Overview

This chapter is about building a business case study anda return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. I put these twotogether because, with few exceptions, they are nearlyidentical. A business case study is usually created in thebeginning phases of the data warehouse. It is neededwhen management is not sure of the benefits of building a data warehouse.The ROI analysis, on the other hand, is created approximatelyone year after the data warehouse is built. I discuss these together becauseof their similarity, but there are some differences between an ROIanalysis and a business case study. Most of these differences are minor.For example, an ROI analysis will not have an implementation timeline.While I could outline every minor detail that you could possiblythink of putting into a data warehouse business case study or ROIanalysis, that would require another book to be written. I prefer to keepit simple so that it is easy to understand and therefore can be constructedby normal business people. Therefore, I will focus this chapteron only the key sections that are needed in each.

The key sections of a business case study are the following:

1. Business user visions
2. One-to-one discussions
3. Business user profiles
4. Potential payback
5. Accumulated potential payback summary
6. Projected investment costs with ROI forecast
7. Resource plan

The ROI analysis will need to highlight the following points:

1. Data warehouse background
2. One-to-one discussions
3. Business user profiles
4. Actual payback
5. Actual accumulated and projected payback summary
6. Investment costs with ROI conclusion
7. Next-step implementation plan

The difference between thebusiness case study and theROI analysis is a matter ofpast...