Business Case as Controlling Framework

Abstract

The business case for the investment proposition may later also be used as a basis for control, i.e. as a framework that helps management to monitor the investment and control if the promised benefits are actually being reaped in. Everybody in an organization is keen to realize benefits, but benefits only come true when management continues to monitor the investment. Otherwise benefits do not make it out of the planning spreadsheet into the organization’s balance sheet. Planning and controlling are closely related, and in fact they can be viewed as the blades of a pair of scissors; scissors cannot work unless there are two blades.¹ Without planning, control is not possible, because performance has to be compared against established criteria. And without control, planning remains nothing more than a make-work activity.