It’s August 2021 and an enterprising staff member at a research council has put together a new idea. The idea is so brilliant, so novel, and so transformative that it has firmly implanted itself in the mind of a civil servant.
To bring this idea to life the civil servant must turn this good idea into an actual programme of work through the alchemy that is the business case. The business case must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-constrained). It will usually be delivered in three stages; a strategic outline business case, an outline business case, and then on to a full business case. It must be developed in conjunction with the relevant expert regardless of their expertise in developing business cases. And, irrespective of the inherent uncertainty of the programme the business case should optimise for value for money.
Providing all of this can be funnelled into the template requirements of a strategic, economic, commercial, financial and management case, the civil servant has between 40 and 400 pages to set out their case.
Once all of this is in place the business case can be sent on its way for approval. The civil servant may expect some 13 specific approvals for the work. And today, some two and a half years later in February 2024, the idea may finally be ready to execute.
