© Crown copyright 2009 All rights reserved. Material is reproduced with the permission
of the Cabinet Office under delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO.
Business Case defined
Outputs, outcomes and benefits
© Crown copyright 2005 Reproduced under licence from OGC
In PRINCE2®:
- A project’s output is any of the project’s specialist products (whether tangible or intangible)
- An outcome is the result of the change derived from using the project’s outputs
- A benefit is the measurable improvement resulting from an outcome that is perceived as an advantage by one or more stakeholders.
Example of output, outcome and benefits:
Output: | New sales system |
Outcome: | Sales orders are processed more quickly and accurately |
Benefits: | Costs are reduced by 10%, volume of sales orders increased by 15% and revenue increased by 10% annually. |
As the project’s outcomes and benefits are often only realized after the project has closed, it is unfortunately easy for projects to become focused solely on creating products (the outputs). The link from the project’s outputs to outcomes and benefits should be clearly identified and made visible to those involved, otherwise the original purpose of the project can get lost.
PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.
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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 - 2005 edition
Managing successful Projects with PRINCE2 – 2009 edition
Directing Projects with PRINCE2.
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The Complete Project Management package.
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