Process of producing an Investment Logic Map

What is an Investment Logic Map?

An ILM is a one-page document that depicts the need for an investment. It communicates the story of various types of actions, including organisational changes, regulatory or policy updates, Programs of works, Precinct developments or investment in individual projects.

There are four steps that the Project Team should take to develop an ILM, shown in the diagram below.

The process of producing an ILM

For Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects, the Project Team should undertake these steps through one or more ILWs (mandatory for Tier 1, recommended for Tier 2), which brings together different perspectives and understanding through an informed and facilitated discussion with people who have the most knowledge on the subject. For Tier 3 projects, an ILW is not usually necessary, as a less formal discussion with relevant stakeholders usually can answer the above questions adequately.

More detail on each of these steps is in Content of an Investment Logic Map.

An example ILM is provided in Appendix A.

When should an Investment Logic Map be developed?

The Project Team should undertake the process of producing an ILM early in the project’s development in Stage 1 - Develop, following the Early Presentation of Project (EPP). When developed early in the Infrastructure Investment Lifecycle, an ILM has the greatest opportunity to have a positive effect on the outcomes of the Capital Framework process and drive maximum value from an investment.

During development of the ILM, if uncertainties arise that could significantly alter the identified problem, opportunity, benefit or strategic response, such as conditions or assumptions that may change in the future, the Project Team should write these into the outputs to ensure they are considered in greater detail during the development of the Business Case.

The fundamentals of the guidance outlined in this document can be applied successfully to organisation-level discussions. Organisations that wish to produce an ILM should follow these steps but consider the problems and opportunities within the context of the entire organisation, rather than an individual project.

How should the Project Team undertake an Investment Logic Workshop?

An ILW is a highly focused session led by an independent and accredited facilitator.

The ILW facilitator must be independent of the Project Team, as they will need to challenge all elements across each step of the workshop to confirm the validity of the investment logic and assist in the generation of a robust ILM. Please contact ICA for accredited ILW facilitators.

Where the Project Team uses an ILW to develop an ILM, the Project Team should follow the four-step process shown in Figure 3. The length of the workshop can vary on a case-by-case basis but is recommended to be at least two hours.

For a more complex investment story, the four-step process can be split across two or more workshops.

Workshop preparation

To ensure a successful ILW, the Project Director should make sure that all participants understand its purpose and process.

The ILW should avoid spending substantial time describing the project. Prior to the ILW, the Project Director should ask participants (particularly those who did not attend the EPP) to review background material to ensure they have a depth of understanding about the issues the workshop will explore. This material may include:

• Background reports
• Briefing papers
• External reviews
• Internal management reports
• Long-term planning documents
• Business strategies or plans
• Organisational strategy documents
• Significant performance targets or timeframes that must be achieved
• Documents that detail the current internal and external operating environment of the organisation
• Wider Government strategies and policies.

Who should attend?

Key stakeholders from across Government must be present during the ILW to ensure it investigates the problems or opportunities properly and identifies the relevant benefits and options for further analysis during Stage 2 – Prove of the Capital Framework.

The Project Sponsor is the most crucial participant in the ILW and must be present.  The Project Team, with assistance from ICA, should identify the other participants who should be present.

The attendees should include:

• The Project Director, as the person from the Sponsoring Directorate with lead responsibility for the project at Stage 1 – Develop of the Capital Framework
• Key stakeholder representatives
• People with the most knowledge of the problems or opportunities
• People with a comprehensive knowledge of existing data that the Project Team can use to measure benefits, including setting appropriate and measurable KPIs
• Potential data providers who would be responsible for providing the data to determine whether the investment has delivered the benefits
• Others with relevant background in identifying and addressing related problems or opportunities
• Representatives of iCBR, FABG, EFG and ICA.

Attendees can include external consultants advising the Project Team.

The number of people involved in the workshop will depend on the size and complexity of the problems or opportunities and potential investment solutions. Ideally, there should be no more than 15 attendees, as a larger number can make the ILW unwieldy. Consequently, it is best if individual stakeholders do not have excessive representation at the ILW.