Business Case, Project Charter, and Stakeholder Analysis

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We have about 14 hours for this short paper.

Assignment Overview:

For this assignment, you will drafting a critical document that initiates a project which is the business case. that are often part of initiating a project.  This document provides decision-makers with the information they need to make an informed decision about whether to approve a project or not.

Learning Connection:

This assignment is directly linked to the following key learning outcomes from the course syllabus:

Preparing or working with a business case

In addition to these key learning outcomes, you will also have the opportunity to evidence the following skills through completing this assignment:

Critical thinking

Professional writing

Problem solving

Quantitative analysis

Assignment Instructions:

For this assignment, you be using the attached case study (see attached Case Study) to prepare a business case. A specific template, with instructions has been provided for this document (see attached PJM6000_Wk2_AssignmentTemplate). Here are a few notes:

Case Study:

The case study is fairly straightforward. You are part of a team that is trying to decide whether to use internal or external resources for a training project. As part of this case study, you will be preparing the business case which justifies the creation of the project.

All the information you need is within the case study, but you will be required to draw reasonable conclusion from the case study, as every detail is not present. Please pay particular attention to the financial details provided, as well as, the considerations at the end of the case study, as it provides you with some ‘hints’ about how to consider various items.

In a case study such as this, there are a range of good answers. So don’t think that you have to select one option or the other. The key is to accurately analyse the case, and then provide a recommendation that is based on evidence you provide within the business case.

Assignment Template:

The assignment template contains various sections and can be leveraged for this assignment.

Business Case

The business case has eight sections that lead you through an analysis of the case study. Instructions are provided within each section, along with sample questions, which act as prompts. The key to doing a good business case is drawing logical conclusions from the information provided.

Take the time to read the case study carefully, allowing for reasonable assumptions on your part to complete the business case template. If this is your first time completing something of this nature, make sure to allow yourself sufficient time.

Below are some key guidelines you will want to ensure you follow in writing the paper. Think of this short list as a quality control checklist, along with the attached grading rubric.

Each section of template is fully completed

Calculation supporting conclusions are performed accurately, making use of the financial background data provided

A clear recommendation is made and supported as part of the business case

Paper is free of grammatical errors

PJM Case Study

Case Study Background:

Ms. Deidre Jackson, the CEO of Acme Company, was recently given a report published by the Project Management Institute called the Pulse of the Profession.1 In the report, she learned a startling statistic. PMI® reported that when projects are poorly managed, approximately $122 million is wasted for every $1 billion spent (12.2%).

Now, her company’s annual expense for projects is much smaller (approximately $3 million expected in the next 12 months), but if she could experience even a partial amount of that savings, she could reinvest those savings in future growth.

In order to accomplish this, she believes that she needs to adopt a more formal or mature approach to managing projects, and she needs to professionalise the project management teams and, specifically, the project managers. She has a colleague, Xin Xue, from a previous company who was the internal project management expert in the company who she believes might be able to help, so she gives her a call to get her take.

Ms. Jackson just finished a long conference call with Ms. Xue, and she now has a better idea of what this might take in terms of effort and resources to move forward. In short, in Ms. Xue’s opinion, there is a way to experience the savings that Ms. Jackson hopes for, but it will take some time and investment,

so, she thinks they should move forward with maturing their team and management approach, but, as noted, it will take an investment, so Ms. Jackson needs to be certain that the savings will deliver sufficient business value. In short, is there a solid, defensible business case for such a project?

Present Situation:

Ms. Jackson emailed you the Pulse of the Profession report over the weekend, and you are now sitting in her office at 9:00 am on Monday morning. She wants you to develop a business case for implementing a training program that will lead to maturing the organisation’s project management practices.

Based on her work over the weekend to see where some monies may be available for the unexpected project and her conversation with Ms. Xue, she provides you with the following information:

• The company expects to spend approximately $3,000,000 on project related work over the next 12 months (year 1) and $3,500,000 over the following 12 months (year 2).
• Based on her conversations with Ms. Xue, she believes the cost of training and implementing a more mature model will be approximately $175,000 as an initial investment
• Conservatively, she believes that the company will experience a savings of 3 percent in the first year and 4.5 percent in the second year
• Although the company will experience these savings for many more years in her opinion, she wants to show that the company will receive a sufficient savings within the first 2 years to justify this investment within the business case
• On most investments, the company would expect to see a return of 11½ – 12 percent (internal rate of return), and the cost of money (discount rate) is 6 percent.

1 Including in assigned reading for Week 1.

Ms. Jackson has to prepare a business case to share with her Board of Directors at the next quarterly board meeting. There are seven board members including the Chairman, Vice Chair, Secretary, and members of the Compliance Committee.

The Chairman of the Board, Lou Jackson, is typically resistant to investing money in these types of initiatives so it is important that the business case is well defined.

Ms. Jackson is considering having Jaitan Darshana, her internal PM who has a long tenure with the organisation, assist her with the preparation of the business case but she is concerned that Jaitan may be resistant to the idea.

Business Case Assignment Instructions & Considerations

You have been tasked by Ms. Jackson with drafting a business case for this potential initiative, and she has provided you with a template to use (see template attached to assignment instructions). She provides you with the following comments related to each section of the template, but she tells you that you will need to sharpen and expand on the ideas that she has provided. She expects your final draft to be ready to take to the company’s Board of Directors for review and approval by week’s end.

• Background and Business Problem o She believes this has been covered in the contents of your initial conversation, where she

provided you with background information (see above case study material) • Strategic Case

o She states that this is strategically tied to the company’s goal of becoming more project oriented, as they believe this will allow for more efficient and effective work, leading to the company being able to grow in a more scalable manner.

• Project Overview

o in addition to what she has stated above, if the business case is approved, then she believes the basic project would be an 8 – 10-week training program for all project managers and team members that would train them in the adoption of a more mature project management model, and it would include some mentorship by the trainer. She believes this would cost a total of $175,000.

• Expected Benefits

o the expected benefits would be increased efficiencies and effectiveness, as noted above.

• Financial Considerations o She has provided you with the investment amount to provide financial support for the

Investment

• Risks

o She has asked you to look at primarily risks associated with the overall initiative, not necessarily those focused on the training aspect of the project. The CEO is concerned about potential disruptions to current projects that are already in flight.

• Timeline o Based on her conversations with Ms. Xue, she believes the project execution could begin

within 60 – 90 days, depending on the path chosen for moving forward • Recommendations and Next Steps

o She has asked you to consider all the relevant data you have collected and put into the business case, and then provide a succinctly stated and well-supported recommendation and concrete next steps if the proposal is accepted

General Case Considerations for Business Case:

o It is expected that you will need to make reasonable assumptions in completing the business case, so rely on the case study as guide. This is similar to how projects are conceived in the real world. We have a basic set of factors, and then we must make reasonable assumptions as we progress forward.

Business Case[footnoteRef:1] [1: This document is based on an expanded business case template provided by www.projectmanagementdocs.com.

Project Name: _________________________________

*Be sure to remove the instructions before you submit your completed statement.

Business Case

1

Project Name: _________________________________

1.0 Background

& Business Problem

This section should briefly describe how the current situation has been arrived at and, and it

should briefly describe the business

problem that the proposed project will address. This section should not describe how the problem will be addressed, but

only what the problem is.

2.0 Strategic Case

All projects should support the organisation’s strategy and strategic plans in order to add value and maintain executive and

organisational support. This section provides an overview of the organisational strategic plans that are related to the project.

Essentially, where does this project fit in helping the organisational achieve its goals?

This section should also list the business

goals and objectives which are supported by the project and how the project will address them.

3.0 Project Overview

This section describes high- level information about the project to include a description (high level scope), assumptions, and

Constraints.

4.0 Expected Benefits

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.

5.0 Financial Considerations

Many consider this one of the most important parts of a business case as it is often the costs or savings a project yield 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.

6.0 Risks

What the risks that you anticipate based on your analysis of the proposed solutions (i.e., project)? These are not the specific risks

associated with your project’s performance, such as the project being delivered late, but are risks associated with whether

or not the proposed solution will actually address the business problem you have identified above.

This document is based on an expanded business case template provided by www.projectmanagementdocs.com

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