Investment Benefits
The benefits section is a vital part of any investment application. Weak or poorly-described benefits are one of the main reasons for investment applications to be declined.
The benefits section of the business case template has been revised at the start of 2023, to make it more intuitive and to align with the fields in the benefits register.
A small number of measurable benefits (ie 4 or 5), and a realistic approach to measuring those benefits post completion, is strongly preferred to a long list of minor gains or incremental improvements which will be difficult or time-consuming to track. Projects should focus on benefits which will be realised over the next 3-4 years, with the only exceptions likely to be significant research investments or major construction projects. Benefits should also ideally link to one or more of the University's strategic or thematic priorities: if an investment does not support one of the University's priorities, why should we do it?
In the case of larger or more complex investments, the narrative in the business case should contain more detail on each benefit, including any underlying assumptions, the assumed baseline and incremental improvement, benefit drivers, confidence in delivery, ease of realisation, and scale of impact.
Projects should clearly state to what extent benefits are included in the latest financial budget, along with the relevant College / University Services area and account line (for example, CoSE tuition fee income) to enable benefits to be identified and tracked.
A number of worked examples are provided, illustrating what a good benefits section should look like. The Management Accounts team in finance are available to assist in crafting a business case for a project.
Last updated: February 2023