18 YEARS EXPERIENCE
Bob Hu
Managing Director / Principal Traffic Engineer
§ Service 001 · Business Cases
Business Cases
Strategic, indicative, programme, detailed, single-stage and lite business cases under the NZTA Business Case Approach. Strategic case framing through to economic appraisal, MCA and investment-ready recommendations.
Who it's for
- NZTA Waka Kotahi
- Local councils
- Developers
- Infrastructure & alliance partners
The problem we solve
Transport investment in New Zealand is funded through the NZTA Business Case Approach. A business case that can't trace its recommended option back to a well-defined problem and measurable benefits — or whose economic case doesn't stand up to appraisal — stalls at investment review, slips down the funding priority order, or comes back for rework.
We write business cases that hold up to NZTA and council investment scrutiny: a tight problem definition, a benefits map the evidence supports, options that are genuinely investigated rather than reverse-engineered to a pre-chosen answer, and an economic case a decision-maker can rely on.
What's included
- Strategic Business Case (SBC)
- Programme Business Case (PBC)
- Indicative Business Case (IBC)
- Detailed Business Case (DBC)
- Single Stage Business Case (SSBC)
What you get
- Problem and benefit definition with an investment logic map
- The five cases — strategic, economic, financial, commercial and management
- Long-list and short-list option development with multi-criteria analysis (MCA)
- Economic appraisal — BCR, sensitivity testing and NZTA appraisal worksheets
- Stakeholder and investment-partner engagement record
- An investment-ready report aligned to the NZTA Business Case Approach
How we work
- 01
Problem definition
We define the problem, the evidence behind it, and the consequence of inaction with the investment partners — the foundation every later stage traces back to.
- 02
Benefits & investment logic
We map benefits to the problem and to GPS and organisational outcomes, with measurable KPIs, so the investment story is auditable from end to end.
- 03
Options development & MCA
We build a genuine long list, sift to a short list through multi-criteria analysis, and document why each option advanced or fell away.
- 04
Economic appraisal
We appraise the short-listed options — BCR, sensitivity and risk — using NZTA's appraisal framework, so the economic case is decision-ready.
- 05
Investment-ready report
We assemble the business case and walk it through review so it's ready to put in front of an NZTA or council investment decision-maker.
Standards
- NZTA Business Case Approach
- NZTA Monetised Benefits and Costs Manual
- Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS)
- Treasury Better Business Cases (five-case model)
Tools
- NZTA appraisal worksheets
- Multi-criteria analysis (MCA)
- Investment logic mapping
Relevant projects
Who leads this work
Frequently asked
Which type of business case do I actually need?
It depends on where you are. A Strategic Business Case tests whether there's a problem worth investing in; programme and indicative cases narrow the response; a detailed or single-stage case confirms the preferred option for funding. We'll help you scope the right stage so you're not over- or under-investing in process before you need to.
What makes a business case pass investment review?
A problem definition the evidence supports, a benefits map that ties every claimed benefit back to that problem, options that were genuinely investigated, and an economic case built on NZTA's appraisal framework. Reviewers look for a logic chain they can follow from problem to recommended option — that's what we build.
Can you review or rescue a business case that's already underway?
Yes. We do independent reviews of draft SBC, PBC, IBC and DBC documents against NZTA Business Case Approach expectations and flag the gaps before they reach investment review — often the fastest way to get a stalled case moving again.
Do you cover the economics, or just the narrative?
Both. We do the economic appraisal — BCR, sensitivity and risk analysis on NZTA's worksheets — alongside the strategic and management cases, so the business case is internally consistent rather than a narrative with numbers bolted on.