Useful business cases: value creation in IS projects

Abstract

Business cases have become popular as part of managing value creation in IS projects. Nevertheless, business cases are often poorly linked to value creation activities and organizations struggle to develop business cases that are useful and express more than simple cost savings. This action research study seeks to improve the usefulness of business cases in IS projects. We used collaborative action research with Danish municipalities to improve their practices when developing and using business cases and to change their perceptions of what constitutes a good business case that is useful during implementation and value creation. This article presents lessons learned from our action research, lessons that we incorporated into a business case method and subsequently evaluated with IS managers. There are three lessons on (1) improving the content of business cases, (2) how to develop business cases, and (3) the use of business cases in subsequent value creation. These lessons summarize our findings and the contributions are that we in the business case method propose to (1) include minimal contents, (2) develop social commitment, and (3) structure for dynamic use during value creation. We discuss the lessons and contributions related to research on IS business cases and value creation.

Keywords:

• business cases
• action research
• IS management
• IS value
• IS benefits management
• project management

Associate Editor:

Jonny Holmström

Editor:

Pär Ågerfalk

Associate Editor:

Jonny Holmström

Editor:

Pär Ågerfalk

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Axel Nielsen

About the authors

Peter Axel Nielsen received the Ph.D. degree information systems from Lancaster University, UK. He is Professor of computer science at Aalborg University, Denmark, and a Visiting Research Professor with Agder University, Norway. His research interests include action research on systems development practice, methodologies, software engineering, social and organizational aspects of systems development, and IT management. He is the co-author of Object-Oriented Analysis & Design and Improving Software Organizations: From Principles to Practice.

John Stouby Persson

John Stouby Persson is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University, Denmark. He holds a M.Sc. in Informatics and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Aalborg University. His research is focused on Global software development, IT/IS benefits management, and Engaged scholarship that has appeared in a number of leading journals and conferences in information systems.