Defining the Business Case
The primary aim of a business case is to provide information on the benefits, investment (in time and resources), and risks associated with a modernization proposal. A well-crafted business case provides the basis for effective decision making.
Further, a business case captures the reasoning for initiating an investment and must support a specific, demonstrable business need. That is, the business case provides not only a clearly defined business need, but a modernization activity that is designed specifically to meet that need. And of course, as the business case identifies specific, related benefits, the ongoing viability of the modernization activity can continue to be measured against it.
Key Questions
- How will the business case establish the value, relevance, and importance of HR modernization for the agency?
- How will I ensure the implementation plan is properly communicated and managed?
- How will the business case reduce risk and improve the probability of successful delivery of benefits?
- How will I lead, advise, and influence the agency’s HR modernization plans to optimally utilize agency resources toward the highest value opportunities?
Checklist
- Evaluate stakeholder inputs, service measures, key performance indicators, and cost-benefit analysis on proposed process improvements and system modernizations to ensure value, relevance, and importance.
- Establish communications with working groups, employee forums, management roundtables, and executive councils to ensure alignment on plans, goals, and objectives.
- Plan and conduct pilot projects, test business use cases, and evaluate cross-agency best practices, success stories, and available HR modernization solutions on the HR Quality Service Management Office.
- Evaluate modernization recommendations to guide optimal resource utilization in alignment with the agency’s desired outcomes for human capital management.