In addition to all the questions you'll hear, you are likely to face some opposition to your project when you present your business case. Your earlier analysis that identified points of contention and alternative ways of looking at the issues will help you prepare to defend your decisions. Expect those issues and alternatives to be raised by one audience or another.

Anticipate their reactions and be prepared to respond to them in as informed a way as possible. Have solid data to back up your position and show how the advice of recognized experts or the experience of other jurisdictions supports your project. You should also listen carefully to concerns and be willing to hear and consider new ideas that might improve your plan.

The work of generating a business case has benefits beyond the business case itself. For example, we have seen the process of building a business case result in a total redirection of effort when one team realized belatedly they were trying to provide a service for a constituency that didn't need it. Another team discovered that the nonprofit organizations that would use their planned system wanted to be considered more than system users- they wanted to become project partners and offered to participate in the analysis and the development of the case. In other less dramatic instances new insights into the nature of the problem or the resource situation emerged. Bad timing showed up in the recognition that top management attention was focused elsewhere, perhaps on an upcoming election or its aftermath. The case-building process is a last opportunity to look hard at the data and see gaps or weakness in your thinking, as well as to identify possibilities that had not been obvious before.

Finally, think of your business case as a portfolio of layered and related information rather than as a single document. As you work with different constituencies to make your case, you will draw from your portfolio the information and level of detail that is most suitable to each one. Sometimes a single-page briefing is right. For others you need a full blown, detailed justification. Your case portfolio should support whatever kind and level of information you need for each situation. Chapter 4 suggests ways to use this portfolio of information to present your case to a variety of audiences.