Complete Business Case for an Idea

Executive Summary

This business case provides the vivid description of how the development of web platform application will provide the solution to the current business issues, the importance of the project, justification, and recommendations. The business case shall provide the goals that need to get achieved through the development of the project. Additionally, the project shall consider the assumptions and constraints to get considered, performance and other alternative measures. The paper shall also identify the approaches, strategic alignments and stakeholders of the business. Furthermore, this business case shall also provide an assessment of the major risks that are attached to the project and the measures that may get used against them. The business idea, in this case, is to develop an online store with the cart, login, and product finder subsystems. Many businesses have created web platforms for their businesses and still more, they have earned from selling and expanding their customer capacity through the sale through websites.

Purpose

Information Technology has facilitated investments in many organizations. The business case gets developed so as to ensure that the limited and scarce resources get fully utilized, the benefited of the proposal get realized to completion; the risks are managed, and the project needs get supported. It is true that there are many complexities and difficulties associated with technology investments decisions in the context of an online store. The major component of the process is business case analysis. The major purposes of this case document include the provision of non-emotional assessment, identification of implementation costs and benefits, identification of best option, analysis of how web platform objectives get met and analysis of the consequences in case the implementation does not happen. Since business case documents assist in project management while there are limited capital resources, I should decide on the acceptability of the online store economically. Therefore I should decide on the project that supports the online store idea, which in this case is the web platform business case.

Anticipated Outcomes

The transformation of the web-based store will assist my firm in managing the store products, employee payroll and overall administrative tasks in an easy and planned manner. The migration and adoption of web technology will also minimize the extra costs accrued such as workforce and building space. Still, the firm will gain more coverage for employees within the country and bordering countries.

Recommendation

This business case approaches the problem by comprehensively analyzing it beyond the financial approximations. In most cases, financial approximations are of crucial importance however they don’t consider certain issues. Additionally, it is important to know that financial and other estimates used during investment analysis are usually opinions regarding the future, and therefore they are not accurate as expected. The online store is an extension of the current desktop application, and it will also improve on the system functionality by achieving desired results by employees may work from anywhere, such as at homes or hotels without the need for coming to the office and reports are automatically generated by the system for all sales made.

Justification

The online store project highly gets recommended because it does not only assist in increasing the customer coverage, but it will also be helpful in cutting business costs, while increasing sales and overall profit. The project was selected as an idea because it assists in realizing the desired business benefits while improving efficiency and minimizing costs. The initial online store estimates include 20% reduction in building costs within the first year, 60% immediate reduction in weekly report generation and 20% reduction of employee turnover within the first one year.

Business Case Analysis Players

The case analysis team consists of four major players who analyze and create the online store project business case.

Problem Definition

Problem Statement

Since entry into the market, my firm has been operating using desktop applications to manage all the tasks and functions. While the business grew, more customers requested for orders from their locations, which seemed tedious because our current system does not allow that. The customers requesting for orders from their localities calls the sales agents at business locations, make inquiries and then deposits funds to the business account while making purchases. This process is tedious and ineffective and therefore it is still in the manual age despite using the mainframe systems (Garson, 2007).

Organization Impact

The online store will impact the business in the following ways. Firstly, the employees will have to be trained on using the online application platform. Secondly, the processes involved will greatly reduce. Also, the organization will require fewer employees than before and lastly, the organization will have to budget for the licensing and network servers.

Technology Migration

The migration of the technology will get facilitated by the deployment team, which will happen in a parallel way. The employees need to get trained on using the new technology, but it does not mean that the desktop application will not function because the shop will cater for both online clients and the local clients (NATO Advanced Study Institute on Environmental Impact Assessment, Technology Assessment, and Risk Analysis et al., 1985).

Project Overview

This project overview will show how the project will provide solutions to the problem. It comprises of description, goals, performance criteria, assumptions, constraints, and milestones. While the project progresses after approval, the components will get expanded.

Project Description

The web platform project shall analyze the best solution for replacing the business applications with a web application. This solution is done by thoroughly selecting the best option that achieves greater efficiency and minimizes overhead costs.

Goals and Objectives

There exist several goals that need to get achieved through the implementation of the web-based application. The web application for the store supports for cost minimization, reduction of employee turnover, improvement of staff efficiency, improvement of reporting accuracy and finally increasing the client geographic coverage (Gleave, Angell & Wooley, 1985).

Project assumptions

The assumptions applicable to the online store project include: there is enough capital for the training and purchase of software/hardware, the staff shall be trained accordingly, and all the heads of department shall fully support the completion of the project.

Project Constraints

As the project commences, the following constraints shall be included such as the IT resources are limited and the project implementation will get performed from within the organization due to limited financial resources to finance other vendors (Khan, 2001).

Project Milestones

The project shall take a period of one year for it to complete. After project planning and scheduling takes off, the milestones, as well as the completion dates, will get modified and improved to determine the required schedule (National Research Council (U.S.)., 1985).

Strategic Alignment

The online store project directly supports my firm’s idea. By ensuring that the strategic plans are supported, the project shall enable the business to grow positively towards accomplishment of its objectives.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

The table below provides information regarding the cost and returns associated with the project in the first year of deployment (Hein, Stevenson, So & United States., 1976). The bottom part provides the overall savings.

Alternative Analysis

The following options got considered will addressing the firm’s issues. The reasons for not taking the alternatives are explained below:

Approvals

The signature provided by the listed people below show the knowledge in purpose and content of the business case through signing it. By signing this document, it shows that you approve of the project proposed, and that next steps may get followed.

References

Garson, G. D. (2007). Modern public information technology systems: Issues and challenges. Hershey, PA: IGI Pub. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1599040530

Gleave, D., Angell, C., & Wooley, K. (1985). The impact of new technology on the labour market and demands for information services. London: Technical Change Centre. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=Nqy6AAAAIAAJ

Hein, G. F., Stevenson, S. S., Sivo, J. N., & United States. (1976). Cost-benefit analysis of space technology. Washington: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=qcgDAAAAIAAJ

Khan, B. H. (2001). Web-based training. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0877783020

National Research Council (U.S.). (1985). Technology and employment effects: Interim report. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=CzsrAAAAYAAJ

NATO Advanced Study Institute on Environmental Impact Assessment, Technology Assessment, and Risk Analysis, In Covello, V. T., In Mumpower, J., In Stallen, P. J. M., & In Uppuluri, V. R. R. (1985). Environmental impact assessment, technology assessment, and risk analysis: Contributions from the psychological and decision sciences. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?isbn=3642706347.