Power Point Presentation – Business Case Study

AssessmentTask

The following template will help you craft your business case presentation. Replace the instructions with your own information.

Each slide includes references to the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case if you need more information.

To see a sample presentation, open the XYZ Energy Case (PDF).

If your company requires a more narrative business case, see the
Word Business Case Template.

Purpose: Tell your audience what to expect from your presentation or document.

  • List each slide or section of your presentation here.
  • If you won’t be presenting the document, but are submitting it for review, you could also label this slide “Contents.”

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 13: Prepare Your Document or Slides
Section: Make a Structured Argument

Business Need—Statement

Purpose: Grab your audience’s attention by telling the story of your business case.

  • Briefly state the problem or opportunity.
  • Describe how you plan to address the problem. You might describe one option or include up to three, depending on your stakeholders’ preferences.
  • Preview the benefits for each option—why the solution makes sense.
  • State the return on investment (ROI)—it’s the satisfying end to your story. Use whichever ROI calculation your stakeholders will care most about—net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), breakeven, or payback.
  • If you’re not sure which calculation to use, see the ROI Worksheet Template included with this product, or Chapter 10: Calculate ROI, in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case.
  • If you’re presenting more than one option, make clear which one you think is the most viable.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 10: Calculate ROI
Chart: Four Ways to Calculate ROI

Chapter 13: Prepare Your Document or Slides
Section: Telling Your Story in the Executive Summary

Business Need—Analysis

Purpose: Flesh out what’s causing the problem.

  • This is an important juncture in your presentation. The rest of your case is built from your analysis of the problem. If your stakeholders don’t understand and agree with your articulation of the problem, they’re going to take issue with everything else in your business case.
  • Describe the underlying issues and their solutions using data. You might include data on customer complaints, input from end users, or other information from those most affected by the problem.
  • It may sometimes be helpful to illustrate the problem with a visual representation. Different project types call for different types of visuals. For example, for process improvement projects, many industries create an as-is process map or value stream map.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 5: Clarify the Need
Section: Talk to Your Beneficiaries
Section: Analyze Processes

Project Overview—Options

Purpose: Help stakeholders understand the scope of your proposed project.

  • Provide a high-level description of the solution(s).
  • For a facility project, describe its magnitude, and name the systems affected.
  • If it’s a new product, lay out the general concept, and explain how it fits in with existing offerings.
  • For a productivity initiative (such as an IT project that allows customer service to handle incoming calls faster), specify which business processes it will affect and which costs it will eliminate or reduce.
  • When including more than one option, highlight key differences so that stakeholders can quickly compare.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 7: Consider Alternatives

Chapter 13: Prepare Your Document or Slides

Schedule

Purpose: Lay out a high-level plan for implementing the project.

  • Explain how long the project will take, and list any key milestones or major deliverables.
  • There are almost always risks to a project schedule. You may want to include them here and/or on your “Risks” slide.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 8: Think Through the “How” at a High Level

Chapter 11: Account for Risks
Section: Consider the Risks

Impact

Purpose: Highlight the benefits of the project.

  • Describe the benefits. Benefits mainly consist of revenue and productivity savings (savings you’ll achieve through greater efficiency).
  • On this slide, you only present the benefits. In later slides, you’ll address the costs. Your final ROI calculation will take both costs and benefits into account.
  • Only include benefits that you can quantify. Define the impact as precisely as you can. You may mention additional intangible benefits, such as improved morale or increased customer satisfaction, but stakeholders will want to know the financial impact.
  • Note which parts of the business the project will affect, and how.
  • Be clear about where these numbers come from—did you get them from colleagues in Finance, Sales and Marketing, Engineering? Stakeholders care about the sources for these assumptions and are more likely to trust your numbers if the information comes from people they trust.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 9: Estimate Costs and Benefits
Section: Benefits

Risks

Purpose: Highlight the key risks to the project.

  • Explain what might not go as planned—whether positive or negative. Most people focus on threats (e.g., What if the vendor doesn’t deliver on time? What if the cost of raw materials goes through the roof?). But you need to consider opportunities as well (How can you get a higher NPV or a faster payback? Can you complete the project sooner?).
  • Include major risks associated both with doing and with not doing the project.
  • If you’re listing several options, make clear how the risks differ across alternatives.
  • Identify the likelihood of the risks: high, moderate, low.
  • The primary risks you’ll want to consider are to costs and schedule. But you may also want to think about the following:
  • Personnel: What if the person running this project leaves the company? What if you don’t get all the team members you requested?
  • Technology: What if you encounter bugs when testing? What if employees struggle to adapt to the new system?
  • Scope: What if the project needs to include more (or fewer) geographic regions, employees, or customers? What if the stakeholders change requirements?
  • Quality/performance: What if the product doesn’t perform as you expect it to—for better or worse? What if quality suffers because of a tight schedule?

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 11: Account for Risks

Financials—Costs

Purpose: Summarize the financial costs of the project.

  • Include the total cost of your project. It’s not necessary to go into detail on specific costs unless there are unusual expenses that require explanation.
  • If you are presenting multiple options, explain the cost differences.
  • If one of the major risks to your project is cost overrun, and you have already addressed that on your “Risks” slide, you may want to repeat those risks here, too.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 9: Estimate Costs and Benefits
Section: Costs

Financials—ROI

Purpose: Explain the ROI for your project.

  • Show the results of your ROI calculation, using your company’s preferred method.
  • In addition to your company’s preferred method, you might also include other ROI calculations. The more results you provide, the better your stakeholders will understand the value of your project relative to others they are considering.
  • If your company doesn’t have a preferred ROI type, use the one most appropriate to your project—breakeven analysis, payback period, NPV, or IRR.
  • If you’re not sure which calculation to use, see the ROI Worksheet Template included with this product, or Chapter 10: Calculate ROI in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 10: Calculate ROI

Summary of Options & Recommendation

Purpose: End your presentation with a summary of key points.

  • This is your last word, and what stakeholders are likely to remember, so include the critical elements of your presentation.
  • Restate the business need.
  • Identify the pros and cons of your solution or options.
  • Include your ROI number(s) again.
  • End with your recommendation.

For more information in the HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, read:

Chapter 13: Prepare Your Document or Slides