Elite University Online Platform Project *** Plagiarism is not acceptable *** Overview of Project –For this project, you will develop a Business Case (as o

Elite University Online Platform Project *** Plagiarism is not acceptable *** Overview of Project –For this project, you will develop a Business Case (as outlined by ISACA’s best practices) for an IT idea (build an eCommerce site, allow for WiFi services in the office, CRM, ERP, etc.) in a fictitious company. The company doesn’t have to be an IT company but it must be of substantial size (at least 5,000 employees) and have an established IT Department. The company must have at least three locations. Keep things simple. I have chosen the Topic called “International admissions” for a university. Instructions: For Activity 4 & 5 complete instructions are specified. All instructions or tasks must be addressed.( Try to address all the information specified in each task ) Kindly Review the attached BusinessCase Example & Val IT Business case PPT I have also attached my previous work documents. And also my friend week 4 and 5 sample project document. Also prepare the PPT for the final project. Activity 4 – Identify a Project Plan
Activity 4: Identify a Project Plan
Now that you have completed Activity 3 and revised it based on the
feedback you have received from your instructor and peers, it is time to
move on to the fourth activity of the course. Remember that your revised
paper will be part of the final project submitted at the end of the course.
Develop a high-level Project Plan (for all five phases of building,
transitioning, operating, adapting and retiring) which will take into
consideration the Risks, Assumptions and Resources that you have
identified during the previous activity. The project plan should be
emphasizing an approach that minimizes risks and verifies assumptions,
i.e., it should include a proof of concept for example. Keep the size of
each phase small so we can manage any potential associated risks.
Develop a document that explains your rationalization for the Project Plan
(how does it address Risks and Assumptions). Also, include any
additional mitigation strategies for the risks identified.
Activity 5 – Identify the Financial and Non-Financial
Benefits
Instructions
Now that you have completed Activity 4 and revised it based on the
feedback you have received from your instructor and peers, it is time to
move on to the fifth activity of the course. Remember that your revised
paper will be part of the final project submitted at the end of the course. It
is not enough to generate value. We must be able to capture it also. At
each phase of the previously submitted project plan identify what are the
expected Financial and Non-Financial benefits for IT, operations and
Business.
How are you going to remediate the risk of not receiving the anticipated
benefits – in other words, how are you planning to address the risk of
someone else appropriating the value you have created (think of Porter’s
five competitive forces as they apply to IT).
Val IT & Business Case
Val IT
Val IT intendeds to address the need for organizations to
unambiguously measure, monitor and optimize the realization of
value from IT investments.
Significant business investments in sustaining, growing or transforming
the business have a critical IT component, where IT is a means to an
end—the end being to contribute to the process of value creation in
the enterprise.
The end and the means are represented by the ‘Four Ares’2.
The Four Ares
The strategic question. Is the investment:
• In line with our vision
• Consistent with our business principles
(either/or)
• Contributing to our strategic objectives
• Providing optimal value, at affordable cost,
at an acceptable level of risk
The architecture question. Is the investment:
• In line with our architecture
• Consistent with our architectural principles
• Contributing to the population of our
architecture
• In line with other initiatives (synergies)
Specifically, Val IT focuses on the investment decision (are
we doing the right things?) and the realisation of benefits
(are we getting the benefits?).
The value question. Do we have:
• A clear and shared understanding of the
expected benefits
• Clear accountability for realizing the benefits
• Relevant metrics
• An effective benefits realization process
The delivery question. Do we have:
• Effective and disciplined management, delivery
and change management processes
• Competent and available technical and business
resources to deliver:
– The required capabilities
– The organizational changes required to
leverage the capabilities
• Manage Risk
Value and Val IT Principles
• Value is not a simple concept. Value is complex, context specific and dynamic.
Value is indeed ‘in the eye of the beholder’. The nature of value differs for
different types of organizations.
• The Val IT principles are:
• IT-enabled investments will be managed as a portfolio of investments.
• IT-enabled investments will include the full scope of activities that are required to achieve
business value.
• IT-enabled investments will be managed through their full economic life cycle.
• Value delivery practices will recognize that there are different categories of investments that
will be evaluated and managed differently.
• Value delivery practices will define and monitor key metrics and will respond quickly to any
changes or deviations.
• Value delivery practices will engage all stakeholders and assign appropriate accountability for
the delivery of capabilities and the realization of business benefits.
• Value delivery practices will be continually monitored, evaluated and improved.
A new perspective
• IT investment is no longer about implementing IT solutions. It is
about implementing IT-enabled change. Business value is generated
by what organizations do with IT rather than by the technology itself.
This implies greater complexity and greater risk than traditionally has
been the case.
• It involves selecting investments wisely and managing them as an
asset or service throughout their life cycle.
The full Economic Lifecycle
Val IT Processes
To obtain return on investment, the Val IT
principles should be applied by the stakeholders
of the IT-enabled investments in the following
processes:
• Value governance (optimize the value of an
organization’s IT-enabled investments)
• Portfolio management (ensure that an
organization’s overall portfolio of IT-enabled
investments is aligned with and contributing
optimal value to the organization’s strategic
objectives)
• Investment management (ensure that an
organization’s individual IT-enabled investment
programmes deliver optimal value at an
affordable cost with a known and acceptable
level of risk)
Value—The end business outcome(s) expected from an IT-enabled
business investment where such outcomes may be financial,
non-financial or a combination of the two
Portfolio—A grouping of programmes, projects, services or assets
selected, managed and monitored to optimise business return (Note that
the initial focus of Val IT is primarily interested in a portfolio of
programmes. COBIT is interested in portfolios of projects, services
or assets.)
Programme—A structured group of interdependent projects that are both
necessary and sufficient to achieve the business outcome and deliver
value. These projects could include, but are not limited to, changes to the
nature of the business, business processes, the work performed by
people, as well as the competencies required to carry out the work,
enabling technology and organisational structure. The investment
programme is the primary unit of investment within Val IT.
Project—A structured set of activities concerned with delivering to the
enterprise a defined capability (that is necessary but NOT sufficient to
achieve a required business outcome) based on an agreed schedule and
budget
Business Case
• Val IT provides guidance to maximize the quality of business cases,
with particular emphasis on the definition of key indicators, both
financial (net present value, internal rate of return and payback
period) and non-financial, and the comprehensive assessment and
appraisal of the downside risk.
• The business case is not a one-time, static document. It is an
operational tool that must be continually updated to reflect the
current reality and to support the portfolio management process.
• Business cases must include answers to the ‘Four Ares’
The content of a Business Case
The process of developing the business case should be owned by the business sponsor and involve
all key stakeholders in developing and documenting a complete and shared understanding of:
• the expected business outcomes (both intermediate, or ‘lead’, and end, or ‘lag’, outcomes)
• how the business outcomes will be measured
• the full scope of initiatives required to achieve the expected outcomes.
• Changes (impact) to the nature of the enterprise’s business, business processes, people skills and
competencies, enabling technology, and organizational structure caused by these initiatives
• The nature of each initiative’s contribution, how that contribution will be measured and all key
assumptions
• record metrics or similar indicators to monitor the validity of these assumptions.
• Key risks, to both the successful completion of individual initiatives and the achievement of the
desired outcomes, also need to be identified and documented, together with mitigation actions.
Business Case Structure – Main Principle
• The business case for an IT-enabled investment considers the following
causal relationships:
• Resources are needed to develop:
• A technology/IT service that will support:
• An operational capability that will enable:
• A business capability that will create:
• Stakeholder value, which may be represented by a risk-adjusted financial return or total
shareholders’ return
• These relationships imply that there are three interrelated streams of
activities : technical, operational and business capability
• These three dynamic streams can be distinguished throughout the
complete life cycle of a process or system: build, implement (adapt or
transition), operate and retire.
Steps in Building the Business Case 1. Alignment Analysis
We need to address the first R (Are we doing the right things). To do this we
need to demonstrate the cascading effect in the expected Outcomes. To
demonstrate how:
If IT achieves these outcomes it will enable the Operations to achieve the
Operational Outcomes which will enable the Business to achieve the
Business Outcomes.
We also need to address the second R (Are we doing things the right way).
Will IT be aligned with the existing Enterprise Architecture? Will the
operational goal be aligned with the existing processes, skill set, culture, etc.
? Will the business outcomes be aligned with the Vision (what we do now) or
Strategy (what we want to do in the future – will include higher investment
in Org and Techn)?
Steps in Building the Business Case –
2. Risk Analysis
• The management of risks deals with uncertainties. This requires a
structured approach that should be documented in a risk management
plan, which should be integrated in the business case.
• Risk assessment is the process of analyzing and evaluating identified risks
to the programme’s processes and objectives. A qualitative analysis
should be made, followed by a quantitative analysis whenever possible.
Levels of risk acceptable for the programme, and the means to determine
when agreed-to levels of risk are exceeded, should be identified.
• Solutions to eliminate, mitigate, transfer, share or accept risks, and plans
to take advantage of opportunities, preferably should be based on known
technologies or data from past experience. Consciously accepted risks
should be identified and the reasons for accepting them recorded.
• There are two aspects to risks:
• 1. Delivery risk—The risk of not delivering the required BPPTO capabilities
• 2. Benefits risk—The risk of the expected benefits not being obtained
• Delivery risk concerns two of the ‘Four Ares’ discussed previously:
• Are we doing things the right way?
• Are we getting them done well?
• Benefits risk concerns the other two ‘ares’:
• Are we doing the right things?
• Are we getting the benefits?
• An important risk driver is the level of ability or willingness to make reliable (and/or
sufficiently accurate) forecasts regarding cost, outcomes and benefits. This concerns
delivery risk as well as benefits risk.
• Make sure you number your assumptions and risks
Steps in Building the Business Case –
3. Risk and Assumptions Drive Project Planning
Are we doing things the right way?
• We need to plan taking into consideration Risks and Assumptions. Hence, we may need
to plan in phases in order to do a proof of concept (to address assumptions) or to
minimize risks (due to size, complexity, etc.)
• Make sure that we cover all Risks and Assumptions (this is why we numbered them in
the previous section)
• Here is where industry standards come into play (ITIL, PMI, etc.) – we minimize risk by
utilizing best practices. What Best Practices are out there?
• This is also the place where we assess organizational culture, maturity (Capability
Maturity Model Integration(CMMI) – do we apply best practices well)
• Identify phases to address Risks and Assumptions. By minimizing the number of phases,
we increase the risk. Here is where the Risk Function of the company comes into play.
• Think Benefit/Cost Analysis of the main activities (IT, Ops, Business) as well as all the
phases: build, transition (change management), operation, and retirement.
Steps in Building the Business Case –
4. Financial Analysis
• What to expect at the end of each project phase.
• Manage expectations – define success up front.
• The ultimate objective is to find projects that are
worth more to the business sponsor than they
cost—projects that have a positive net present
value (NPV):
• Estimate the expected future cash flows from the
project
• Assess the risk and determine required rate of return
for discounting the expected future cash flows
• Compute the present value of the expected future
cash flows
• Determine the cost of the projects and compare it to
what the project is worth
Steps in Building the Business Case –
5. Non-Financial Benefits
• Organizations today are increasingly creating value from non-financial
benefits, such as brand recognition, knowledge, and relationships
with customers and suppliers. Such non-financial benefits often
provide the competitive advantage that differentiates the bestin-class
from the average or below-average performers.
• When there is no clear contribution to financial results, decision
making may be based on the degree of strategic alignment and the
weighting given to that criterion.
A guide to start your project
General Specification
Technology Capability
Operational Capability
Business Capability
A technology/IT service
1)
2)
….
… that will support: an operational
capability
1)
2)
…
… that will enable a business
capability
1)
2)
….
Appraisal of alignment with
technological standards and
policies
Appraisal of alignment with
operational goals,
standards and policies
Appraisal of alignment with
strategic business objectives
Description of infrastructure cost
reductions achieved or capacity
increase by replacement of
current IT or deployment of new
IT
Description of operational cost
reductions achieved or capacity
increase by replacement of
current IT or deployment of new
IT
Description of increase of
revenues, volumes and margins,
cost reductions, or risk mitigation
resulting in lower failure cost
Non-financial benefits
Assets representing changes at
the functional, operational and
business levels of which the value
cannot be expressed in accurate
financial terms with a reasonable
likelihood. Examples are brand,
knowledge, relationships with
customers and suppliers, and
improved governance processes.
Description of the functionality of
the new/enhanced IT system(s).
Since this capability does not
result in a direct financial return at
the purely operational level, the
value is categorized as nonfinancial.
Description of the operational
capability of the new/enhanced
processes. Since this capability
does not result in a direct
financial return at the purely
operational level, the value is
categorised as non-financial.
Description of the business
capability and the associated
non-financial benefits including,
but not limited to, product quality,
client satisfaction and brand
recognition
Resources and expenditures (1)
Listing of resources and
associated expenditures
Resources and expenditures
required to build, implement and
maintain the new/enhanced IT
system(s)
Resources and expenditures
required to build, implement and
maintain the new/enhanced
processes
Resources and expenditures
required to develop and market
the new/enhanced products and
services
The results of the deployment of
resources in each of the layers.
The outcomes may be
Outcomes (intermediate and end)
intermediate at the functional and
operational layers, as they are
input for the consecutive layer.
The degree to which a
programme aligns with regulatory
Alignment
requirements, operational
standards and policies as well as
business strategy
Financial
benefits (1)
General
Specification
Technology
Capability
Operational
Capability
Business Capability
Risk (drivers) (2)
A specification of the risk factors
that may make the worst-case
outcomes happen, as well as
the success factors pushing
the outcomes toward the best
case. An analysis is required to
show the impact of the identified
risk drivers on events and
probability, in the form of a
breakdown of the best-/worstcase outcomes, per information
element.
See general specification.
See general specification.
See general specification.
Assumptions and constraints
Clarification of how the
deployment of the listed
resources, with cost as specified,
will contribute to deliver the
described (intermediate)
outcomes, benefits and
alignment. Specific riskdetermining assumptions are
dealt with under the item ‘risk’.
See general specification.
See general specification.
See general specification.
Fact Sheet Item
Technical capability
• Outcomes (intermediate and end)
• Alignment
• Financial benefits
• Non-financial benefits
•
• Resources
• Expenditure
•
• Risk drivers
• Assumptions and constraints
Operational capability
• Outcomes (intermediate and end)
• Alignment
• Financial benefits
• Non-financial benefits
•
• Resources
• Expenditure
•
• Risk drivers
• Assumptions and constraints
Business capability
• Outcomes (intermediate and end)
• Alignment
• Financial benefits
• Non-financial benefits
•
• Resources
• Expenditure
•
• Risk drivers
• Assumptions and constraints
Figure 7—Business Case Fact Sheet Format
Building
Implementation
Best
Worst
Best
Worst
Case
Case
Case
Case
Operation
Best Worst
Case
Case
Retirement
Best Worst
Case
Case
1. Cover sheet
Sample outline
• Programme name
• Business sponsor
• Programme manager
• Revision notes
• Validation signatures
• Approval signature
2. Executive summary (are we doing the
right things)
• Programme context
– Name
– Business sponsor
– Track record of management team
– Category of investment
– Programme description/profile
• Synopsis of business case assessment
– Programme contribution (value)
– Programme timing (schedule)
– Risk, financial return and alignment scores
– Dependencies
– Key risks
• Comparative value summary
3. Are we getting the benefits? (Why?)
• Financial benefits (full economic life cycle, best case,
worst case, most likely case)
– Description and quantification, including cash flow
(cash in and cash out)
– Measurement
– Assumptions and sensitivity
– Accountability
• Financial costs (full economic life cycle, full IT and
business costs, best case, worst case, most likely case)
– Total commitment and funding request for this stage-gate
– Assumptions
– Accountability
• Non-financial benefits (alignment)
– Description and quantification
– Measurement
– Assumptions and sensitivity
– Accountability
• Non-financial (alignment, efficiency) costs
– Description
– Impact and mitigation strategy
• Risk analysis (key risks and mitigation strategies)
• Organisational change impact
– Affected stakeholders
– Change management approach
– Change management costs
• Impact of not doing the programme
– Opportunity cost
4. Are we doing things the right way? (What and
How?)
• Alternative approaches
• Selected approach
• High-level analytic mode
• Programme milestones
• Critical success factors
• Programme dependencies
• Enterprise arch…
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