We all know that business cases are very good tools in a classroom. 
We also know the reputation of the cases created in universities such
as Harvard or the MIT and others.  I would like to have access to some
information or, even better, a standard form or something like that,
if possible from one of those universities, helping on the gather of
information and creation of a business case suitable for classrooms
analisys with the students.

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Request for Question Clarification by bikerman-ga on 30 Nov 2002 02:55 PST

Hello, eaar-ga;

I have two questions which will help me in my research:

- Would you be satisfied with information from a university other than
Harvard or MIT?
- I have found a university which sells cases for a reasonable price. 
The cases may be accompanied by teaching notes, spreadsheets, videos,
and CD-ROMs.  Are you interested in anything like this, or do you only
want information on how to create your own cases?

Thanks,
bikerman-ga

---

Clarification of Question by eaar-ga on 30 Nov 2002 06:20 PST

Hi Bikerman, thank you for your kind answer.

I am from Brazil, and I am a teacher.  I really want to get knowledge
on the process of creating the business case, this is my real
interest, not the cases themselves, because I want to create cases on
Brazilian companies.

I would be satisfied, though, with information from other places other
than Harvard or MIT.

Thank you again!

Hi eaar!!

I just did a hard research to find sources that can help you with the
creation of Business Cases.

I will start with this article: "Business Intelligence: Creating a
Successful Business Case to Advance Your Initiative" by Jonathan Wu,
published in DM Review Online, December 2001.
This article bring you a nice description of the different parts that
compound a Business Case, like Components, Executive Summary,
Background, Issue/Need, Proposed Solution, Industry Perspective, Cost
Justification, Qualitative Benefits and Conclusion and Reasoning. A
little transcription from this article:
"When creating a successful business case, you should keep in mind
that it is effectively an exercise in persuasive writing. You must
clearly and concisely articulate the issues or needs, your proposed
solution, the rationale behind your proposed solution, the
quantitative and qualitative benefits, the reasoning that supports
your proposed solution and why it needs to be funded – now."
I cannot reproduce the entire article (it is a simple Copy and Paste
for me) because the copyrights, but you can read it following this
link:
http://www.dmreview.com/master.cfm?NavID=68&EdID=4330


Another related article from the same online magazine is: "Business
Cases and Data Mining for Rules Induction" by Katie Cole; published in
DM Review in March 2002:
http://www.dmreview.com/master.cfm?NavID=198&EdID=4818


-----------------------------------------------------
Another source was found at the "Queen Elizabeth II Library" website.
http://www.mun.ca/library/qehome.html

"How to prepare a business case analysis" prepared for the MUN
Libraries Web Team by Suzanne Sexty. This appears to be oriented to
the analysis of the business cases more than the creating of it, but
may be helps.
The introductory page tell us the following:
"Case analysis is used as a teaching method in some business courses
because it provides opportunities to identify and solve organizational
problems through the use of management processes. The case method is
also used to illustrate managerial decision making. While different
instructors may adopt different approaches to how they use the case
method, all will require some feedback, written and/or oral, from the
students.
Presentations on the following sites were prepared as support for
specific textbooks but also offer explanations of the basic elements
of the case method and how to prepare an analysis of a case".
http://www.mun.ca/library/research_help/qeii/case_analysis.html

The sites mentioned are:
1-"Introduction to the Case-Study Method", which provides a seven-step
approach to analyzing a case.
http://www.uidaho.edu/ag/agecon/391/casestudmeth.html
 
2-"Preparing an effective case analysis", it is a very thorough
introduction to case analysis. Up to the section on preparing an
oral/written presentation, it is a generic guide. At that point it
begins to deal specifically with how to write a case analysis for a
strategy or business policy case.
http://www.swcollege.com/management/hitt/hitt_student/case_analysis.html


--------------------------------------------------
More info that can be useful was found at the "World Trade Net"
website.
http://www.tradesuccess.org

There is a "Business cases" page where you can find link to the
following articles:
-"Why you should write a business case" - How business case studies
can help achieve your network goals.
http://www.tradesuccess.org/buscases/why

-"How to write a business case" - Finding a firm that will cooperate
and writing their story well are essential steps in preparing a case
study.
http://www.tradesuccess.org/buscases/how

IMPORTANT: these notes are based in part on a "Business Case
Development Manual" produced for the ITC by Dr Michael Mayo of Kent
State University. You can get a copy of Dr Mayo's manual from the ITC
by emailing Isabelle Jouve and ask her to post you a copy.
mailto:worldtradenet@intracen.org  with the subject: "Please send me
Mike Mayo's business case manual".
Try with this, may be it is still working.

-"An illustration - the Lavery International case "- An exercise in
case writing. Here's a case about a commodity trading firm that
'second-guessed' government trade negotiators.
http://www.tradesuccess.org/buscases/lavery


--------------------------------------------------
Another good source of information is the "Gantthead.com" website.
http://www.gantthead.com/Gantthead/default/

Please visit the following page:
"Creating a Business Case"
http://www.gantthead.com/Gantthead/JPACE/justifypages/0,1457,58,00.html?pubPageID=602&pubPageNum=2#pubPageNum602

At this page you can find articles and downloads. I recommend you to
register at least for free membership to be able to download some
helpful files.
http://www.gantthead.com/Gantthead/registerMain/1,1012,newuser,00.html?invite=&goto=%2FGantthead%2Fdefault%2F1%2C1009%2C%2C00%2Ehtml&register=free&discountCode=

After your registration go to the following pages, and download the
files, I am sure that you will find them useful:
-"Business Case Planning Checklist ( Example )"
http://www.gantthead.com/deliverable/1,1401,5878,00.html

-"Project Plan Definition ( Template )"
http://www.gantthead.com/deliverable/1,1401,375,00.html

-"Process Improvement Project Initiation Report ( Example )"
('Our template plan includes an introduction and executive summary, as
well as sections on project overview, project justification, project
plan, project organization, project budget, risk assessment and
standards`-Taken from description).
http://www.gantthead.com/deliverable/1,1401,1907,00.html

-"Communication Plan ( Example ) ":
http://www.gantthead.com/deliverable/1,1401,1945,00.html


---------------------------------------------------------
Also I can suggest the following 3 pages article from "Optimize
Magazine":
"A New Kind Of Business Case"
-It takes more than simple payback to justify major IT projects: The
new value-realization metric features a nontraditional focus on
finance and delivery of benefits.-  by Brian Sommer
http://www.optimizemag.com/issue/003/roi.htm

----------------------------------------------------------
If you want to buy documents and/or books on this subject, refer to
the following pages:
"The Business Case Guide", 2nd edition
by Marty J. Schmidt, MBA, PhD
ISBN 1-929500-01-7
You can buy the printed version or an electronic publication in PDF
format (to read with Acrobat Reader). See info at:
http://www.solutionmatrix.com/business-case-guide.html


At "BusinessCase.com" website you can buy documents to download
BusinessCase.com homepage:
http://www.businesscase.com/index.html

Download page:
http://www.businesscase.com/downloads.html

Free 2 page whitepaper "The Business Case for Business Cases":
http://www.businesscase.com/Case_for_BusinessCase.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------
Search strategy:

Keywords:
"how to" "business case"
"creating business case"
creating business case
"business case" creation

Result pages:
://www.google.com/search?q=%22how+to%22+%22business+case%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=130&sa=N

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22creating+business+case%22&btnG=Google+Search

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=creating+business+case&btnG=Google+Search

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22business+case%22+creation&btnG=Google+Search


-------------------------------------------------------
I hope this helps you with the creation of Business Cases. If you need
clarifications or have troubles like dead links, please post e request
of clarification.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

The answer was really superb.  I hope to have enough time to read
everything throughly, it will help me for sure.