IT Infrastructure Full Business Case production

Requirement We were engaged by an arms-length body to produce the Full Business Case (FBC) underpinning their future investment in delivering an enhanced pan-organisation IT Infrastructure. The programme had experienced a series of challenges in obtaining approval for its Outline Business Case (OBC) alongside a backdrop of leadership changes. Existing contractual arrangements with its incumbent supplier, coupled with the business critical nature of services delivered, meant there was a requirement to rapidly produce a FBC and secure its approval by HM Treasury.

Delivery

We needed to demonstrate that the business need not only existed but was illustrated clearly throughout the business case. Our starting point was to ensure the strategic case:

  • Clearly set out the business need in a manner that would lead nobody to question the need for the proposed investment.

  • Pared back on the technical detail contained within the OBC, to provide a clear, unambiguous and ultimately unchallengeable justification for change.

In producing the economic case we did not want to waste time and effort identifying cash releasing benefits that could not be directly attributed to an enabler, in this case an improved IT infrastructure. The need for the infrastructure had already been made, all the economic case sought to achieve was to provide re-assurance that the required funding was being spent in the most beneficial manner. The challenges faced by the existing delivery model (which was the alternative option) allowed a robust risk analysis to provide a clear demarcation between the options. This, coupled with some cost reductions as a result of a disaggregated approach to contracting within suppliers, produced a clear winner.

In order to finalise the financial case we needed to close a potential funding gap identified within the OBC given the additional investment required. We did this by:

  • Reviewing the supplier costs resulting in a slight reduction.

  • Removing potentially double-counted risk premium/optimism bias figures.

  • Re-profiling to ensure that future expenditure was realistic and resulted in an acceptable solution.

The narrative of the commercial case was produced in order to demonstrate clearly:

  • Multiple procurements and insourcing projects being undertaken.

  • Alignment to a core set of commercial principles.

Whilst we produced the above, the client’s management team focussed on refining their governance structures and producing realistic delivery plans. This material, supplemented by benefit / risk and communication based material, enabled the swift production of this final part of the FBC jigsaw.

Result

Early engagement with departmental approval bodies saw the FBC progress to HM Treasury with only a very modest number of queries raised and no fundamental changes made to the document. HM Treasury’s response was equally swift and the result was a fully approved FBC that has subsequently seen the various associated initiatives make significant progress as the required IT infrastructure has been implemented across the organisation.