In a commercial context, there are at least two Business Cases - the customer’s Business Case and the supplier’s Business Case.
For a successful project, both must demonstrate continued business justification.
If the project is no longer viable, desirable or achievable for one party, then the project will struggle and most likely fail regardless of how attractive the Business Case is for the other party.
The customer’s Business Case covers the benefits to that customer in contrast to its whole-life costs and risks.
The costs should include the internal costs (of customer project resources, and ongoing operations and maintenance resources) and external costs (of suppliers’ goods and services).
The risks should include the project risks and the ongoing operational risks.
The supplier’s Business Case covers the supplier part of the customer project.
It should include more than simply making a target margin.
Consideration should be given to how the project will contribute to the supplier’s:
Example of other considerations in a supplier’s Business Case
A sales team request the supplier’s senior management to grant discount levels beyond that which they are authorized.
The reason for requesting the additional discount is to win the pilot (this project) in order to increase the likelihood of winning a wider roll-out.
In this case, the supplier’s Business Case should go beyond fulfilling the contractual requirements and cover costs for activities to ensure that the supplier maximizes its sales opportunity for the roll-out.
Each party’s Business Case may be private or partly private from the other.
Often, the closest a supplier may get to seeing the customer’s Business Case is a list of ‘reasons’ in a request for change.
However, depending on the cultural compatibility of the customer and supplier organizations, making the key reasons for undertaking the project (i.e. the benefits) visible to each other will usually lead to a greater yield for both parties.
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