Business cases in controlling

Building blocks and benefits of professional business cases

• Requirements and perspectives of business case creators, business case owners, project managers, controllers, sales or business development, auditors and investors.
• Central components for the structure of the decision-maker presentation: management summary, strategic project overview, investment calculation or proof of profitability, project details.

Key components of professional business cases

• Work out the strategic contribution.
• For new products or project business: Present business model, determine sales and costs, gain confidence in determining and presenting estimated values.
• For infrastructure projects: Estimate project expenditure and follow-up costs, demonstrate cost reduction potential, quantify qualitative benefits, develop evaluation criteria for implementation strategies.
• Develop alternatives, options and scenarios.
• Identify different types of risk, assess them with risk indicators (Value at Risk VaR) and take them into account at the right, different points in the business case.
• Take a critical look at assumptions, discount factor (Weighted Average Cost of Capital WACC) and research data.
• The attractiveness can be demonstrated on the basis of cash flow, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), amortization period (payback or break-even), annual return on investment (yROI), medium-term impact on the income statement (operating result EBIT), impact on liquidity contribution (project-related cash flow) or value contribution (return on capital employed ROCE).

Evaluation of business cases and implementation of strategic projects

• Assess business case results with sensitivity analyses and based on the impact on key financial figures.
• Prioritize projects with the help of investment or project portfolios and evaluate them using the value investment ratio (VIR).
• Define metrics and methods for measuring success.
• Project and business case reviews: Carry out plan-actual comparisons, checklists.

Effective presentations for customers and decision makers

• Find a suitable structure and level of detail.
• Build business cases as a basis for decision-making.

Increase your chances of approval - tips and tricks

• Success factors: quick wins, exit strategies, plan B, step-by-step concepts & co.