1

Project
Management
Business
Documents
Project Management
Dr. Sena Agbodjah Agyepong
05 – September – 2019
To be covered…

• What PM Business Documents are

• Why they are essential

• What they entail

• Work through an example to get us going

What are PM
Business
Documents?
Some definitions
To note…
1. The Project Sponsor is accountable for the development
and maintenance of the project business case
documents.
2. The Project Manager is responsible for providing
recommendations and oversight to ensure alignment of
all project documents.
3. Needs assessment provides information for the various
Business Documents.
Needs Assessment

1. Understanding the business goals and objectives,

issues, opportunities of the organization and makes
recommendations to address these.
2. Can be conducted using progressive elaboration
which allows it to be iterative/ incremental.
3. It can be a project on its own and feeds the Project
Business Case.
Project Business Case
1. Lists the reasons and objectives for project initiation.

2. Helps to measure project success as it provides a criteria for evaluation.

3. It is used throughout the life cycle of the project.

4. It aids in making the go/no-go decision before initiation.

Project Business Case
Business need
• What is promoting the need for
action?
• Situational statement: need +
value expected
• Stakeholders affected
• Scope expectations
Analysis of Situation
• Organizational strategy, goals and
objectives
• Root cause and contributors
• Gap analysis, known risks, success
criteria
• Decision criteria for actions
Project Business Case

Criteria for Analysis Action Options

Rate the various characteristics of • Business as usual: do nothing!
the situation along the following to • Do minimum work to address the
help chose an action: issue
• Required • Do more than minimum work to
• Desired address the issue
• Optional
Project Benefits Management Plan
1. Project Benefit is the outcome of actions, behaviours, products, services or
results to provide value to the sponsoring organization and the beneficiaries of
a project.

2. The plan describes what the target benefits of the project are as well as how
and when the benefits of the project will be delivered.
Project Benefits Management
Plan

• Target benefit
• Strategic alignment
• Timeframe for realizing benefits
• Benefit owner
• Metrics
• Assumptions
• Risks
 Project Success Measures
Project Management
Process Success
Scope, Schedule,
Budget, Quality etc.

Overall Project Success:

What does it look like?
How will it be measured?
What may impact success?

Project Objective/
Outcome Success
Project Success Measures
1. PM team needs to be able to assess the project situation, balance demands and
maintain proactive communication with stakeholders for success.

2. Ensure that the project with all its success matrices align to the overall strategy
of the organization
Activity
1. You will be given a role to play: project sponsor or project team member.

2. As the sponsor, you will make all the necessary assumptions to provide information to
your team members.

3. Team members will work on the developing business documents: business case;
project benefit plan, for the project the sponsor will assign.
 Business Case Template
Executive Summary First section but last to be written; short summary of the entire business case.

1.00 Finance
1.10 Financial Appraisal To identify the financial implications for the project / predict cash flow
1.20 Sensitivity Analysis Concerns project risk - consider alternative futures

2.00 Project Definition

2.10 Background Information To give clear introduction to business case
2.20 Business Objective What is your goal/ how will the project support the business strategy
2.30 Benefits & Limitations Helps to explain why the project is needed
2.40 Option Identification & Selection Identify potential solutions to the problem
2.50 Scope, Impact & Interdependencies Work needed to deliver the business objectives / project's scope & boundaries
2.60 Outline Plan Provides summary of the main activities
2.70 Market Assessment Complete understanding of the marketplace in which business would operate
2.80 Risk Assessment Summary of significant risks and opportunities and they are managed
2.90 Project Approach How the project will be tackled - to be outsourced or in-house
2.10 Purchasing Strategy How project is to be financed - to buy, lease - procurement process

3.00 Project Organization

3.10 Project Governance Governance framework that will support the project through each stage
3.20 Progress Reporting How project progress is recorded