As stated in the first post in this series, a business case is about business. We're in the middle of unpacking the four components of the business case, which are:

Hypothesis
Evidence
Analysis
Recommendation
We covered the hypothesis and the first stage of gathering evidence in prior posts. Now we need to dig a layer deeper and start analyzing the evidence, building a case that shows the potential value in your proposal.

To show that there is value in your proposal, it's important to answer three vital questions:

Where does your company have areas needing improvement?
How will your proposal deliver this improvement?
What is the measurable, financial value of that improvement?
Most technical professionals are quite capable of addressing the second item-explaining how their proposal delivers improvements. Where most need help is with the first and third items.

We will operate under the assumption that your company wishes to be a market leader, not just in product leadership and market share, but also in profitability and cost containment. After all, the better a company controls its costs, the better it can either compete on price or keep prices steady and generate more profit for investment in R&D or acquisitions. Your proposal, to be effective, must show where such unlocked value resides and how your plan releases it.

Where might we find truly sustainable, measurable financial value? There are three high-value areas where such value can be uncovered. Think of this acronym: P-T-I. PTI stands for Peers, Trends and Incrementals. We'll explore each of these in brief.

In this exercise, we are going to use the company's own, published financial data to tell a true and compelling story. This takes a little desk work on your part, but it pays huge dividends for you in terms of credibility and professionalism. To complete this exercise, you'll need your company's most recent annual financial statements (Balance Sheet and Income Statement, or SEC form 10-K) and those of three of your company's closest competitors. (You can find these on the Investor Relations page of the company website.)