Evaluation of the Better Business Case framework in New Zealand 2015
Extract from the New Zealand Better Business Case Evaluation Report on the NZ Treasury website.
In 2015 Joe Flanagan, the author of the Five Case model and the chair of the International BBC Standards Board, evaluated the use of BBC across the NZ State Sector. He found:
significant improvement in the quality of business cases since 2013
good application to capital projects, with a marked increase in the use of programme business cases to support organisational change and transformation initiatives.
a need to better link the business case approach to policy development and strategic planning.
a tendency for agencies to develop business cases with a focus on a particular solution, rather than considering a range of viable options.
He suggested:
take a wider sector and country perspective to improve effectiveness over the longer term by transforming the way public services are delivered (eg. cross agency initiatives).
apply the business case framework to a broader range of investments, rather than just those with a capital or project-based focus.
the Five Case Model within the BBC programme is relevant to robust strategy and policy development and BBC could form the basis for addressing this gap in the future.
In response to these findings, the Treasury;
encouraging agencies to utilise the services available on the Treasury website and think more broadly about the use of business cases to underpin other types of investment decisions than those involving capital resources.
released revised business case guidance to clarify what's expected to ensure the business case is fit for purpose, bring a principles-based approach to the use of methods and tools for gathering the evidence needed to develop the business case, give greater clarity to the relationship between strategy and policy, provide greater clarity on how each type of business case supports what types of decisions being sought in the Governments annual budget process,
introduced clinics.
Here is a link to the Treasury website http://www.treasury.govt.nz/statesector/investmentmanagement/plan/bbc
