One good way to know that you are fully prepared to present your case is to ask yourself questions you think your audience will ask. Put yourself in their places and look for gaps, mistakes, confusion, past experiences, and points of view that could lead to questions about your idea and its feasibility. Table 3 lists some common questions

Table 3. Frequently Asked Questions

Experienced professionals, elected officials, and public policy leaders say you can expect any of the following questions when you present your business case. Can you answer them?

• What is this about?
• Why is it important?
• What are the risks?
• What are the benefits?
• How will this improve services?
• What exactly is the problem? How can it be resolved?
• What are the long-term vision and goals?
• What is the time frame for completing the project?
• How long will it take to see results?
• Can you define the scope of the project?
• What are your milestones for showing progress?
• Whose bureaucratic empire is being built by this initiative?
• Who will manage this initiative and how?
• Who else supports this initiative and why?
• Who is against it and why?
• Are all the participants on board?
• Where have projects like this one been successful?
• Does legislation need to be written to accomplish the goal?
• Can you specify the policy hurdles?
• What levels of government will it affect and how?
• In view of data privacy laws and issues, how much and what kind of information should/can be shared?
• What do the relevant elected officials think about this initiative?
• Where does this project fit in with the Governor's/ Mayor's/ County Executive's policy agenda?
• Have you been to see the Legislature / City Council yet?
• What role will your agency head play in this initiative?
• What are the opinions of other agencies, constituencies, employees, and unions?
• How much will it cost and where will the money come from?
• Didn't we [your audience] fund this already?
• What about the millions of dollars we've already invested in this program in the past several years?
• What other funding is available? How are you pursuing it?
• What is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)? (building, maintaining, training, etc.)
• What will be the Return on Investment (ROI)?
• What are the true total costs?
• Is there a way to share the costs?
• What do you want me [your audience] to do?
• How will this project help achieve other policy goals that I [your audience] care about?