Better Business Cases™ Practitioner

Better Business Cases™ is based on the Five Case Model - which is the UK government's best practice approach to structuring spending proposals and making effective business decisions. Using this best practice approach will allow organizations to reduce unnecessary spending and improve the decision-making process which gives you a greater chance of securing necessary funding and support for initiatives.

The goal of the practitioner course is to develop a candidate's ability to deliver a comprehensive business case, through encouraging expanded knowledge to guide the practical application of theoretical foundations. Upon the completion of this Practitioner course, a candidate will be able to start applying the model to a real business case development project.

PREREQUISITES:

Successful completion of the Better Business Cases™ Foundation course and APMG Better Business Cases Foundation exam with a pass rate of 50% or higher.

Who Should Attend

• Senior Responsible Owners (SROs), Programme Directors and other Directors with responsibility for the successful delivery of programmes and projects.
• Project Managers, Project Team members and specialist advisers tasked with delivering a business case for investment.
• Officers involved in the scrutiny and review of investment proposals

At the end of this program, you will be able to:

• Develop the lifecycle of a business case and to establish the relationships between the five cases.
  
• Apply the steps in the business case development framework, in order to support the production of a business case, using the Five Case Model, for a given scenario.
  

Overview

Overview of Better Business Cases

• Alignment with the strategic planning process
• Importance of the Business Case using the Five Case Model
• Overview of the Five Case Model
• Purpose of the key stages in the development of a spending proposal
• Purpose of a Business Justification Case
• Business Case Development Process
• Purpose of project/programme assurance and assurance reviews
• Responsibility for producing the Business Case

Determining the Strategic Context and Undertaking the Strategic Assessment

• Scoping the Scheme and Preparing the Strategic Outline Case
• Planning the Scheme and Preparing the Outline Business Case
• Procuring the Solution and Preparing the Full Business Case
• Implementation and monitoring
• Evaluation and feedback

Making the Case For Change

• Agree the strategic context
• Determine spending objectives, existing arrangements and business needs
• Determine potential business scope and key service requirements
• Determine benefits, risks, constraints and dependencies

Exploring the Preferred Way Forward

• Agree critical success factors
• Determine long list options and SWOT analysis
• Recommend a preferred way forward

Determining Potential Value for Money

• Revisit the short list
• Prepare the economic appraisal for short- listed options
• Undertake benefits appraisal
• Undertake risk appraisal
• Select preferred option and undertake sensitivity analysis

Preparing for the Potential Deal

• Determine the procurement strategy
• Determine service streams and required outputs
• Outline potential risk apportionment
• Outline potential payment mechanisms
• Ascertain contractual issues and accountancy treatment

Ascertaining Affordability and Funding Requirement

• Prepare the financial model
• Prepare the financial appraisals

Planning for Successful Delivery

• Plan programme/project management
• Plan change and contract management
• Plan benefits realization
• Plan risk management
• Plan programme/project assurance and post project evaluation

Procuring the Value for Money Solution

• Revisit the case for change
• Revisit the OBC options
• Detail procurement process and evaluation of best and final offers (BAFOs)

Contracting for the Deal

• Set out the negotiated deal and contractual arrangements
• Set out the financial implications of the deal

Ensuring Successful Delivery

• Finalize project management arrangements and plans
• Finalize change management arrangements and plans
• Finalize benefits realization arrangements and plans
• Finalize risk management arrangements and plans
• Finalize contract management arrangements and plans
• Finalize post project evaluation arrangements and plans