A Business Case Process for IT-Enabled Investments

Abstract

Many organisations perform an adequate job in order to build a sound justification for their decision-making on IT enabled investments. It is recognised that developing a detailed business case is an essential step in order to realise the value potential of IT enabled investments. However, many business cases are often disregarded after the investment approval. Such an attitude towards business case use might be risky. Moreover, several advantages attributed to business cases could only be achieved if they are used continuously throughout the investment life cycle. It is suggested that the latter approach would be more capable to enable benefit realisation and increase the investment success. According to some scholars, a rational transformation is therefore required in which the perspective on business cases shifts from document thinking to process thinking. This study presents an interesting part of the exploration of a process perspective on business cases. Prior research has been helpful to explore individual practices that could support a continuous business case approach and to develop a conceptual model for a business case process. As an important step to increase the validity of the conceptual model and business case practices, the present study investigates through what practices the business case process can be effective in order to enable well-founded investment decision-making and to ultimately increase investment success? Therefore, the article has a threefold aim: (1) to obtain a validated list of business case practices and definitions, (2) to understand the practices' perceived effectiveness / ease of implementation, and (3) to identify a minimum set of key business case practices. In order to achieve these objectives, a group of academic and practitioner experts participated in a Delphi study and validated in total 31 business case practices, of which the majority was perceived as highly effective to support the objectives of a business case process. The paper ends with an exploration of the practical application of business case process practices in the context of COBIT 5, as an instance of a widely used practitioner's framework.