Project Business Case Research Articles

An assessment tool for stakeholder integration excellence and project delivery optimisation

PurposeThe aim of this study was to appraise the delivery of information communication technology (ICT) projects and identify key determinants for stakeholder integration.Design/methodology/approachGiven that empirically, little was known about stakeholder integration in the ICT sector and its influence or effect on project delivery; qualitative method was used. Forty-seven semi-structured interviews were carried out to derive senior project practitioners and policymakers' constructs of stakeholder integration and infrastructure performance improvement of ICT projects. The verification and validation of the proposed assessment tool were achieved through the use of focus group discussion.FindingsAs established in this research study, there is a need for project delivery teams to evaluate the level of stakeholder integration, the formulation of a project business case, the project processes and issues of compliance and regulation in ICT projects. What is evident in the findings of the study is that the management model adopted for the stakeholders in the Kenyan ICT sector ought to make communication the fulcrum of their engagement.Originality/valueThe inferences made herein are critical in contributing to knowledge regarding the ICT infrastructure project management terrain in developing countries. There is evidence in the study to conclude that the concept of stakeholder management and integration has implications for the sustainability of ICT projects. One of the issues that predominantly featured in the research was the input of stakeholder integration in terms of project sustainability.

Urban transport infrastructure planning and the public interest: a public health perspective.

Transport infrastructure impacts public health. WestConnex in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), is Australia's largest and most expensive transport infrastructure project. Concerns about the motorway project resulted in a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the project's impacts. Submissions to the inquiry were analysed to investigate their emphasis on health impacts and the cost-benefit analysis underpinning the project's business case. Quantitative content and qualitative thematic analysis. There were 556 submissions made to the inquiry into the impact of the WestConnex project. The content of a random sample of 93 (20%) of the individual submissions was analysed to identify health concerns. A purposive sample of 81 submissions by named groups including political parties and organisations was analysed separately (15% of the total submissions). Most individual submissions (63%) mentioned at least one aspect of health. Air pollution and children's health were the most frequently mentioned health issues. In the purposive sample, most submissions (64%) concerned the cost-benefit analysis (CBA), including concerns that the health impacts were being underestimated and economic benefits overestimated in the CBA. This study on the WestConnex project demonstrates how health impacts require early consideration within business cases for urban infrastructure projects, and later during environmental impact assessment. Systems for communicating and involving the public in decision making need to be improved, alongside greater transparency in CBA early in the project planning cycle.

Feasibility Assessment Framework (FAF): A Systematic and Objective Approach for Assessing the Viability of a Project

Abstract The objective of this article is to discuss the Feasibility Analysis Framework (FAF) as an effective approach to conducting a feasibility study for producing a robust project proposal. The approach is based on key information provided in a project business case developed using the Project Domain Framework (PDF). The PDF is as an alternative model in project management that systematically and logically facilitates the writing of a business case at the project initiation phase. To complement the development of a proposal the FAF has been developed to systematically and objectively produce an effective feasibility study. The FAF is a six step framework, developed using action research strategy that involved over 20 client assignments for a period of five years. The article discusses its concepts and application using a simple but practical real case study. Using the case study it demonstrates how project alternatives and options may be generated, objectively analyzed using weighted the TELOS criteria to confirm the viability of the project by determining whether it will overcome legal, technical, economic and operational requirements in a desired time limit. The process culminates in the accept or reject recommendation.

Business case effectiveness: the critical role of the organization

PurposeLiterature indicates that the business case for projects is difficult to use and suggests that there are organizational factors that can facilitate effective use of the business case. This paper aims to identify such facilitators, measure their presence and importance, and relate them to the actual practice of business case processes.Design/methodology/approachA cross sectional quantitative method was used, with data on facilitators and business case process usage gathered through an online questionnaire.FindingsThe findings for the 43 organizational facilitators are that each one is considered more important than its presence in the respondents' organizations. High correlations emerge between the presence of the facilitators and the use of business case processes, indicating the pivotal role of the facilitators.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted for business IT projects implemented by organizations based in South Africa. It furthers our understanding of project business cases and suggests additional research avenues in this area.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that organizations could improve key facilitators at an affordable cost. Such improvement would enable more effective use of the business case throughout the project's lifetime – from initial concept until planned benefits have been substantially realized. Better use of the business case would also support governance and increase the success rate of business IT projects.Originality/valueOrganizational facilitators of business case processes are identified and categorized for the first time, leading to measurements of their perceived importance and presence in organizations. Hence, the relationship between these facilitators and actual business case usage is determined, suggesting areas of optimum impact.

Achieving strategic benefits from business IT projects: The critical importance of using the business case across the entire project lifetime

Business projects with an information technology component are referred to here as ‘business IT’ projects. Their success rate is found to be unsatisfactory, resulting in wasteful expenditure running to billions of dollars annually. Literature indicates that sound business cases, used effectively throughout the project lifetime, underpin governance and have a major positive impact on the project success rate. However, it also suggests that business case processes are seldom used properly.The goal of this study is to determine the extent to which business case processes are used in practice, and to understand the implications of the pattern that emerges.The data analysis from a survey reveals that business case usage diminishes significantly after approval is given to proceed, with potentially serious negative consequences. The findings offer initial building blocks for project business case theory; they also give valuable insights to management as to the required processes and how to avoid the prevailing pitfalls and achieve the intended strategic project benefits.

Effectively designing and embedding measurable results in a project business case

This article discusses the project domain framework (PDF), a tool developed to provide a systematic and structured approach to documenting a conceived idea into a project business case. It was motivated by challenges that project champions encounter when developing a business case as identified in literature and practically observed during consultancy assignments. The PDF comprise of three tools; the project domain map (PDmap), used to systematically identify key statements of a project concept and which are then populated in a matrix called the PDmat. Based on the PDguide, the statements are then systematically and logically used in writing a business case narrative. As long as a client's need culminates in establishing or improving a service, the PDF is useful in three ways: provides an easy entry point for initiating projects; allows the inclusion a mechanism for measuring project results; and guides the systematic writing of project statements that are logically linked to form a well-articulated narrative of a business case.

Effectively designing and embedding measurable results in a project business case

This article discusses the project domain framework (PDF), a tool developed to provide a systematic and structured approach to documenting a conceived idea into a project business case. It was motivated by challenges that project champions encounter when developing a business case as identified in literature and practically observed during consultancy assignments. The PDF comprise of three tools; the project domain map (PDmap), used to systematically identify key statements of a project concept and which are then populated in a matrix called the PDmat. Based on the PDguide, the statements are then systematically and logically used in writing a business case narrative. As long as a client's need culminates in establishing or improving a service, the PDF is useful in three ways: provides an easy entry point for initiating projects; allows the inclusion a mechanism for measuring project results; and guides the systematic writing of project statements that are logically linked to form a well-articulated narrative of a business case.

Project governance, benefit management, and project success: Towards a framework for supporting organizational strategy implementation

There is growing pressure on project managers to demonstrate the value of their projects to the funding organization. However, most projects lack a robust process for realizing such strategic value. While the literature recognizes the importance of project governance for enabling benefits realization, this research area lacks empirical evidence. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the relationships between effective project governance, benefit management, and project success. A scale for evaluating effective project governance was developed and validated based on feedback from 21 project governance experts. Subsequently, an international survey of 333 projects was used to test proposed relationships. The results indicate effective project governance improves project success both directly and through an enhanced benefit management process. Additionally, the most effective project governance and benefit management practices for improving project success are identified, such as the development and monitoring of a high quality project business case. The resulting model sets the foundations for a theory that explains how effective project governance enhances project success and enables the realization of strategic objectives through projects.

Teradata Data Mart Consolidation Return on Investment at GST

This case is based on a real-life consulting engagement with a major Fortune 100 telecommunications company. The name of the firm has been disguised for confidentiality reasons. Completing the case teaches students how to develop a cost-containment ROI analysis and develop a business case for a large enterprise technology project. The class discussion focuses on strategies to understand and manage the risks of the project and organizational issues. In addition, the case teaches students good questions to ask when reviewing a complex project business case, and how to present a project for funding approval. This case is the second in a series of three cases designed to teach students ROI analysis for technology projects; the first is “B&K Distributors: Calculating Return on Investment for a Web-Based Customer Portal” and the third is the case “ROI for a Customer Relationship Management Initiative at GST.”The case objective is for students to learn how to compute a return on investment (ROI) analysis for a large cost-containment technology project. Students learn the best practice of computing the range of possible outcomes (the best, worst, and expected case), and how to present the results to senior management. In addition, students learn how to incorporate important management issues of personnel reduction and technology project risk into an ROI analysis.

Improving Business Value Assurance in Large-Scale IT Projects—A Quantitative Method Based on Founded Requirements Assessment

The probability of IT project failures can be mitigated more successfully when discovered early. To support a more insightful management of IT projects, which may also facilitate an early detection of IT project failures, transparency regarding a project's cash flows shall be increased. Therefore, an appropriate analysis of a project's benefits, costs, requirements, their respective risks and interdependencies is inevitable. However, to date, in requirements engineering only few methods exist that appropriately consider these factors when estimating the ex ante project business case. Furthermore, empirical studies reveal that a lot of risk factors emerge during the runtime of projects why the ex ante valuation of IT projects even with respect to requirements seems insufficient. Therefore, using the Action Design Research approach, we design, apply, and evaluate a practicable method for value-based continuous IT project steering especially for large-scale IT projects.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Scoping Service Delivery

When being considered for funding, all projects and service delivery initiatives should have a clearly defined scope. The scope for a project is formally declared in a statement of scope, which amongst other things, clearly identifies all of the outputs (deliverables) to be produced during the exercise. The scoping statement is the cornerstone of a project business case. Early in Initiation key players in a project face, what is called, “the scoping problem”: of all the alternative lists of outputs that might be proposed, which (if any) are “correct”? The scoping problem exists at two levels: one related to deciding on the list of outputs, the other related to deciding on the list of fitness-for-purpose characteristics that is to be applied to each adopted output. If not solved correctly, two situations can emerge: •A project is underscoped if its statement of scope is missing an output. If a project is underscoped it cannot generate its target outcomes (equivalent to benefits). If a project cannot generate its target outcomes, its business case cannot be realised – thus exposing it to failure. •A project is overscoped if its statement of scope includes superfluous outputs. If a project is overscoped its costs will be unnecessarily high and its timeframe will be unnecessarily long – thus making its business case less attractive. Furthermore, the eventual worth of the project will be lower than achievable – leading to underperformance of the organisation’s project investment portfolio. A reliable scoping statement is a precondition for estimation of a project’s costs and duration, which require in logical sequence: estimates of resources, a comprehensive model of the work involved and a scoping statement. Conventional approaches to projects assume that the issue of scope has been decided in other forums that lie outside the project proper and so the focus of their attention is on how to produce the outputs that have been decided elsewhere. PRINCE2 (OGS, 2007) acknowledges a necessary relationship between outputs and benefits, but fails to explain a mechanism linking the two. Aside from a general agreement that outputs need to somehow contribute to the project’s goals, little is provided in the existing literature by way of tools and techniques to solve the scoping problem. Organisations appear to address this issue by simply adopting arbitrary lists of outputs for initiatives – or by making intuitive judgements about whether particular outputs should be in or out of scope. When a project is eventually completed, the benefits that flow will be completely determined by the outputs that have been produced. If outputs were set arbitrarily in the scoping statement, then benefits will be equally arbitrary and so the resulting net worth of the exercise may or may not make for a sensible investment. Clearly such approaches expose projects to unreliable scoping. Following the high complexity of scoping service delivery, the objective of this research is to develop an interdisciplinary approach to project scoping: this approach will be based on effective models from the areas of Organisational Behaviour, Strategic Management, General Management and Operations Management.

Collaborative e-Government: impediments and benefits of information-sharing projects in the public sector

Information-sharing projects are becoming increasingly important in both public and private organizations. Generally, organizations base their decision to move forward with an information-sharing project on the project's expected benefits such as better services, operational savings, and increased program effectiveness. Clearly, potential impediments particular to the government environment could limit the attainment of benefits, jeopardizing the project's business case and even the project itself. Yet, we know very little about how users’ perceived impediments affect a project's expected benefits in collaborative digital government initiatives. Using data from six public sector information-sharing projects, this paper reveals how some managerial and cultural impediments (e.g., control-oriented management) limit perceptions of expected benefits. Surprisingly, political impediments were not found to significantly affect the expectations of benefits. Additionally, the paper provides managers with specific advice on how to better understand users’ perceptions and expectations. The paper should be of interest to both academicians and practitioners who are interested in government information technology implementation, in general, and collaborative e-Government, in particular.