It's All About Value

This is not rocket science, but it does require effort and the ability to facilitate management to quantify their expectations.  Once these expectations are transformed into measurable project outcomes, the ROI is easy to calculate.  

Start with the business plan and test it for quantitative measurement.  Be careful not to accept vague measures like percentage improvements.  If the objective is to increase sales by 10 percent, quantify that in terms of units to be sold by product line.  If cost reduction is the objective, quantify it in terms of how much in what operational areas and find out why there is a perception of inefficiency.  If margin improvement is the focus, quantify the business areas where improvements are thought to come from.  Remember that meaningful measurements must be expressed in operational terms, like units of production, cost per unit, time to process transactions, etc.  That is the only way those who spend their lives in operations can assist the company in developing substantive, achievable improvements.

While this sounds like common sense, it is the thing that is missing most often in business plans, business cases and project objectives.  Just the other day I reviewed a proposal for a massive process improvement project by a prominent consulting firm.