1. Shared Business Case: Theory and Practice
Dave Lindsay
Chief Information Officer
Mid Kent ICT Services

2. What’s a business case ?
A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task.
A business cases will contain justifications for a project such as value for money for what is to be done and why it should be done now.
A business case is an argument, usually documented, that is intended to convince a decision maker to approve some kind of action.
The term ‘Business case’ is somewhat over-used – what does it actually mean ?
Here’s some definitions I found online.
Does anyone disagree with any of those ?
This is the definition from the SSA collaborative business case toolkit – I hope to convince you in the short period of time available that this is a better definition !
Rationalise & test the viability of the shared vision …. in terms of feasibility, political appetite, and measurable improvement & efficiency gains - SSA

3. Typical approach Prince II Focus on: Business benefits Savings
Organisational structure
Risks
Prince II is used like a badge to endorse the approach to particular project. In some circles, there’s almost a feeling that Prince II projects don’t go wrong. So a project structure is created, without everyone identified within that structure actually understanding what their role is.
Business case is generally driven by costs, savings & benefits. Organisational structure is identified early in the process to give an indication of the cost of the new service. Risks are identified, sometimes played-down, and often forgotten about until they materialise !

4. Limitations of typical approach
Over-reliance on Project Management methodologies
At the expense of Change Management
Single organisation perspective
Lack of focus on shared vision, limits horizon
Applying Prince II principles doesn’t guarantee success.
Tend to treat a project plan as a linear process, that’s not always the case – particularly for shared services.
Not enough focus on change management, or stakeholder engagement, particularly across organisational boundaries
Most change management methodologies adopt a single organisation perspective, and don’t translate well in a multi organisation scenario.
It is crucial that there is an agreed shared vision for the future of the shared service, and this has to permeate from the top to the bottom of the organisation.

5. Limitations of typical approach
No common syntax
Scope of ambitions of each partner
Lack of focus on ‘soft’ issues: Trust, consensus & buy-in from all stakeholders
Fixation on cost results in early design of new organisational structure
Establish a common language or syntax to make sure that everyone involved in the process truly understands the change that will happen, and how it will impact on them.
Does everyone want the same thing from the shared service ? Leaders, Chief Executives, Shadow Cabinet, staff ?
I’m going to mention TRUST several times today, because it is absolutely vital to the success of a business case and the resulting partnership.
Organisational structure: this is something we experienced, where we were encouraged to come up with an ‘indicative’ structure to give baseline costs, which pretty soon became set in stone as any change was treated as growth.

6. Case Studies Phrases that should set alarm bells ringing
"Best practice staff consultation and dialogue processes will be adopted within the Shared Service to support any required harmonisation." 
"Adoption of best practice approaches to staff and trade union engagement and consultation once final Council decisions taken on participation.“
There are a number of case studies that demonstrate that the manner in which a business case is developed has a material affect on the outcome. Dominic can probably reel off a number of examples, but I will cite just one.
A ‘North of the border’ initiative, 7 councils involved, development funded by Central Gova 100 page business case, which was  all about savings and loss of jobs - no vision of a better outcome. Only two CEOs from the seven have signed it. Within 24 hours of publication two partners had withdrawn and two weeks later another two walked away
Business case mentions change management dozens of times, but consultation or engagement hardly at all. what does “support any required harmonisation” mean”? Only consult AFTER decision to proceed already made ? What message does that send to staff ?
Clear to me . that this is paying lip-service to the change management issues, and no thought whatsoever to how this will actually be achieved, if at all. Lazy

7. The collaborative business case
Must start with a mandated shared vision
Trust & vision must be in place before a business case is commissioned
Make it an iterative process
Create boundary spanning roles
Resource it properly
The shared vision is critical – it should paint a picture that everyone buys into, a shiny new, improved, more efficient, cost-effective service. It should be forward-looking, not based on the current service.
A business case for a shared service is completely different to a normal ‘in-house’ arrangement. For an in-house business case there are no issues with differing cultures, business language, and it should be easier to establish trust. You must ensure that it is signed off by Chief Execs & leaders before publishing a final draft. Reference: Clyde Valley business case.
If trust has not been established early it will haunt you later, and make the creation of a new shared service culture more challenging.
If a shared vision has not been agreed at all levels when you come to implement the business change.
The process should be iterative so that the level of detail in the business case reflects the increasing level of trust between partners. This is necessary as the business case is likely to have a number of ‘owners’
Ideally the business case manager will be someone who is not tied into the hierarchy of any of the partners, which helps with the trust building and ensures that there is no bias or influence (perceived or otherwise) towards one partner’s operation.
Roles involved in the process should be dedicated: business case manager, project manager, change manager, boundary spanner – these are not roles that sit alongside a day job. It’s also not necessarily desirable to outsource these roles to a consultant, in my opinion.

8. The 5 key steps of the collaboration business case route map
The Business Case Introduction
Setting out the strategic context
Developing the economic case
Evaluating the finance & risks
Establishing consensus & buy-in
Design of the business case document
Maximising the executive overview
Restating the shared vision & options
Setting out the consultation journey
How ambitious is each partner ?
Choosing what can be developed in-house and what needs to be developed externally
Developing the financial business case
Setting our the implementation timeline
Assessing the risks & governance
Supporting the decision making process
Releasing the business case document
Design
Shared Vision
The Shared Services Architect toolkits provide tools to assist with each stage in this process.
Introduction: must be compelling; must address issues such as control & sovereignty, & potential redundancies etc, but has to be a positive story which creates a desire for change.
Strategic context: remind the reader why the shared service is being proposed, they should have already bought into the principle so this is just to refresh the memory.
Economic case: what are the options, quick win, big wins.
Finance & risks: costs, values & consequences of the options outlined in the economic case. Balance of finance & risks to justify the business case.
Consensus & buy-in: Hopefully with work already done, this should be a formality. Be aware of the approval process within each partner.
© 2013 Shared Service Architecture Ltd

9. Thank You
Any questions ?