A Business Case is a document that sets out the future objectives of a Community of Practice (CoP), the broad strategies for achieving them, and the resources and funding needed.
The most important purposes of presenting a Business Case are to create an effective strategy for growth, determine your future resource and financial needs, and secure ongoing funding for the Community.
To create a Business Case, have an initial idea as to what your CoP is about, that is, its Purpose, People, and Practice; bring together colleagues and partners to validate these initial ideas and form a Core Team; have the Core Team put together a Business Case for the CoP.
What is a Business Case for a Community of Practice?
A Business Case is a document that sets out the future objectives of a Community of Practice (CoP), the broad strategies for achieving them, and the resources and funding needed. A Business Case is needed to create an effective strategy for growth, to determine your future resource and financial needs, and to secure ongoing funding. It is almost always needed to secure funding from an internal funding group or an external funding institution.
Why is making a Business Case for a Community of Practice important?
A Business Case or Business Plan, is the first formal document to set out your ideas for your CoP: what you are trying to achieve, how you are going to achieve it, and how you are going to resource and fund the community. It answers key questions like what support is needed to sustain this community, what success looks like, how this is going to be achieved.
If you were about to launch a new product or service, and go to an institution to secure funds, you would always present a Business Case to the lending institution, stakeholders, or sponsors. In the same way, you should always start your Community of Practice with a clear Business Case.
The three most important purposes of presenting a Business Case are to:
Create an effective strategy for growth,
To determine your future resource and financial needs, and
To secure ongoing funding for your CoP.
How do you make a Business Case for a CoP?
There is no set order for creating a Business Case other than it should be one of first activities you should undertake. A possible order would be:
Have an initial idea as to what your CoP is about: what its purpose and domain is; who are the people you want to involve; and the practice of how you are going about it. (See Purpose, People, and Practice.)
Bring together colleagues and partners to validate your initial ideas and form your Core Team.
Have the Core Team put together a Business Case for the CoP.
You can use the following typical categories to select from to create a Business Case for your CoP in an international development context:
Requested by
CoP collaboration space name
CoP description
Group type (Public/Private)
Business Owner
Community Manager/Facilitator
Business Unit
Business Sponsor
Knowledge Management (KM) Advisor
Estimated Launch date
CoP purpose/need
Alignment with KM and communications strategies
Results indicators
Target audience
Incentives to participate
Key activities
Knowledge and Learning capture
Allocated resources
Geographic focus
The preceding list is an indication of what you might include in submitting a Business Case for your CoP. Not all the categories will apply to you and some might require more explanation than others. The categories will also depend on who your audience is, and what the goal is: are you seeking approval to go ahead with the proposal, or are you seeking funds or both?
The extent of your Business Case will vary according to your purposes and who you are presenting to. Audiences for your Business Case can include your immediate managers and their managers, a funding authority like a foundation or a UN agency. Presenting a Business Case for modest funding to your immediate manager is going to be a lot less extensive than presenting a Business Case for significant funding from for example, the Gates Foundation. You will also find that certain organizations will require you to submit your Business Case in a standardized format, using an ad-hoc template. However, the preceding list should give you a good idea of the kinds of areas you should be covering.
Business case example
Below is an example of a completed Business Case proposal seeking approval from an IT department to deploy a CoP on the organization’s collaboration platform. The names have been removed for privacy reasons.
Requested by
Name Surname
CoP collaboration space name
Geospatial Café
CoP description
A collaborative platform for expert geospatial engineers practicing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
CoP type (Public/Private)
Private
Business owner
Name Surname
Community manager/facilitator
Name Surname
Business unit
Middle East and North Africa Operations
Business sponsor
Name Surname
Estimated launch date
June, 2021
CoP Purpose/Need
There is a need to create a collaborative space for geospatial engineers to learn from each other to enhance their knowledge of how the organization supports the implementation of its projects in the MENA countries
Alignment with KM and Comms Strategies
Fully aligned with the Geospatial Operations communication and outreach strategies which focus on the impact of geospatial projects on populations on the ground.
Results indicators
One of our main results would be the enhancement of the knowledge of local practitioners so that they can support the implementation of the organization’s financed projects in MENA countries.
Target audience
The target audience consists of the project implementation units and our main counterparts involved in the implementation of the organization’s financed projects in MENA countries
Incentives to participate
Enhanced knowledge sharing, enhanced knowledge of the organization’s procedures and projects cycles, extended knowledge beyond one’s own country, increased shared experiences
Key activities
Project implementation, project cycle, financial management, procurement, standard operations manuals
Knowledge and learning capture
Reduce knowledge acquisition time, a platform for team members to show how good they are in implementing the organization’s financed projects, creation of success stories (in documentation and by in-country-produced video)
Allocated resources
The necessary human and financial resources for the platform and the first two years of the community of practice including the hiring of a community manager have been committed.
Geographic focus
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Community Domain
Language
English
If this a Partnership, list the other organizations
Partnering with USAID and the ESRI Foundation.
Key points
Consider making a Business Case for starting a CoP for your own strategic planning purposes.
Having a Business Case ensures that there is a strong foundation for your CoP and it helps in getting support for it. (Business units and/or funding institutions require a Business Case before funding any project.)
Blog » Making a Business Case for a Community of Practice
Making a Business Case for a Community of Practice
Summary
What is a Business Case for a Community of Practice?
A Business Case is a document that sets out the future objectives of a Community of Practice (CoP), the broad strategies for achieving them, and the resources and funding needed. A Business Case is needed to create an effective strategy for growth, to determine your future resource and financial needs, and to secure ongoing funding. It is almost always needed to secure funding from an internal funding group or an external funding institution.
Why is making a Business Case for a Community of Practice important?
A Business Case or Business Plan, is the first formal document to set out your ideas for your CoP: what you are trying to achieve, how you are going to achieve it, and how you are going to resource and fund the community. It answers key questions like what support is needed to sustain this community, what success looks like, how this is going to be achieved.
If you were about to launch a new product or service, and go to an institution to secure funds, you would always present a Business Case to the lending institution, stakeholders, or sponsors. In the same way, you should always start your Community of Practice with a clear Business Case.
The three most important purposes of presenting a Business Case are to:
How do you make a Business Case for a CoP?
There is no set order for creating a Business Case other than it should be one of first activities you should undertake. A possible order would be:
You can use the following typical categories to select from to create a Business Case for your CoP in an international development context:
The preceding list is an indication of what you might include in submitting a Business Case for your CoP. Not all the categories will apply to you and some might require more explanation than others. The categories will also depend on who your audience is, and what the goal is: are you seeking approval to go ahead with the proposal, or are you seeking funds or both?
The extent of your Business Case will vary according to your purposes and who you are presenting to. Audiences for your Business Case can include your immediate managers and their managers, a funding authority like a foundation or a UN agency. Presenting a Business Case for modest funding to your immediate manager is going to be a lot less extensive than presenting a Business Case for significant funding from for example, the Gates Foundation. You will also find that certain organizations will require you to submit your Business Case in a standardized format, using an ad-hoc template. However, the preceding list should give you a good idea of the kinds of areas you should be covering.
Business case example
Below is an example of a completed Business Case proposal seeking approval from an IT department to deploy a CoP on the organization’s collaboration platform. The names have been removed for privacy reasons.
Requested by
Name Surname
CoP collaboration space name
Geospatial Café
CoP description
A collaborative platform for expert geospatial engineers practicing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
CoP type (Public/Private)
Private
Business owner
Name Surname
Community manager/facilitator
Name Surname
Business unit
Middle East and North Africa Operations
Business sponsor
Name Surname
Estimated launch date
June, 2021
CoP Purpose/Need
There is a need to create a collaborative space for geospatial engineers to learn from each other to enhance their knowledge of how the organization supports the implementation of its projects in the MENA countries
Alignment with KM and Comms Strategies
Fully aligned with the Geospatial Operations communication and outreach strategies which focus on the impact of geospatial projects on populations on the ground.
Results indicators
One of our main results would be the enhancement of the knowledge of local practitioners so that they can support the implementation of the organization’s financed projects in MENA countries.
Target audience
The target audience consists of the project implementation units and our main counterparts involved in the implementation of the organization’s financed projects in MENA countries
Incentives to participate
Enhanced knowledge sharing, enhanced knowledge of the organization’s procedures and projects cycles, extended knowledge beyond one’s own country, increased shared experiences
Key activities
Project implementation, project cycle, financial management, procurement, standard operations manuals
Knowledge and learning capture
Reduce knowledge acquisition time, a platform for team members to show how good they are in implementing the organization’s financed projects, creation of success stories (in documentation and by in-country-produced video)
Allocated resources
The necessary human and financial resources for the platform and the first two years of the community of practice including the hiring of a community manager have been committed.
Geographic focus
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Community Domain
Language
English
If this a Partnership, list the other organizations
Partnering with USAID and the ESRI Foundation.
Key points
This article is part of the WBG Communities of Practice Toolkit licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The toolkit features practical resources to help you develop impactful Communities of Practice. 📖 Learn more about the Toolkit. ▶ Access the Toolkit.