Here is a mindmap that can be used as a guiding tool towards building a business case. Share if you like the map...

1. Executives would like to kow
financial implications
You can ask finance department
for help
Evaluating alternatives against
the metrics
Payback period
NPV -Net Present Value
ROI
Not all alternaties will have
similar impact to financial
results of implentation
Framework should also be able
to help you document nonfinancial outcomes
E.g. Impact on sales
Creating a framework for
comparing alternatives
Each alternatives can have
variable assumptions, inputs,
processes, and methods
resulting into variable outputs
Resource requirements may
differ as well between each
alternative
Analyze the Alternatives
After you have evaluated
different alternatives its time to
log the pros and cons of each
Pros and cons table
List the costs
List the benefits of expected
additional revenue
Point out cost savings to be
gained
Identify whe you expect to see
the costs and anticipated
revenues
List the impact on other
corporate metrics, such as
customer satisfsction, customer
retention, and operational
efficiency
Steps for analyzing alternaties
List any unquantifiable benefits
and costs
Understanding of the issue at
hand
Conduct your business impact
anaysis
Identifying the problem or
opportunity
Organize the information into
table for comparison
Statement that defines the
benefits
Once you have documented the
pros and cons of each
alternative, its time to select the
best possible solution
Strong opportunity statement
Developing an opportunity
statement
Be sure to document problem
as an opportunity
You may have attached the
financial metrics to each
alternatives, making your task
easy and influencing the
decision making
Dont define your proposal or
idea as preferred solution
Identify most relevant objective
you hope to achieve
Cost savings or increased sales
Identifying your business
objectives
Impacts to kpi
You need to have a clear
strategy to make a choice
regardless of availability of all
data /metrics
Selecting the best solution
Define the opportunity
Consider even if hard to
measure eg. Customer
satisfaction
Which alternative will generate
highest revenue in shortest time
Choose 3 or 4 objectives .
Narrow down
Would the new solution give
company comletitive advantage
Prioritizing your business
objectives
Whose support would you need
Would it increase the NPS
score
Who would be affected if your
ideas are put into action
Post selection of the best fit
solution, identify all possible
risks to you and theorganization
before committing to it
Increase profitability
Improve customer satisfaction
Reduce churn
Risk about implementation of
your idea
Assign metrics to your
objectives
Increase RCM
Weighing the risk
Reduce employee turnover
Risks to your peers and your
organization
Any other consequences
Brainstorm full set of objectives
Make the choice and
assess the risk
Brainstorm ideas with
stakeholders
Determine personal and
organizational tolerence level of
the risk
Stakeholders can be inside or
outside to organization
Sensitivity analysis
Generating list of options
Deciding how to mitigate the
risk
Record the results of
brainstorming session
Mitigating the risk helps you
modify your recommended
solution and its variables
Dont judge the outcomes
Goal is to generate as many
feasible options as possible
If 2 of 4 alternatives provides
same or similar benefits then
you might want to compare their
risks
Its about selling your idea
Determining whether to modify
your recommended course of
action
Identify and talk to stakeholders
They need to feel involved and
early
Be prepared for less desirable
alternatives
Gatering inputs from stake
holders
Clearly define negative impact
and missed opportunities due to
resource allocation issues or
challenges
They may provide ideas and
inputs you may not have
thought
Open mindedness
Selecting a preliminary
recommendation
Identify key stakeholders and
decision makers
Identify the Alternatives
Document the rational for your
recommendation
Ask for inputs fom stakeholders
early in the process
Incorporate feedback into your
case
Ask for inputs from trusted
advisors
Steps for choosing final
recommendation
Consider the risks
Look for the ways to mitigate
the risks
Steps for building support for
your BC
Revisit your original
recommendations
Developing a
business case
Collect benchmarks on other
organizations
The preliminary milestone
Individuals responsibility for
each milestone
Create multiple delivery fomats
for your case
Resources required to reach
each milestone
Combine any alternatives that
could reasonsbly be
implemented together
Eliminate elaborate, high-risk
options
Favor the easy to implement
solution over complex and
difficult
Dates when company will see
intended benefits
Understanding the purpose of
an implementation plan
Impacts on company's budget
and expense
Narrowing your choices
Increase in revenue
Your plan to showcase the
success of your plan and its
results
Go with your intuition
Depend more on your hunches
and professional judgement
Identify major steps in your
action plan, these are your
milestones
Sales revenue per customer
Cost of each alternative
Include notes about any risk
Customer satisfaction
Implementation
Customer retention
Pilot
Repeat sales
Employee satisfaction
Testing
List your milestones
Identifying the information you
need
Training
Turnover
Go live
Cost of turnover
Phases - if any
Obtain historical or typical data
Post launch feedback loop back
into the system for future
modifications
You will want to forecast change
in that data
Remember... The information
that you want wont be always in
one place
Establish explicit chckpoints
with stakeholders and decision
makers
You will have to do digging for
the data for your business case
metrics
Review the plan, execution
style, progress and suggest any
midcourse corrections
Communicate with decision
makers about your progress
Check with HR, finance, data
warehouse, local database, and
any other source within and
outside the organization
Gather data and
estimate tme frame
Craft a plan
forimplementing your
idea
Expedite the implementation
(decision makers may ask for)
Be prepared with backup plan
$$$$$$$$$
Industry journals, internet,
consulting firms with expertise
Organizations such as forrester,
gartner, etc...
Human resources
Collecting the data
Type of resources needed at
each level of project
Identify resources you will need
to carry out your course of
action
Be sure to define the categories
of data to be able to capture it
easily
List of questions... Lots of
questions, that you are seeking
an answer to
New budget or current
budget ... Where will the $$$$
come from
Docuent your assumptions and
dsta sources
Who is responsible/accountable
for each milestone
Make sure estimates are
realistic
How long will it take to start
realizing benefits of your
initiative
Ramp up and ramp down of
resources towards the
beginning and end of the
initiative
Clarify who will do what to
implement your alternative
Who is accountable for intended
resukts and benefits of each
milestone
Setting a time frame
Indicating expected payoff
ROI realization, breakeven
period
Indicate when will the
alternative generate intended
benefits
Documenting your estimates
and assumptions
Make sure you are logging all
the data/info needed to track
and report the results of
implementation (good and bad)
Projections help you sell your
idea to decision makers
Positive Results help you gain
trust of decision makers and
strengthen your partnership
Track you results
Periodically and timely reporting
of progress and results help
everyone see throught the
progress transparently and
participate in critical points of
milestones for any amendments
Learning and understanding
what went wrong ... Lessons
learnt are important as well
Understanding your audience
Using visuals to present your
case
Presentations with screen
shots, charts, numbers,
milestones, progress report,
issue list etc... Are critical
Live demo of working solution
and its review is critical as well
Slide 1: the opportunity
statement
Slide 2: 2-3 alternativesyou
considered
Communicate your case
Slide 3: a summary of costs and
benefits you considered
Sample presentation steps
Slide 4: your initial
recommendation and why you
chose it
Slide 5: the risks associated
with this recommendation and
how you plan to mitigate
Slide 6: the high level
milestones
Slide 7: reiterate on why
opportunity is important and
how it adds to the bottomline