Project Management: Business Case (Definitions)

"The business reason or value for undertaking the project." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"A “needs assessment” or justification to show why an endeavor is necessary to an organization." (Margaret Y Chu, "Blissful Data ", 2004)

"A business problem, situation, or opportunity that justifies the pursuit of a technology project." (Sharon Allen & Evan Terry, "Beginning Relational Data Modeling" 2nd Ed., 2005)

"[...] a formal document used to justify investments in new products, product enhancements, and marketing expenditures." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"The process that documents the customer's justification for their investments in products and services." (Steven Haines, "The Product Manager's Desk Reference", 2008)

"A document that provides a justification for a business investment, often used in terms of technology investments. Business cases can be built by identifying financial (hard-dollar) benefits and intangible benefits, including mitigation of risk." (Janice M Roehl-Anderson, "IT Best Practices for Financial Managers", 2010)

"A structured format for organizing the reasons, benefits, and estimated costs for initiating a project or program." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A written document that is used by managers to justify funding for a specific investment and also to provide the bridge between the initial plan and its execution." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"An analysis of the benefits and costs of making a change to the way things are done." (Mike Clayton, "Brilliant Project Leader", 2012)

"The justification for a project or program, against which performance is compared throughout the life cycle. Typically, the business case contains costs, benefits, risks, and timescales." (Paul C Dinsmore et al, "Enterprise Project Governance", 2012)

"Framework for making decisions, explanation of benefits and costs, anticipated outcomes, and project factors associated with a performance improvement effort." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed, 2012)

"A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits to be delivered by a program." (Project Management Institute, "The Standard for Program Management" 3rd Ed., 2013)

"A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Ed.", 2013)

"Information necessary to enable approval, authorisation and policy-making bodies to assess a project proposal and reach a reasoned decision." (Chartered Institute of Building, "Code of Practice for Project Management for Construction and Development, 5th Ed", 2014)

"A written analysis of the financial, productivity, auditability, and other factors to justify the investment in software and hardware systems, implementation, and training." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"A compilation of costs and benefits associated with a planned project or investment." (Gregory Lampshire, "The Data and Analytics Playbook", 2016)

"A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. The business case justifies the investment." (by Brian Johnson & Leon-Paul de Rouw, "Collaborative Business Design", 2017)

"A documented evaluation (pre-project) of the potential impact a problem or an opportunity has on the organization to determine if it is worthwhile investing the resources to correct the problem or take advantage of the opportunity for improvement. It captures the reason for initiating a potential project or program." (H James Harrington & William S Ruggles, "Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams", 2018)

"Documentation of the rationale for making a business investment, used both to support a business decision on whether to proceed with the investment and as an operational tool to support management of the investment through its full economic life cycle." (ISACA)