"Just the understanding and insights you will pick up about how people encounter and cope with combinations of technical, social, political, and economic opportunities and challenges make the book a joy to read and worth much more than the price of it alone." --Barry Boehm, from the Foreword This practical handbook shows you how to build an effective business case when you need to justify--and persuade management to accept--software change or improvement. Based on real-world scenarios, the book covers the most common situations in which business case analyses are required and explains specific techniques that have proved successful in practice. Drawing on years of experience in winning the "battle of the budget," the author shows you how to use commonly accepted engineering economic arguments to make your numbers "sing" to management. The book provides examples of successful business cases; along the way, tables, tools, facts, figures, and metrics guide you through the entire analytic process. Writing in a concise and witty style, the author makes this valuable guidance accessible to every software engineer, manager, and IT professional. Highlights include: How and where business case analyses fit into the software and IT life cycle process Explanations of the most common tools for business case analysis, such as present-value, return-on-investment, break-even, and cost/benefit calculation Tying the business process to the software development life cycle Packaging the business case for management consumption Frameworks and guidelines for justifying IT productivity, quality, and delivery cycle improvement strategies Case studies for applying appropriate decision situations to software process improvement Strategic guidelines for various business case analyses With this book in hand, you will find the facts, examples, hard data, and case studies needed for preparing your own winning business cases in today's complex software environment.

The Case Study method of teaching and learning, adopted by business schools and management centres globally, provides an important function in management education, but employing it effectively can often be a challenge. This book provides practical insights, tools and approaches for both case teaching and writing, drawing on perspectives from expert practitioners around the world. This book aims to critically examine different approaches to using case studies in group-based, participant-centred learning environments, exploring good practices for case teaching and learning. It provides guidance for case writers on various approaches to structuring case data, presentational formats, and the use of technology in the construction of different types of cases. It also demonstrates the use of the case method as a tool for assessment, supporting students’ own development of cases to showcase good practice in organisations. The final section of this book showcases some of the resources available, providing links and reviews of additional material that can support future case teaching and writing practice, including publication. The Case Study Companion is designed for lecturers using cases within their teaching across all management disciplines, as well as those training for Professional Development and Management Education qualifications. It will also be useful for postgraduate, MBA and Executive Education students wanting to make the most of case studies in their learning and assessments.

The only case study research textbook written exclusively for students of Business and related disciplines. Using a step-by-step approach, Case Study Research for Business takes you right through the case study research process from research design and data collection using qualitative and quantitative methods, to research analysis, writing up and presenting your work. Key features: - Takes a multidisciplinary approach to case study research design by drawing on research philosophies to improve student understanding of these critical research traditions and hence provide firmer theoretical foundations for their research - Coverage of contemporary topics such as research ethics and access - Packed with practical examples from all areas of business - Pedagogical features include vignettes, exercises and ′cases′ which directly relate to business research Case Study Research for Business will prove a valuable resource for undergraduate, postgraduate and research students of business and related disciplines.

Examining situational complexity is a vital part of social and behavioral science research. This engaging text provides an effective process for studying multiple cases--such as sets of teachers, staff development sessions, or clinics operating in different locations--within one complex program. The process also can be used to investigate broadly occurring phenomena without programmatic links, such as leadership or sibling rivalry. Readers learn to design, analyze, and report studies that balance common issues across the group of cases with the unique features and context of each case. Three actual case reports from a transnational early childhood program illustrate the author's approach, and helpful reproducible worksheets facilitate multicase recording and analysis.

This book is the first to present a rich selection of over 30 real-world cases of how leading organizations conduct Business Process Management (BPM). The cases stem from a diverse set of industry sectors and countries on different continents, reporting on best practices and lessons learned. The book showcases how BPM can contribute to both exploitation and exploration in a digital world. All cases are presented using a uniform structure in order to provide valuable insights and essential guidance for students and practitioners.

Designed as an individualized workshop to assist case authors to structure their writing, this book combines the easy-to-understand, student-focused language with new material covering the latest developments and challenges in the world of case writing.