Benefits and Business Case Reviews

Have you checked recently to see if your business case still stacks up?

COVID-19 has thrown everything up in the air. Ways of working, access to/cost of borrowing, realisation of benefits, access to resources, restrictions on travel are impacting everyone’s ability to execute.

What do shifts in strategic priorities mean to your project?

We see articles in the press asking if now is the time to start new major projects, such as the North East Link in Victoria, and others pushing to accelerate their delivery.

Within many organisations, immediate funding has shifted to ensuring operation technology infrastructure and security can support large numbers of staff working from home.

Together, this all puts the spotlight onto business cases.

What to do?

• Review the benefits statements: Are they still aligned to strategic outcomes? Are the outcomes likely to change?
• Is the timing still realistic? Will the right resources be available when you need them?
• Check the funding and forecasts: Are they still realistic given the risk? Maybe interest rates and short term support measures mean it makes sense to bring things forward?
• Conduct a risk assessment – Each of those assumptions in the Business Case had one of more risks linked to them. And look at external risks as well as internal. For example, some organisations were caught out when offshore resource pools were shut down or had reduced staff.

For most initiatives, a Business Case review should only take a few hours. It helps confirm if a project is still delivering the expected value and provides critical information to support a broader portfolio view.

Click here to download to download our Business Case Guidelines resource that includes tips to assist you when conducting a Business Case Review.

If you are unsure of the best approach to doing a review, your people are preoccupied with other things, or you would just like a bit of advice, get in touch with us to arrange a confidential discussion, or book an impartial review. You can do this by contacting us at enquiries@metapm.com.au or on 1800 800 436.