Cost Focused Economic Case

Cost Focused Economic Case

[This section demonstrates that the proposed project is the least cost, least risk way of eliminating the identified statutory/operational risk. It is a holistic assessment of the benefits, opportunities, and risks of each potential course of action.]

Options appraisal

[This is the critical section where you provide the evidence-based rationale for selecting the preferred option. Your analysis should be balanced and objective, clearly assessing each option against a consistent set of criteria.]

1. Critical success factors (CSFs)

[List the essential criteria that any potential solution must meet to be considered successful. These CSFs should directly link back to your Project Objectives. 

• Strategic: e.g. ‘Must align with the corporate Digital Strategy’; ‘Must support the statutory requirements of the Local Plan process.’
• Benefits related: e.g. ‘Must demonstrably increase engagement with residents under 35’; ‘Must provide geospatial analysis of resident feedback.’
• Achievability: e.g. ‘Must be fully operational by [Date]’; ‘Must be affordable within the approved funding envelope.’
• Technical: e.g. ‘Must integrate with the council’s existing [CRM/GIS] systems’; ‘Must meet public sector accessibility standards.’]

2. Short-listed options

[List the final, credible options for appraisal as identified in your Strategic Case. Ensure they represent a genuine choice. For example:

• Option 1: Do Nothing / Business as Usual.
• Option 2: Do Something – Tactical Enhancement.
• Option 3: Do Something – Strategic Investment (The Preferred Option). ]

3. Comparative analysis of options

[This is where you analyse each option in detail. For each option, assess the likely costs, benefits, and risks. 

Benefits appraisal:
[Prioritise cashable savings and additional income that repay the investment within the council’s payback threshold.

• Risk removal: Explain how each option eliminates or materially reduces the statutory, operational or financial risk identified in the Strategic Case.
• Cost avoidance / efficiency: Record any cost avoidance (e.g. obsolete system support fees, potential ICO fines, agency backfill) to show long term affordability.
• Cashable savings or income

Cost appraisal:
[Estimate the whole-life costs for each option. Past projects consistently show that initial supplier quotes are only part of the total cost.

• What are the one-off costs? (e.g. Procurement support, software implementation/configuration fees, initial content development, hardware.)
• What are the ongoing costs? (e.g. Annual software licences, internal staff time for project management and content updates, paid social media promotion, specialist support.)
• What is the cost of internal resource? (A common lesson learned was that the internal staff time required was significantly higher than anticipated. Be realistic about the time your officers will need to spend on this.)

Risk appraisal:
[Assess the key risks for each option.

• What are the key delivery risks? (e.g. Procurement delays, technical glitches, lack of internal skills.)
• What are the financial risks? (e.g. Unforeseen costs, supplier price increases.)
• What are the outcome risks? (e.g. Low public adoption, failure to reach target demographics, reputational damage.)

Consider presenting your findings in a clear, comparative table. A skeletal example is set out below:

4. The preferred option 

[Present your findings in a clear, comparative table. This provides a powerful at-a-glance summary for decision-makers.]

Value for Money statement

[Provide a clear, summary statement explaining why the preferred option represents the best value for money. This is your “so what?”. State the full life cost and explain why this is the least cost way to eliminate the identified risk.]