How to Build a Strong Business Case for Approval in the US

You can explain your business idea and make a plan for how you'll carry it out with a business case. Traditionally, business cases are used to get things approved and ranked. They are also used to see how well a project is doing after it's been started. In a good business case, every part of the idea is laid out, from the problem to the answer to how it will be carried out. There is a normal way for most businesses to write a business case. A business case describes a problem, an idea, how it will affect money, and how it will be put into action, including risks, possibilities, resource needs, and how the success will be measured.

Business case and business plan are different

business cases are for making changes to businesses that already exist, while business plans are for starting a brand-new business.Getting official data is the first part of the business case. It lists the title of the plan, who came up with it, who sponsored it, and the date it was turned in. Depending on how the company decides what to do first, some business cases need to be signed off on by certain people or teams before they can be sent for approval. Anyone who hasn't heard of the idea should be able to understand the subject of the business case. A case study is "adding payment methods on the website and mobile applications."When you think about the clearance process, you should be careful about which project sponsor you choose and how you arrange the sign-offs. Your sponsor is the business person who is moving your idea forward. The sponsor is usually in charge of the project's cash and will help it run.When you're thinking about sign-offs, the order in which they happen can be important. It's best to get approval from Finance first, then bring the idea to IT for approval. This way, you know that IT will be protecting you from risks and money problems. The executive outline is the first part of your business case. Though it's the first part, the executive summary is the last one you'll write.It's an outline of the whole business case that tells the reader everything they need to know about the project in a few short sentences. After reading the executive summary, people should fully understand your idea and why it's good.

First write the rest of your business case

Then, go back and pick out the most important parts of each section. Put them together in a way that makes sense as a story.When I write an executive summary, I like to follow this order: I describe the problem, then the solution, then the benefits of the solution, then the costs of putting it into action, then the benefits in numbers, then the risks of my plan, and finally a timeline. It flows naturally and is simple to follow and, more importantly, simple to agree with.Now let's see what an executive summary might look like. "Some of our employees don't know how to write a business case well enough." This makes it take longer for ideas to be approved and wastes time and effort.We also spend a lot of money "on travel related to training."We think the best answer is to give people "video-based training on how to write a business case."All of our employees will be able to get the training.This will save them money on trips and help them get better at these skills."This solution will cost us $250,000 per year."We think that we will be able to travel less and get more done, which will save us $500,000. Which means that this investment has a 300% internal rate of return and a 3.9 million dollar net present value. "The biggest risk we face is that employees won't be interested in the content while they watch it at their desks,"

We can lower that risk by keeping an eye on things and making it necessary to use the methods shown in the videos in order to get a business case accepted

The program can be tested by a small group of people by the end of the first quarter and fully implemented across the whole company by the end of the second quarter. See? The story is simple and easy to understand and agree with. If you want to get your idea approved, when you write your business case, you should think about how it will flow. Make sure that the person reading it can quickly go from the problem to your answer to the benefits to the rollout.In the problem definition part, you'll describe the main business issue or chance that your project will directly solve. Include a summary of the main problem, describing the pain point and what's causing it. Also, talk about how this problem affects the company.One that is well-written makes the reader think, "Wow, that's a big problem that needs to be solved."It's what will get people to move and get your idea approved. Use simple words. Remember that the review process will include people from all over the company and all of their roles. To help them understand what's wrong, you should make it simple. Take a look at some problem statements as examples.