Credits: 14 PDUs / 2 Days

Course Level:
Basic/Intermediate

Prerequisites:
No prerequisites – This course suitable for both novices and experienced people who need to develop and justify the business case. It is recommended that participants complete the BA01 – Business Analysis Essentials course prior to enrolling.

Course Objectives:
Learn the steps to effective business case development and support your strategic business recommendations with sound budgeting and financial back-up. The one course you need to make high-impact recommendations and receive full management support for your ideas.

Intended Audience:
This skills-intensive workshop is ideal for experienced managers, directors and corporate officers who regularly develop and present budgets, business plans and recommendations.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop requirements for software-intensive systems using proven methodologies
• Apply use cases to software development initiatives
• Build a use case-based requirements model
• Write user stories and brief, casual, fully developed use cases
• Model user interface using mock-ups and develop a data model
• Validate requirements, manage the changes and keep traceability

Course Outline:

Section 1: Introduction

• Purpose of a business case
• Who is involved
• What to look out for
• Define the business case elements

Section 2: Building the business case for new ideas

• Overcoming financial, managerial and organizational barriers to new concepts and strategies
• Using the Business Case approach to compel others to support your vision for success
• Financial and strategic measurement tools

Section 3: Five key steps when planning and presenting a business case

•  Step 1:  Problem/ Opportunity Identification
• Step 2:  Analysis of Success Drivers/Impediments
• Step 3:  Presenting Strategic & Tactical Alternatives
• Step 4:  Comprehensive Evaluation & Recommendations
• Step 5:  Implementation & Action Planning

Section 4: Analyzing your Business case

• Financial analysis
• Risk analysis
• Feasibility analysis

Section 5: Presenting the business case to your organization

• Communicating with your audience
• Identifying critical decision criteria and objectives
• How to package and present your case for maximum impact
• Anticipating and responding to challenges

Section 6: Additional resources

•  Other useful books and links on business cases

Download PDF:

BA03-Writing Effective Business Cases – 2 days