How to prepare a Business Case and Differences with a Business Plan

A business case answers the question: "What happens if we take this course of action?"

A business plan describes how an organization or business unit plans to navigate successfully through its own unique competitive environment. Business plans feature long-range projections of revenues, expenses, business strategy, and other information. Typically, managers and executives use business plans to secure financing from investors or to plan strategy execution.
Examples for Business cases
building a business case is similar to solving a problem
It helps You to sell your ideas to Key Decision makers
very useful when you want to increase value of proposal or product
to prioritize projects within group or authority of business
obtain additional resources for a project
modifying existing offer
Business case may be to internal or external stakeholders
or to outsource a specific service or product

How to build a business case
- Define the Opportunity
- Describe the objective that our proposal will impact
- Identify the alternatives & approaches
- choose 3 or 4 options to analyze
- Collect Data and choose a time frame and time needed for each option to be implemented
- Choose one alternative and assess the risk
- Make a recommendation and how to overcome any risk
- Create implementation plan
- Communicate your case by documentation or presentation

Great Remarks
Always present your Business case as an opportunity not a problem

Your first solution isn't always the best.
Brainstorm a list of alternatives with key stakeholders to make sure you consider all the options
you must consider current condition as an alternative

Create a framework for comparison
You have to  compare each proposal financial impact
if you can not make it in clear financial impact make it as a table of Pros and Cons

Implementation Plan
 implementation plan configures how you intend to track your progress and measure your success if your proposed solution is put into action.

plan must contains the following:

• The primary objectives
• The individuals responsible/accountable for each objective
• The resources required to reach eah objective
• Dates or Check points
• effects on the company's expense and headcount budgets
• Increases in revenue

How to Sell your Business Case

to sell your business case? Start by thinking about what your audience wants

Steps for analyzing alternatives

1. List the costs.
Start by thinking about all of the costs that might be associated with each alternative. Identify the up-front costs as well as those you might expect in subsequent years. Make sure to think beyond the obvious financial costs such as purchasing equipment or paying salaries. Consider the business objectives you chose to evaluate and how each alternative will impact them. For example, will the alternative negatively impact employee turnover? If so, can you quantify it? You'll probably need to do research to come up with the relevant numbers. Ask for help from people in other departments such as finance or sales.

2. List the benefits of expected additional revenues.
Again, consider the business objectives you've chosen. What benefits do you anticipate resulting from each alternative? How will these benefits impact revenues? For example, how will your project impact customer satisfaction? Can you make a correlation between improved customer satisfaction and an increase in sales? Additional revenues might come from either obtaining new customers or from increased purchases from existing customers. Make sure to consider any costs associated with obtaining these revenues and add them to your list of costs described above.

3. Point out any cost savings to be gained.
Consider how implementing each alternative could save the organization money. Spend some time thinking about this area because cost savings can be difficult to recognize. They can arise from a variety of sources. For example, will fewer people be required to do a job because of your project? Will your project reduce the time it takes to complete a task, therefore allowing for more work to be completed, or more products to be manufactured?

4. Identify when you expect to see the costs and anticipated revenues.
Look at your three lists and try to estimate when you expect to realize each item on the list. Remember that costs and revenue increases will probably occur incrementally. For example, you might expect revenues to increase by 20% in the first year, achieving a 100% increase by the end of year three. Completing this step will also help when you create your implementation plan.

5. List any unquantifiable benefits and costs.
Most business cases aren't built on numbers alone. Depending on the business objectives you chose to use for your analyses, you will probably have some qualitative factors to consider as well. For example, the strategic fit of each alternative with your organization's mission, or an increase in community goodwill because of a particular action. Other factors to consider include the ability to take on the new opportunity without losing focus, or the likelihood of success given market conditions. Even without numbers associated with them, these costs and benefits can be persuasive and are important to consider.

6. Conduct your financial analyses.
How does each of your alternatives impact finances? Once you have a list of costs and benefits and have quantified as many factors as possible, it's time to run the numbers. Depending on the metrics you have chosen, you might consider calculating the return on investment (ROI), payback period, or net present value. You might also consider a breakeven analysis. You don't need to do these analyses yourself. Instead, ask a colleague for help (e.g., someone in your finance department).

7. Organize the information into a table for comparison.
Once you have all of the information, put it into a table to help you compare your options. One format to consider is the pros/cons table because it is easy to use when you have both quantifiable and unquantifiable costs and benefits.