From formal quality to substantial quality: the role of business case in project management

Recent years, which have been more and more unpredictable as to competition systems and more and more sophisticated as to management solutions, have been interested by a new phenomenon of entrepreneurial culture, which is highlighted by the diffusion of several professional certifications. These methodological paths, which are dominating in computer science’s sector (we may think of frameworks like ECDL, EUCIP, ITILTM, COBIT®, etc.), have been acquiring more and more room also in the traditional area of business management, as shown by the huge success, on an international scenario, of PRINCE2™ (Project Management in Controlled Environments). This methodology has authoritatively succeeded as a real standard for project management. Other to fundamental principles (like formalisation, documentation, flexibility and so on), one of the essential factors for the success of PRINCE2™ is certainly the Business Case, i.e. the orientation of the project to the value creation. The direction, objective of this paper is to focus on the most useful techniques and tools for the development of the Business Case (in order to give support to the Project Board, according to the terminology of PRINCE2™, most of all for Small and Medium Enterprises), while the aim of the study is the formalisation, inside and outside the framework, of the importance of strategic and creative decisions, which seem to be, in the deployment of business projects, more essential than merely organisational choices.