BUSINESS CASE TEMPLATE

1. Executive Summary

This Business Case Template provides you with a good starting point for which to develop your
project/organization specific Business Case.

This section should provide general information on the issues surrounding the business problem
and the proposed project or initiative created to address it. Usually, this section is completed last
after all other sections of the business case have been written. This is because the executive
summary is exactly that, a summary of the detail that is provided in subsequent sections of the
document.

This business case outlines how the Web Platform (WP) Project will address current business concerns,
the benefits of the project, and recommendations and justification of the project. The business case also
discusses detailed project goals, performance measures, assumptions, constraints, and alternative
options.

1.1 Issue

This section of the business case should briefly describe the business problem that the proposed
project will address. This section should not describe how the problem will be addressed, only
what the problem is.

Because of an expanding client base, Smith Consulting has moved to a de-centralized business
model over the last 2 years. As we continue to support more clients in more locations, the
administration of our workforce has become more difficult. Until now, many of our internal
requirements such as reporting, payroll activities, and resource management have been done via
legacy mainframe systems. As our workforce expands in numbers and area, these legacy
mainframe systems have become inadequate to effectively manage these administrative
activities. This inadequacy is manifested in higher costs and increased employee turnover which
we have seen over the last 12 months. In order to more effectively manage our administration,
reduce costs, and improve employee turnover, Smith Consulting must move to a web-based
application as outlined in this business case for the WP Project. By doing so, employees will
assume a greater role in managing their administrative issues, have access to timesheets securely
online, and the company can manage its administration from one central and common platform.

1.2 Anticipated Outcomes

This section should describe the anticipated outcome if the proposed project or initiative is
implemented. It should include how the project will benefit the business and describe what the
end state of the project should be.
Moving to a centralized web-based administrative platform will enable Smith Consulting to
manage its employee payroll systems and administrative functions in a seamless and
consolidated manner. This technology migration will reduce overhead costs associated with the
large workforce currently required to manage these tasks. De-centralized employees will have
more autonomy to manage their payroll elections, training, reporting, and various other
administrative tasks. The company will also benefit from more timely and accurate financial
reporting as a result of our regional managers’ ability to enter and continuously update their
financial metrics. This real time access reduces errors, improves cycle time, and is readily
available to any authorized user.

1.3 Recommendation

This section summarizes the approach for how the project will address the business problem.
This section should also describe how desirable results will be achieved by moving forward with
the project.

Various options and alternatives were analyzed to determine the best way to leverage technology
to improve the business processes and reduce the overhead costs within Smith Consulting. The
approach described herein allows us to meet our corporate objectives of continuously improving
efficiency, reducing costs, and capitalizing on technology. The recommended WP Project will
methodically migrate the data and functions of our current mainframe system to our new web-
based platform in order to preserve data integrity and allow adequate time to train all employees
and managers on their responsibilities and respective administrative functions. The web-based
platform is compatible with all other current IT systems and will improve the efficiency and
accuracy of reporting throughout the company. Some of the ways that this technology will
achieve its desired results are:

 Employees 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 the mainframe system
 Timesheet and payroll data will be immediately accessible for quality control and reporting
purposes which will reduce the need for staff in non-billable positions to gather, analyze and
compile data
 Employees will have the ability to register for training which reduces the burden on managers
and training staff

1.4 Justification

This section justifies why the recommended project should be implemented and why it was
selected over other alternatives. Where applicable, quantitative support should be provided and
the impact of not implementing the project should also be stated.

The migration of payroll and other administrative functions from the legacy mainframe system to
the web-based platform will result in greater efficiency with regards to company resources and
business processes. The WP Project is also aligned with corporate strategy and objectives since it
uses technology to improve the way we do business. While other alternatives and the status quo
were analyzed, the WP Project was selected for proposal in this business case because it provides
the best opportunity to realize benefits in an expedited manner while also allowing for the
greatest improvement in efficiency and cost reduction. Other alternatives assumed greater risk,
provided less benefits, were too difficult to define, or were not suitably aligned with current
corporate strategy and/or objectives.

Initial estimates for the WP Project are:

 15% reduction in overhead costs in the first 12 months

 10% decrease in employee turnover in the first 12 months
 50% immediate decrease in time to generate weekly and monthly financial reports
 25% immediate decrease in the amount of time it takes to resolve payroll issues

2. Business Case Analysis Team

This section of the business case describes the roles of the team members who developed the
business case. It is imperative that participants and roles are clearly defined for the business case
as well as throughout the life of the project.

The following individuals comprise the business case analysis team. They are responsible for 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 Support Provides all technology support for the Jane Smith, VP Information
project Technology
Process Advises team on process improvement Jim Jones, Process Team Lead
Improvement techniques
Project Manager Manages the business case and project Steve Smith, Project Manager
team
Software Support Provides all software support for the project Amy White, Software Group Lead

3. Problem Definition

3.1 Problem Statement

This section describes the business problem that this project was created to address. The problem
may be process, technology, or product/service oriented. This section should not include any
discussion related to the solution.

Since its inception, Smith Consulting has relied upon a mainframe system to manage payroll and
other administrative employee functions. As the number of employees grows, so does the burden
placed upon headquarters to effectively manage the company’s administration at acceptable
levels. In the last two years Smith Consulting has hired 5 employees into overhead positions to
help manage and run the day to day administration operations. These positions provide little or
no return on investment as they are not billable positions and only maintain the status quo; they
do nothing to improve the management of the company’s administration. Additionally,
employees must currently call their regional managers to enter their work hours and raise any
concerns regarding payroll and administrative tasks. This places a large burden on managers who
much balance these requirements with their day to day billable tasks.

Reporting is another problem area associated with the legacy mainframe system. All weekly and
monthly financial reports must be generated manually which allows for a high probability of
error and require significant amounts of time. These manual tasks further add to the burden and
expense of the company.

3.2 Organizational Impact

This section describes how the proposed project will modify or affect the organizational
processes, tools, hardware, and/or software. It should also explain any new roles which would be
created or how existing roles may change as a result of the project.

The WP Project will impact Smith Consulting in several ways. The following provides a high-
level explanation of how the organization, tools, processes, and roles and responsibilities will be
affected as a result of the WP Project implementation:

Tools: the existing legacy administration platform will be phased out completely as the WP
Project is stood up and becomes operational. This will require training employees on the WP
tools and their use in support of other organizational tools.

Processes: with the WP Project comes more efficient and streamlined administrative and payroll
processes. This improved efficiency will lessen the burden on managers and provide autonomy
to employees in managing their administrative and payroll tasks and actions.

Roles and Responsibilities: in addition to the WP Project allowing greater autonomy to

employees and less burden on managers, the manpower required to appropriately staff human
resources and payroll departments will be reduced. While we greatly value our employees, the
reduction of non-billable overhead positions will directly reflect in our bottom line and provide
an immediate return on our investment. The new platform will be managed by the IT group and
we do not anticipate any changes to IT staffing requirements.

Hardware/Software: in addition to the software and licensing for the project, Smith Consulting
will be required to purchase additional servers to accommodate the platform and its anticipated
growth for the next 10 years.

3.3 Technology Migration

This section of the Business Case Template provides a high-level overview of how the new
technology will be implemented and how data from the legacy technology will be migrated. This
section should also explain any outstanding technical requirements and obstacles which need to
be addressed.
In order to effectively migrate existing data from our legacy platform to the new Web-based
platform, a phased approach has been developed which will result in minimal/no disruption to
day to day operations, administration, and payroll activities. The following is a high-level
overview of the phased approach:

Phase I: Hardware/Software will be purchased and the WP system will be created in the web-
based environment and tested by the IT development group.

Phase II: IT group will stand up a temporary legacy platform in the technology lab to be used for
day to day operations for payroll and administration activities. This will be used as a backup
system and also to archive all data from the company mainframe.

Phase III: The web-based platform will be populated with all current payroll and administrative
data. This must be done in conjunction with the end of a pay cycle.

Phase IV: All employees will receive training on the new web-based platform.

Phase V: The web-based platform will go live and the legacy mainframe system will be archived
and stood down.

4. Project Overview

This section describes high-level information about the project to include a description, goals and
objectives, performance criteria, assumptions, constraints, and milestones. This section of the
Business Case consolidates all project-specific information into one chapter and allows for an
easy understanding of the project since the baseline business problem, impacts, and
recommendations have already been established.

The WP Project overview provides detail for how this project will address Smith Consulting’s
business problem. The overview consists of a project description, goals and objectives for the
WP Project, project performance criteria, project assumptions, constraints, and major milestones.
As the project is approved and moves forward, each of these components will be expanded to
include a greater level of detail in working toward the project plan.

4.1 Project Description

This section describes the approach the project will use to address the business problem(s). This
includes what the project will consist of, a general description of how it will be executed, and the
purpose of it.

The WP Project will review and analyze several potential products to replace Smith Consulting’s
legacy payroll and administration mainframe system with a web-based platform. This will be
done by determining and selecting a product which adequately replaces our existing system and
still allows for growth for the next 10 years. Once selected, the project will replace our existing
system in a phased implementation approach and be completed once the new system is
operational and the legacy system is archived and no longer in use.
This project will result in greater efficiency of day to day payroll and administrative operations
and reporting, significantly lower overhead costs, and reduced turnover as a result of providing
employees with greater autonomy and flexibility. Additionally, managers will once again be
focused on billable tasks instead of utilizing a significant portion of their time on non-billable
administrative tasks.

Smith Consulting will issue a Request for Information in order to determine which products are
immediately available to meet our business needs. Once the product is acquired, all
implementation and data population will be conducted with internal resources.

4.2 Goals and Objectives

This section lists the business goals and objectives which are supported by the project and how
the project will address them.

The WP Project directly supports several of the corporate goals and objectives established by
Smith Consulting. The following table lists the business goals and objectives that the WP Project
supports and how it supports them:

Business Goal/Objective Description

Timely and accurate Web based tool will allow real-time and accurate reporting of all payroll and
reporting administrative metrics
Improve staff efficiency Fewer HR and payroll staff required for managing these activities will
improve efficiency
Reduce employee Greater autonomy and flexibility will address employee concerns and allow
turnover managers to focus on billable tasks
Reduce overhead costs Fewer staff required will reduce the company’s overhead

4.3 Project Performance

This section describes the measures that will be used to gauge the project’s performance and
outcomes as they relate to key resources, processes, or services.

The following table lists the key resources, processes, or services and their anticipated business
outcomes in measuring the performance of the project. These performance measures will be
quantified and further defined in the detailed project plan.

Key Performance Measure

Resource/Process/Service
Reporting The web-based system will reduce reporting discrepancies (duplicates
and gaps) and require reconciliation every 6 months instead of monthly.
Timesheet/Admin data entry Eliminate managers’ non-billable work by allowing employees to enter
their data directly.
Software and System Decrease in cost and staff requirements as system maintenance will be
Maintenance reduced from once every month to once every 6 months with the new
system.
Staff Resources Elimination of 5 staff positions in HR and payroll which are no longer
required as several functions will now be automated.

4.4 Project Assumptions

This section lists the preliminary assumptions for the proposed project. As the project is selected
and moves into detailed project planning, the list of assumptions will most likely grow as the
project plan is developed. However, for the business case there should be at least a preliminary
list from which to build.

The following assumptions apply to the WP Project. As project planning begins and more
assumptions are identified, they will be added accordingly.

 All staff and employees will be trained accordingly in their respective data entry, timesheet, and
reporting tasks on the new web-based system
 Funding is available for training
 Funding is available for purchasing hardware/software for web-based system
 All department heads will provide necessary support for successful project completion
 Project has executive-level support and backing

4.5 Project Constraints

This section of the business case template lists the preliminary constraints for the proposed
project. As the project is selected and moves into detailed project planning, the list of constraints
will most likely grow as the project plan is developed. However, for the business case there
should be at least a preliminary list from which to build.

The following constraints apply to the WP Project. As project planning begins and more
constraints are identified, they will be added accordingly.

 There are limited IT resources available to support the WP Project and other, ongoing, IT
initiatives.
 There are a limited number of commercial off the shelf (COTS) products to support both payroll
and administrative activities.
 As implementation will be done internally and not by the product developers or vendors, there
will be limited support from the hardware/software providers.

4.6 Major Project Milestones

This section lists the major project milestones and their target completion dates. Since this is the
business case, these milestones and target dates are general and in no way final. It is important to
note that as the project planning moves forward, a base-lined schedule including all milestones
will be completed.
The following are the major project milestones identified at this time. As the project planning
moves forward and the schedule is developed, the milestones and their target completion dates
will be modified, adjusted, and finalized as necessary to establish the baseline schedule.

Milestones/Deliverables Target Date

Project Charter 01/01/20xx
Project Plan Review and Completion 03/01/20xx
Project Kickoff 03/10/20xx
Phase I Complete 04/15/20xx
Phase II Complete 06/15/20xx
Phase III Complete 08/15/20xx
Phase IV Complete 10/15/20xx
Phase V Complete 12/15/20xx
Closeout/Project Completion 12/31/20xx

5. Strategic Alignment

All projects should support the organization’s strategy and strategic plans in order to add value
and maintain executive and organizational support. This section provides an overview of the
organizational strategic plans that are related to the project. This includes the strategic plan, what
the plan calls for, and how the project supports the strategic plan.

The WP Project is in direct support of several of Smith Consulting’s Strategic Plans. By directly
supporting these strategic plans, this project will improve our business and help move the
company forward to the next level of maturity.

Plan Goals/Objectives Relationship to Project

20xx Smith Consulting Improve record keeping and This project will allow for real-time
Strategic Plan for information management information and data entry, increased
Information information accuracy, and a consolidated
Management repository for all payroll and administrative
data
20xx Smith Consulting Utilize new technology to New technology will allow many payroll and
Strategic Plan for support company and administrative functions to be automated
Information department missions more reducing the levels of staff required to
Management effectively manage these systems
20xx Smith Consulting Engage the workforce and This project allows the employee to take an
Strategic Plan for improve employee retention active role in managing his/her payroll and
Human Capital administrative elections

6. Cost Benefit Analysis

Many consider this one of the most important parts of a business case as it is often the costs or
savings a project yields which win final approval to go forward. It is important to quantify the
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 the project and
compare them with the benefits and savings to determine if the project is worth pursuing.

The following table captures the cost and savings actions associated with the WP Project,
descriptions of these actions, and the costs or savings associated with them through the first year.
At the bottom of the chart is the net savings for the first year of the project.

Action Action Description First year costs

Type (- indicates
anticipated
savings)
Purchase Web-based Cost Initial investment for WP Project $400,000.00
product and licenses
Software installation Cost Cost for IT group to install new software and for $100,000.00
and training the training group to train all employees
Reduce HR and Savings An immediate reduction in overhead equal to the -$183,495.00
payroll staff by 5 annual salary of 3 HR specialists and 2 payroll
employees analysts.
Managers no longer Savings 18 regional managers currently average 16 hours -$471,744.00
required to work non- per week non-billable time. It is anticipated that
billable payroll and this number will be reduced to no more than 2
administrative tasks hours per week. At an average of $36.00 per hour
this results in ($36.00 x 14 hours/wk reduced
non-billable time x 18 managers) $9072.00
increased revenue per week.
System maintenance Savings Less frequent use of IT resources working on non- -$42,000
required every 6 value added tasks results in approximately
months instead of $42,000 savings per year.
monthly
Reduce employee Savings Savings in cost to out-process exiting employee -$50,000
turnover by 10% and recruit, hire, and train new employees is
approximately $50,000 in the first year.
Net First Year Savings $247,239.00

Based on the cost benefit analysis above we see that by authorizing the WP Project, Smith
Consulting will save $247,239.00 in the first year alone. This represents a significant
improvement in our operating costs and is a clear indicator of the benefit this project will have
on the company.

7. Alternative Analysis

All business problems may be addressed by any number of alternative projects. While the
business case is the result of having selected one such option, a brief summary of considered
alternatives should also be included—one of which should be the status quo, or doing nothing.
The reasons for not selecting the alternatives should also be included.
The following alternative options have been considered to address the business problem. These
alternatives were not selected for a number of reasons which are also explained below.

No Project (Status Quo) Reasons For Not Selecting Alternative

Keep the mainframe legacy system in place  Unnecessary expenditure of funds for increased
staffing levels
 Continued occurrence of a high number of data
errors
 Poor and untimely reporting
 Lack of automation

Alternative Option Reasons For Not Selecting Alternative

Outsource the implementation of a web-  Significantly higher cost
based platform  Expertise already exists in house
 Vendor’s lack of familiarity with our internal
requirements

Alternative Option Reasons For Not Selecting Alternative

Develop software internally  Lack of qualified resources
 Significant cost associated with software design
 Timeframe required is too long

8. Approvals

The business case is a document with which approval is granted or denied to move forward with
the creation of a project. Therefore, the document should receive approval or disapproval from
its executive review board

The signatures of the people below indicate an understanding in the purpose and content of this
Business Case by those signing it. By signing this document you indicate that you approve of the
proposed project outlined in this business case and that the next steps may be taken to create a
formal project in accordance with the details outlined herein.

Approver Name Title Signature Date

Black, J. President and COO
Brown, A. Executive VP