The primary objective of the Business Planning Phase is to define the business opportunity or business requirement in the case of non-revenue generating projects. After a possible project has been identified, it must undergo a certain amount of definition. This includes a technical assessment, development of a milestone schedule, and development of an estimated cost range (typically a –25/+40 percent estimate). As the proposed project becomes better defined, a clearly formed business plan can be framed. Concurrently, economic models and business evaluations can assess the proposed project’s strategic importance and its business, production, and financial potential.
IPA offers Overall Assessments, Specialized Analyses, and Project Planning Assistance for projects in FEL 1, as described below:
Business FEL
Assess the level of definition of a number of critical items used to determine what, if any, asset should be built to meet a particular business need
Early Cost Benchmarking
Calculates industry average cost and schedule benchmarks for a given project scope
New Technology Planning Workshop
Presents and discusses Best Practices and strategies for dealing with difficulties inherent to new technology projects
FEL Workshop
Aids companies in achieving Best Practical definition at authorization, which leads to more-effective projects