- DoH Better Business Cases NI User Guide and Approval Procedures;
- the move to Five Case Model and Better Business Cases NI;
- Better Business Cases NI Guidance;
- Business Case Pro-formas; and
- Training
DoH Better Business Cases NI User Guide and Approval Procedures
The DoH User Guide is intended to provide staff in the Department of Health and its Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) with an overview of the Department of Finance business case guidance and to inform them of the recent changes that have been made to that guidance, as well as DoH approvals procedures. The guide is available on the Department of Health website at the link below:
The purpose of the User Guide is to draw your attention to:
- best practice recommendations to ensure that business cases and PPEs comply with Better Business Cases NI (BBC NI);
- the requirements to apply the principles of appraisal with proportionate effort to all expenditure decisions, including new contracts and contract extensions; and
- the approvals process for expenditure decisions in excess of delegated limits and the test drilling of business cases for those expenditure decisions below delegated limits.
DoH Business Case Submission Proforma
Economic Analysis & Business Case Unit have developed a Submission Pro-Forma to be completed and included alongside all Business Case submissions requiring DoH approval. The pro-forma is available to download at the link below:
The Move to Five Case Model and Better Business Cases NI
In July 2019, the Department of Finance (DoF) published a report entitled 'Review of the Expenditure Approval and Business Case Processes'. The aim of the Review was to examine the process in place within Northern Ireland for approving expenditure decisions and how business cases are used to support these decisions.
One of the recommendations from the Review was that the Northern Ireland Civil Service should move away from the Northern Ireland Guide to Expenditure Appraisal and Evaluation (NIGEAE) and adopt the HM Treasury best practice approach to the development of business cases, known as the ‘Five Case Model’. This is the approach on which the new Better Business Cases NI guidance is based.
The basic process of appraisal and evaluation is largely the same within the Five Case Model approach, as is the information needed to produce a business case. Rather, the Five Case Model involves separating the business case into its five component parts, or ‘Cases’ –
- Strategic Case;
- Economic Case;
- Commercial Case;
- Financial Case; and
- Management Case.
The five cases are not individual documents, they are the five sections of a business case which are interlinked and should not, therefore, be developed in isolation.
Presenting the information in this way is intended to help clarify who is responsible for developing the business case, for approving the spend associated with it, and which specialist advisors should be involved in providing advice and support around this. The table below summarises the specialist advisors that can provide advice under each case.
Five Case Model |
Specialist Adviser |
Strategic Case |
Departmental Economist Policy Advisers; Property Experts and Commissioners |
Economic Case |
Departmental Economists |
Commercial Case |
Commercial/Procurement Expertise (e.g. CPD-HP, BSO PaLS or a relevant CoPE) |
Financial Case |
Departmental Finance Division |
Management Case |
Project Management Team/SRO |
Better Business Cases NI
Better Business Cases NI is the primary guide for Northern Ireland Departments on the appraisal, evaluation, approval and management of policies, programmes and projects - the essential elements in the cycle of expenditure planning and service delivery.
The Better Business Cases NI website contains a range of other pieces of supplementary guidance. The website also contains several pieces of new supplementary guidance, covering areas such as Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA), distributional objectives or consequences, social value, proportionate effort and environmental considerations.
In addition, the website also contains a number of other items of supporting material that appraisers may find useful when developing a business case. These include a ‘Best Practice Guide’ to business cases, a ‘Plain English Guide’, as well as business case checklists.
It is important to view the business case process as a tool for achieving value for money, which plays a supportive role in the expenditure approval decision making process rather than a hurdle to be overcome in the desire to spend money.
Business Case Pro-forma
A number of Business Case pro formas have been developed based on the Better Business Cases guidance and can be accessed at the link below:
There are also templates for Strategic Outline Cases (SOC), Full Business Cases (FBC), contract extensions, office accommodation projects and proposals to engage an external resource.
All sections of the pro forma should be completed, however they may be adapted and tailored to suit particular spending areas as desired.
Following consultation with business areas, DoH has developed a Business Case Pro-forma Coversheet to:
- provide guidance on the selection of appropriate Business Case Pro-forma; and
- provide an opportunity for business areas to document their rationale for selecting specific pro-forma.
The Business Case Pro-forma Coversheet can be accessed at the link below:
As part of this coversheet DoH has introduced indicative expenditure thresholds to be applied to the pro-forma. It is important to note that these are not intended to be rigid thresholds that must be adhered to in all instances but a guide to assist business case authors in determining which pro forma is best suited to the expenditure decision being appraised.
It is always vital to apply proportionate effort. The effort required to assess a small expenditure is very much less than that needed to justify a major programme, a new policy or a large project.
Training
Economics Branch conducted a number of Five Case Model awareness sessions across the Department and associated Arm’s Length Bodies, a copy of the presentation used across these sessions is available at the link below.
Better Business Cases Awareness Session
At present there are two training products being delivered by DoF – an eLearning course (approx. 30 mins) which is a prerequisite to the webinar (approx. 4 hours).
Access to both training courses for NI Civil Servants is available through LiNKS.
A voiceover for the eLearning course has been disseminated across the HSC via DoH Circular HSC(F) 16-2021 but can also be accessed below. A voiceover for the webinar can be made available on request to DoH Economic Analysis and Business Case Unit.
A voiceover for the Better Business Case eLearning course.
For more information, please contact the Economic Analysis & Business Case Unit: economics@health-ni.gov.uk.