Needs Analysis

Purpose of this section of the Business Case

The purpose of this section is to provide the case for investment. This section should present the problems/opportunities identified during the process of producing an Investment Logic Map (ILM) in Stage 1 – Develop or at a subsequent stage, and the benefits of the project once it has addressed/realised these problems/opportunities. This section should provide a robust assessment of the need(s) for investment and evidence to support any statements presented in the ILM.

The Project Team must answer the following key questions in this section:

• What is the overall statement of need for the project?
• What are the key problems or opportunities identified in the ILM (or subsequently)?
• What are the benefits of addressing the problems or realising the opportunities?
• What are the strategic responses to each of the problems or opportunities?
• What are the proposed solutions within those strategic responses?

For more information on how to develop an ILM, undertake an Investment Logic Workshop (ILW) and write up the Needs Analysis, the Project Team should refer to the ILM and ILW Guidelines.

Content required for the Business Case

Problem (or opportunity) and strategic responses

In this section, the Project Team should outline the problem (or opportunity) that Government needs to address (or realise), provide evidence to support the existence of the problems (or opportunities) and set out the potential strategic responses.

Each problem (or opportunity) should have its own sub-section. In each of these sub-sections, the Project Team should also outline any previous or existing attempts or approaches to address the problem (or realise the opportunity), where relevant.

Benefits

This section should outline the benefits that the Project Team expect to achieve if the Government addresses the problem (or realises the opportunity), as identified in the ILM. Benefits are the positive consequences of addressing the problem (or realising the opportunity) and they bring value to Government, the ACT community and/or other relevant stakeholders. The Project Team should support each benefit by developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure and report the contribution of the benefit to the organisation. If there are any economic, social, environmental or other costs⁠ (Footnote: The phrase ‘economic, social and environmental costs’ is shortened and referred to as ‘economic costs’ throughout the Guidelines. ) of addressing the problem (or realising the opportunity) in addition to the project costs, or any necessary business changes (for example, organisational or governance structure changes) or strategic enablers (for example, re-zoning land or policy changes), the Project Team should document them as well.

For Tier 1 projects, the Project Team must develop a separate Benefits Realisation Plan (BRP). The BRP should go further than this section of the Business Case and provide a detailed plan on how the Project Team will realise, monitor and report the project’s benefits.

Appendices required for the Business Case

The Project Team is required to attach the following documents as appendices to the Business Case where relevant:

• ILW supporting documentation, including the list of participants who attended the ILW and any other supporting notes (if an ILW was held)
• A copy of the ILM.