We have been discussing ITIL busines cases. In a previous post we talked about presenting any business case strategically. In this final post we apply that to ITIL.

Make sure the way the case is explained does these things:

In previous posts we have been looking at ITIL business cases. The last one looked for the strong arguments for ITIL. There are some common weaknesses.

We have been discussing ITIL business cases in some previous posts. Now let's get down to the nitty gritty: where is the value in an ITIL project?

The keys to a strong ITIL business case are some basic things:

• There ought to be low-hanging fruit. If there are no real short-term gains you will never hold the attention of either grass-roots participants or senior management.

In previous posts the IT Skeptic covered some basic principles of business case design. Let us apply those principles to a business case for an ITIL project.

The previous posts said the strength of a business case is money, real or imagined; the strategy of a business case is how it is aligned with the target organisation. With strength and strategy, and a little luck, you can succeed.

We have already discussed what should go into a business case (and we will some more). You can get the content right but fail at the communication of it. The pitch is as important as the story.

Make sure the way the case is explained does these things:

Further to our discussion of business cases, I have seen too many busines cases that contain arguments that are simply not compelling. They seem compelling to the author because the author is too self-absorbed to see things from the perspective of their target audience. Usually this boils down to whining.

In a previous blog post we discussed how if you are part of a business then you should run like a business and that means having a business case, i.e. Find The Money. What if you can't FTM? Relax. It does not have to be real money. It just has to look like money.

There is much discussion of which processes to start with in ITIL, or what order to do them in, or whether to do them at all, or how to decide. If the decision on which processes to reengineer is driven by a business case then the right ones will be chosen: those where ITIL will yield a return to the business.
FTM: Find The Money.