This sample shows how IDCI builds a business case when a project’s founding assumption proves wrong. It presents the briefing we delivered and describes the decision it made possible.
Project DiagnosticsRecovery PlansOptions Analysis
This excerpt comes from a delivered engagement. A large utility was moving a reporting platform off a mainframe scheduled for retirement. Midway through the work, the team found that much of what ran on the mainframe was platform infrastructure rather than application code, and the original estimate no longer held. We removed the client’s name and every dollar figure before publishing these slides; the budget table shows its categories only.
1 · Our approach
State what changed
We state plainly what changed, when the team learned it, and why the original plan no longer holds.
Compare on equal terms
Every option appears on the same terms, with its scope, benefits, costs, and risks, so decision makers can compare them side by side.
Disciplined Project Management
The recommendation states exactly what it requires: added scope, added resources, and a revised schedule.
Information Systems Expertise
We trace the false assumption to its technical cause, so the revised estimate rests on the platform as it actually stands.
Business Acumen
We frame the choice as a funding decision the organization can act on, including the reclassification of funds the new path requires.
2 · The work product — excerpt
The briefing moves from a management summary through the project’s history to the finding, the three alternatives, the recommended solution, the budget categories, and a month-by-month schedule.
Business case briefing
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The excerpt pages are available for viewing at idcinc.net/worksamples/business-case-options-analysis.html and are not reproduced in print.
3 · What the sponsor gains
✓
A decision in one meeting. Decision makers can choose a path without a second round of analysis.
✓
An honest record. The organization keeps a clear account of what changed and why.
✓
A plan the team can deliver. Funding and scope realign, and the project resumes on a schedule the team can meet.
4 · How we work, and what we will not do
Management summary
The finding, its consequence, and the decision requested, stated in a few sentences.
Alternatives analysis
Each option compared on the same terms, with a recommendation and its requirements.
Revised plan
The added scope, the resources it needs, and a schedule from approval to closeout.
What we will not do
We do not soften a finding to protect a schedule, and we do not assign blame. A business case concerns the path forward.
Questions about any of this?
If a project has outgrown its original plan, the fastest way through is a conversation. Bring the charter, the estimate, or the part of this sample you want tested. Thirty minutes is usually enough to establish whether we are the right fit for the work.