In the world of agile, lean and startups there’s great love for what’s called a “canvas”. This is a fancy new name for what might previously have been called a “plan on a page”.

The power of these artefacts is that they help clarify and sharpen thinking. They also force proposed approaches to be simplified to just a single page, making it easy for others to digest and understand them quickly.

Some common examples include:

• Business Model Canvas
• Lean Startup Canvas
• Mission Model Canvas (for non-profits)

In the world of intranets and digital workplaces, the use of these types of business model canvases is rare. Maybe that should change!

This article introduces a new “business case canvas” for teams seeking to do employee-facing projects. Like the other frameworks, this canvas has been designed to help teams clarify what they’re proposing to do, what they’re asking for in terms of money and resources, and what the likely benefits will be.

Get the business case canvas

These images show a preview of the business case canvas (and yes, it’s blown out to two pages rather than the usual one!). Download the latest business case canvas PDF (version 1.1) for a version that you can use in your team.

Using the canvas

In due course, we will release a full whitepaper that explains in detail how to use the canvas.

In the meantime, here are a few key points:

• You can work forward from the proposed project, determining what to include in the business case, and who to present it to.
• You can work backwards, from either the size of the pitch or the required benefits, and then design a project that delivers these things.
• The levels outlined have been drawn from 20 years of practical experience, and should reflect real-world projects.
• The canvas is best used by a team working together, to get the most of different perspectives and approaches.
• A lot of the power of the canvas comes from forcing pragmatic decisions to be made (eg “what benefits can we really deliver?”).

The canvas in action, as part of a workshop activity to build a business case for a new ‘GreenCorp’ intranet

Create your own business case canvas

You’re most welcome to download the business case canvas, via the link above, to put into action in your organisation. Please do, however, credit the source of the framework, and respect our copyright.

If you’d like help using the canvas to its full extent, Step Two’s consulting team can provide a day or two of assistance to great effect. Drop us a line, and we’ll arrange some expert advice, whether locally in Australia or internationally.

James will also be running a workshop on the canvas at the upcoming IntraTeam Event (2-4 March 2020) in Copenhagen, so that’s worth flying in for!