Business case - Service Manual

Overview

A business case is a document which is used to justify spending money on a new project or service. It sets out a ‘case for change’ and centres around three basic questions:

Where are we now?
Where do we want to be?
How are we going to get there?

You don't need to be a business expert to write a business case, but you do need to find out and organise lots of information. This involves plenty of research as well as meetings and workshops with stakeholders.

Writing a business case is not a linear process. You will need to write different parts at different times, depending on how much information you have, and who is available to help you.

Running workshops

One of the most important things you can do at the start of writing a business case is to run a workshop with your key stakeholders. This helps to get people engaged, and can give you a better understanding of the problem.

It is also useful in helping you gather as much information as you can before you start writing. You might need to run more than one workshop to get everything you need.

The objectives of the workshop are to identify and agree:

spending objectives
existing arrangements
business needs
potential scope
key service requirements
related benefits and risks
constraints and inter-dependencies

The people you need at the workshop are:

senior managers (business)
customers and stakeholders (users)
experts in relevant fields (technical)
experienced practitioner(s) to facilitate the workshop

The Five Case Model

Once you have the information you need, you can begin planning your business case using ‘The Five Case Model’ framework.

The 5 cases are:

Strategic case (why are you doing this project?)
Economic case (what is the best way of doing it?)
Commercial case (how will you procure the solution?)
Financial case (how will you pay for it?)
Management case (how will you manage the delivery of the project?)

The strategic case makes the ‘case for change’ and demonstrates how it fits in with your organisation’s strategic objectives and long-term vision.

You will explain how the project contributes to:

achieving key strategic goals
enhancing organisational capabilities
addressing emerging challenges or opportunities

The economic case identifies the proposal that delivers best public value.

You will first need to develop a long list of options. This means researching the solutions that are available to deliver your project.

Once you have a good idea of your options, you need to agree a shortlist. You do this by looking at 3 things for each option:

desirability - does this meet your objectives?
achievability - how difficult is it to do?
feasability - how affordable is it?

The commercial case demonstrates that the preferred option is attractive to the market, can be procured and is commercially viable.

You will need to analyse the market demand and customer needs that the project aims to address. This means:

evaluating market trends
describing the competitive landscape
identifying risks or barriers to entry

The financial case demonstrates that the preferred option is affordable and has the support of stakeholders and customers.

You will need to explain how the project aligns with the organisation's financial objectives and priorities.

The management case demonstrates that the preferred option is achievable and that robust arrangements are in place for the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the solution.

You will need to:

evaluate the operational feasibility of the project from a management and organisational perspective
assess project governance, resource availability, project management capabilities, and potential constraints or dependencies
develop strategies to address operational challenges and ensure effective project execution

Step 1

Contact your Delegated Procurement Officer (DPO)
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If you work for the Scottish Government, you should start your procurement process by contacting your directorate's DPO.

If you do not have a DPO, or you work for an agency of the Scottish Government or another organisation under the Technology Assurance Framework, check who you need to contact.

There will usually be a cost charged to your project for procurement support. How much your project is charged will depend on a number of factors, including how much, and what type of, support is needed.

Starting your procurement with your DPO or a procurement officer

When contacting your DPO or procurement officer, you should be able to explain your procurement requirements. For very basic, low value procurements, you will not need to give extensive details, but for everything else you should be able to explain:
- your requirements based on your business case
- the needs of your users - you should have a good sense of your users' requirements from the discovery phase of your project and from carrying out user research
- what advice you've had from subject matter and technical experts that have helped you form your requirements - if you work for the Scottish Government, you should fill in a questionnaire that will help put you in contact with some of the people who can provide the specialist technical advice you'll need
- how the planning and work you've done so far in creating your business case and researching the needs of your users meets the Digital Scotland Service Standard
At this point of the process, you should only be thinking of your procurement in terms of requirements - what needs must be met - rather than in terms of buying a specific product or service.

If you work within the Scottish Government, an Accountable Officer Form will also need to be completed before any procurement can take place.
Step 2

Decide how to buy what you need
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Your DPO or procurement officer will help you decide the best way to procure what you need.

The best route to procuring what you need depends on a number of factors including cost and how common your requirements are. Things your DPO or procurement officer will look at are whether:
- for a common, low value procurement within the Scottish Government, an ePC can be used to quickly buy something to meet your requirements
- a Scottish Government reusable component, such as ScotPayments, ScotAccount or the Cloud platform can be used - if possible, reusing existing Scottish Government components will save your service time and money
If reuse is not suitable, it's likely your DPO or procurement officer will need to go to the external market with your requirements to buy what you need. It's important to note that you do not need to do anything to start the process of going to market - it's the responsbility of your DPO or procurement officer to oversee this process - though they may need to involve you in some aspects of market engagement, such as speaking to suppliers to explain your requirements.

Your DPO or procurement officer will also let you know if supporting documents, like a specification document, need to be produced as part of this process.

Find out more about the options when going to market, including procurement frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems.
Step 3

Decide what you're going to buy after going to market
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You'll need to evaluate offers from suppliers with your DPO or procurement officer.

During this process, your DPO or procurement officer will undertake a commercial evaluation of offers and you will need to undertake a technical evaluation to check which offer best meets your requirements.

You should set up a Tender Evaluation Panel within your team to conduct your technical evaluation. This panel should involve senior leads on your project, such as Service or Product Owners, and include appropriate digital expertise.

You'll need to make sure that what the panel decides to buy as a result of your technical evaluation is evidenced as:
- meeting the Digital Scotland Service Standard (DSSS), especially DSSS criteria about choosing the right technology, understanding your users and accessibility
- having a documented decision process - you might capture your evaluation in a Technology Options Appraisal document, especially if your procurement is complex or there are a high number of offers, but how you evidence your evaluation is up to you as long as your documentation is robust
The commercial evaluation, carried out by your DPO or procurement officer, will often include 'weightings'. These will be applied to help prioritise your requirements, and evaluate which offer meets them in the most cost-effective way.
Step 4

Sign a contract
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Once you've made the decision about what you're going to procure, your DPO or procurement officer will sign a contract with the successful supplier.

Your contract will be a fully integrated, consistent suite of documents. It will define:
- what you're buying, i.e. a specification
- the method and timeframe for delivery, risk allocation and other key commercial terms, e.g. the payment mechanism and KPIs
- what happens if things go wrong, i.e. that critical risk allocation is defined and properly reflected in the contract
The contract also makes sure:
- decisions on contractual roles and responsibilities are documented
- the rights and obligations of each party, and the associated contractual processes required to implement your procurement, are defined clearly
If the procurement was done through a framework, your supplier will generally have already signed up to pre-agreed, robust terms and conditions as part of their successful entry to a framework. If the procurement was done through a dynamic purchasing system, or in another way, this will not be the case, so your DPO or procurement officer will help you put the terms together from a set of standard terms and conditions used for Scottish Government procurement contracts.

Proportionality

The complexity of your contract will match the scale, complexity, criticality and lifecycle of the goods or services your contract is for. If it's an ongoing product or service, you’ll need to make sure that your team is resourced to actively manage the relationship with your supplier and the product or service delivered through the contract.

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Information

Information

Overview

Running workshops

The Five Case Model

Strategic case

Economic case

Commercial case

Financial case

Management case

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