Using a Business Case Throughout an Investment: An Exploratory Case Study on a Business Case Process

A discretionary information technology (IT) enabled business investment is often associated with an enterprise-wide transformation (e.g. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) investment). Although it may deliver operational excellence and a competitive advantage, it is a risky endeavour with high failure rates. One of the critical factors to achieve a successful outcome is to develop a sound business case. In response to a lack of business case knowledge, Ward, Daniel, and Peppard (2008) designed a business case development process. The process ends on investment approval while others scholars call for a continuous business case process used throughout the entire investment life cycle. The present paper responds to this call with an exploratory case study and identifies multiple business case tasks which complement the process of Ward et al. (2008) resulting in an initial business case process.

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