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At this stage you and the project sponsor should have a business case production plan that you both believe in. This will include sufficient detail to ensure that you are confident of achieving the production of the business case in the given time. It will allow you to argue your case with others to enable you to secure the resources that you need to proceed. However, it is likely that you will now need significant support from others in the organization to enable you to produce the business case. Generally this is achieved by enlisting the help of a project steering group.

Often at this stage a project steering group will not have been formed. If this is the case then you should form the group. In practice it is helpful if you start the formation of this group in parallel to the production of the business case. To form the group you need to gather together a group of senior managers within the organization. These managers need to have significant authority and need to be able to authorize the release of funds or resources to support your project. It is likely that you will already have involved a number of senior people in the project. Normally these people are self-selecting and can be easily coerced into joining the project steering group.

The plan for the business case’s production should point you to a date for the presentation of the finalized business case for approval. However, you should not wait until this date before starting to work with the steering group and its members. Instead you need to spend time with the various members of the group explaining in detail the business case. As you explain the detail you should seek their opinion and you should then use that to influence the content of the business case and its production. Prior to the first steering group meeting you and the project sponsor should agree who the chair will be. This is normally the most senior manager present or sometimes the project sponsor. You should meet with the proposed chairperson and explain the business plan production schedule in detail and the different opinions that you have heard from the other steering group members.

At the first meeting of the steering group the project sponsor should present the business case production schedule. The sponsor should be clear what he or she is seeking from the steering group. Generally this will be resources, funds, hardware, etc to enable the business case to be produced. Often this requires a short paper seeking approval in principle for the project. It will set out the basic resources required in order to progress to a full business case and associated project plan. If you, and the project sponsor, have properly briefed the steering group then the outcome of the meeting should be a formality. The meeting should result in the approval of the business case production schedule and the initial paper seeking basic resources in support of the full business case and project plan. When approval has been achieved you can normally take this as a good indication that you have gained senior management support for the project.