How to Read Business Cases for Risk Management: How to write a killer business case that gets your risk treatments funded! RTF
In over 25 years of managing risks across a range of disciplines and industries, I have in only one instance, had adequate resources to implement appropriate risk strategies. That was a rare moment in history which followed a terrorist attack on the Australian Embassy in the Jakarta. The government of the day, insisted that all our overseas missions would be protected to a minimum standard - irrespective of cost. At the time, I was Manager, Property and Security for the Australian Trade Commission with a remit spanning 60 nations. In a few short months, my team and I built a $56 million budget, and for a short period, our greatest challenge was spending the money fast enough to meet the program timelines. For the rest of my career, the biggest challenge has been finding adequate funding - and I have to say, that with research, practice and dedication, I've become rather good at it. Even without having met you, I'm going to suggest that finding sufficient funds to do what you know you need to do, is probably your biggest challenge right now. This book was designed with one purpose in mind - to help you get the resources you need to support the right risk treatments. It was born when a friend of mine asked me one day, "how can I demonstrate the business case for my risk treatments?" That simple question proved much more difficult to answer than I would have thought. It did however, prompt me to change one of my master's electives to conduct a research project into the business case for investments in risk management. That in turn, lead me to create a training course the topic, and before long, the workbook from that course became this book.The book draws on research from a range of disciplines and using generous color graphics, is designed to take you through the full process of initiating, researching, developing, analysing, writing and finally presenting a business case. Although the focus is on business cases for risk treatments, you don't need to be a risk expert and the same concepts are applicable to any business case. It's been designed with simple tips to get you started including:- The 4C's of defining a problem?- The 4A's of defining a recommended solution- ESIEAP (The Hierarchy of Controls) to determine which type of risk treatment is better? - The 8 simple steps that you can do on a single sheet of paper to determine whether your proposed business case has merit.- How to use the 4A's, 4C's and ESIEAP to spot a poor business case in under 5 minutes (including self-assessing your business case before the boss does).If you've been struggling to get your IT project, portfolio planning, safety, security or finance business cases funded, then this is the book for you. In just a few short hours you can know all you need to know to develop a great business case.
