RBC Method Walkthrough - Standard Reliable Business Case Analysis
Define & Improve Scope of Change
Many investments have weak payback opportunities, because their scopes are totally wrong. If you have a pure infrastructure investment, it will probably be a cost case. However, if you think about it, you often find this infrastructural investment offer new secondary investments, that have potential profit.
Sometimes, you can bundle a scope of change, that includes both the infrastructural investment, AND a profitable investment linked somehow to the first one. If you try to find profit by just saving a few hours for the IT administrator, you also find yourself with weak arguments in front of your CFO or business controller. You had to combine such investments and functions, with something that affect many employees, the turnover, the margin, many customers/citizens/patients.
At other hand, you might have to large scope with profit and user functionality arises many years in the future. Scope down to several implementation phases, and find quick wins for the users and business in the first phase.
Remember also:
- Discuss with finance or controllers about current calculation policies, such as the labour cost from of saved hours, calculated financial lifetime, interest rate.
- Finish by editing in the RBC Excel ToolTM the Project Set-Up worksheet