Business case
Business case
The Business case theme tests whether you can justify a project at initiation, keep that justification alive at every stage boundary, and confirm benefits after closure. The business case is not a one-off approval document; it is a living case owned by the Executive and reviewed by the project board. It records the reasons, options considered, expected benefits and dis-benefits, costs, timescales, risks, and an investment appraisal. Outputs are the products delivered; outcomes are the resulting business changes; benefits are measurable improvements; dis-benefits are negative consequences the organisation accepts. The benefits management approach defines how benefits will be measured, who owns them, and when reviews occur. The Senior User is accountable for specifying and realising benefits, while the Executive is accountable for the business case as a whole.
Worked example
A booking-system replacement is expected to cut processing time by 20% and require 30 hours of staff retraining. The 20% saving is a benefit; the retraining time is a dis-benefit; the new system is an output. At the end-stage assessment, supplier costs rise by 15%. The Project Manager updates the business case and calculates that the benefit still exceeds the increased cost. The board documents the decision to continue with the revised case rather than treating the original approval as permanent.
Traps
Do not label a delivered product as a benefit. Do not omit dis-benefits or rejected options. Do not let the Project Manager own the business case; that accountability sits with the Executive. Do not confuse project closure with benefits realisation, which may occur later. Remember that a change to costs, benefits, or risk can trigger a business case review even when the stage is otherwise on plan.