| Term |
Definition |
Discussion |
Examples & Illustrations |
| Baseline document |
A document used to approve, monitor and close a project. |
A baseline document is a comprehensive model of a project.
The two major baseline documents are:
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| Below-the-line BtL |
Related to the outputs identified in the project’s scoping statement. |
“Below-the-line” is an adjectival expression. It used to qualify both outputs and work.
Refer also above-the-line. |
Assessing optional designs for the new procurement process is a below-the-line activity.
The list of preferred interstate transport contractors is a below-the-line output. |
| Beneficiary |
A (project) beneficiary is a stakeholder who receives a flow of value arising from achievement of target outcomes. |
The beneficiaries from a project can only be identified when target outcomes have been defined—because the only flows of value that are recognised in the analysis of a project are those attached to target outcomes. |
The company (ICO) itself is a beneficiary—experiencing a flow of value from the reduced operating costs. |
| Benefit |
A flow of value arising directly from achievement of a target outcome. |
Target outcomes are best expressed directly in terms of benefits.
A target outcome/benefit must be measurable—but the unit of measure need not be “dollars”.
To be claimed as a benefit in the appraisal of a project, an outcome must be targeted. |
The lowered operating costs are a benefit from the project—flowing to the company itself.
The achievement of reduced supplier settlement times implies a benefit to vendors—in the form of reduced working capital. |
| Benefit-cost-risk analysis |
A rigorous technique for analysing competing projects ex ante—and thus informing decisions about funding and approving. |
When applied ex post, the technique becomes simply benefit-cost analysis—and is used to gauge the quality of the original decision to proceed. |
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| BtL |
See below-the-line. |
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| Budget |
The total notional value of resources approved for the project. |
The budget covers:
- Approved real outlays on purchased resources from outside the funding entity.
- The opportunity cost of all approved internal resources.
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| Business case |
A baseline document that provides all the information required to make a reliable decision about funding a project. |
A business case should not contain information that is not relevant to a funding decision. |
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| Business environment |
The environment within which the work of business is undertaken. |
The business environment is made up of a number of interacting elements including:
- A regulatory framework.
- An organisational model.
- Cultural norms.
- Practices.
- Processes.
- Roles and accountabilities.
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| Business owner |
The operational entity accountable for the ongoing utilisation of a project’s outputs after the project is declared closed. The business owner is the operational equivalent of a project owner.
Business owner is not a project role—but a business owner is obviously a candidate to play the part of Project Owner |
Business ownership is a (core) role in the operational environment of a business—it does not exist as a distinct role in the project environment.
The eventual business owner could well be (and often is) the best candidate for Project owner.
Refer also to two related defined terms in the ITO model
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| Business process |
A regularised, significant operational “block of work” for which a model exists—drawn from a long history of repetition. |
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Amongst the (any) processes which ICO executes in the course of doing business are:
- Quote customers.
- Procure supplies.
- Manufacture concrete.
- Deliver concrete.
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