothing. The reasons for not selecting the alternati$es should also be included.

The following alternati$e options ha$e been considered to address the business problem.These alternati$es were not selected for a number of reasons which are also e#plained below.

No Project $Status 2uo' Reasons #or Not Selectin "lternative

:eep the mainframe legacy system in place =nnecessary expenditure of funds forincreased staffing levels

5ontinued occurrence of a high num%er ofdata errors

Poor and untimely reporting #ac- of automation

"lternative Option Reasons #or Not Selectin "lternative

Outsource the implementation of a &e%)%asedplatform

Significantly higher cost Expertise already exists in house

Vendor.s lac- of familiarity &ith our internalre"uirements

"lternative Option Reasons #or Not Selectin "lternative

Develop soft&are internally #ac- of "ualified resources

Significant cost associated &ith soft&aredesign

Timeframe re"uired is too long

;" APPRO+ALSThe business case is a document with which appro$al is granted or denied to mo$e forward withthe creation of a project. Therefore6 the document should recei$e appro$al or disappro$al fromits e#ecuti$e re$iew board

The signatures of the people below indicate an understanding in the purpose and content ofthis document by those signing it. By signing this document you indicate that you appro$e ofthe proposed project outlined in this business case and that the ne#t steps may be ta;en tocreate a formal project in accordance with the details outlined herein.

"pprover Name Title Sinature Date

lac-, J2 President and 5OO

ro&n, !2 Executive VP

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1.1 Business Case Template