Business Case Development
A business case is what turns “we should do this” into a funded, approved, deliverable project. Get it wrong and a good idea stalls at approval, or worse, gets approved on the wrong basis and runs into trouble later. We write business cases that hold up to scrutiny — from the initial strategic outline through to full economic and financial appraisal.
The Five Case Model
We build business cases against the HM Treasury Five Case Model, the standard framework used across UK public sector programmes and widely adopted in private sector capital projects:
- Strategic case — the case for change, and how it aligns with organisational objectives
- Economic case — options appraisal, weighing the costs and benefits of each realistic option, including the do-nothing baseline
- Commercial case — the procurement and contracting approach, and whether the market can actually deliver what's proposed
- Financial case — affordability, funding sources, and whether the numbers actually add up over the life of the programme
- Management case — governance, delivery arrangements, and how risk will be managed once approved
When you need a business case
- Seeking budget approval or sign-off from a board, funding body, or governance panel
- Preparing for a Gateway Review or similar assurance checkpoint
- Bidding for external or central funding
- Re-justifying a programme that's already underway but has lost clear approval
- Comparing genuinely different delivery options before committing resource
Our approach
We start with a short discovery conversation to understand what's being proposed and who needs to approve it. From there: options are identified and appraised on a like-for-like basis, the financial and commercial position is worked through, and the case is drafted in the format your approving body expects — whether that's a formal Gateway-style document or a lighter-weight internal paper. We stay involved through review and sign-off, not just the first draft.
Who this is for
Public sector organisations preparing for formal assurance processes, and private sector businesses making a significant investment decision who want the discipline of a proper appraisal rather than a gut call.
Why work with us
Twenty years in the private sector and ten in the public, including delivery as a Regional Programme Director in the NHS — PRINCE2, MSP and Agile certified, with over £100 million of work delivered and £6 million saved on a single project. That background means we've sat on both sides of a business case: writing them, and being the person who has to make one stand up under real scrutiny.