The Unorthodox Business Case

The Unorthodox Business Case

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Bhasky was a well versed Project Manager. The best out there I ever worked with. His Project Management skills were impeccable. Yet he struggled with one aspect he always found ambiguous – The Unorthodox Business Case !!! 

If you work for an Organization that is already very mature, Business Cases may be very hard to come by!!! This is where the Program Manager has to don the hat of developing some unorthodox Business Cases to be able to provide a quantified improvement to the Leadership team. This is where The Unorthodox Business Case can help you!!!

The Unorthodox Business Case

 

This could be a must in a Project Manager’s Repertoire !!! The Unorthodox Business Case

How do you create The Unorthodox Business Case ? Let’s get right into it with an example!!!

Suppose the value of a company is a Billion dollars. 

The Program Manager has received a Project to create Data Governance Framework for the company but to sell the Program’s Importance to senior stakeholders the SVP needs a Business Case to prove the worth of doing that Project!!! 

The Unorthodox Business Case

Given Input: Company Value $ 1 Billion

 Assumption 1: Value of Data: 20% ~ 200 Million

 Assumption 2: Depreciation Of Information ~ 20% or 160 Million 

Now we have to calculate value of Data that the company holds on basis of Data Governance Maturity Level

Data Governance Maturity Level 1 ~ Reactive Maturity

For Level 1 Value Of Data ~ 25% ~ (25% of $160 M) ~  $40Million

Data Governance Maturity Level 2 ~ Controlled Maturity

For Level 2 Value Of Data ~ 50% ~ (50% of $160 M) ~  $80Million

Data Governance Maturity Level 3 ~ Proactive Organization

For Level 3 Value Of Data ~ 75% ~ (75% of $160 M) ~  $120 Million

Data Governance Maturity Level 4 ~ Embedded 

For Level 4 Value Of Data ~ 100% ~ (100% of $160 M) ~  $160 Million

Thus you see the Business Case for this Organization to Move from A Reactive Level of Data Governance to an Embedded Level is almost $160M – $40M or ~$120M

Just to Provide clarity – Full Data Governance maintains the integrity of the entire asset, while no Data Governance allows the depreciation to mark down the value of the asset to zero

You will ask What’s so Unorthodox about The Unorthodox Business Case ?

Business Leaders often fall into the trap of looking at an investment with a lens of Future Gains or Return On Investment. The Unorthodox Business Case Case looks at the otherwise angle or scenario if they dont make this investment.