Value creation using the mission breakdown structure

•We need tools to discuss what the project itself and the base organization should do to enhance this value creation. Mission Breakdown Structure (MBS) is such a tool.•MBS helps a company set up a project with a clearly defined mission.•MBS secures an effective interplay between the base organization and its project.•The paper presents the tool in principle.•The paper presents an illustrative real-life case: an IT-project.

The modern concept of project success includes the project contributing to the value creation of its base organization. We need tools to discuss what the project itself and the base organization should do to enhance this value creation. The Mission Breakdown Structure tool helps a company set up a project with a clearly defined mission and secures an effective interplay between the base organization and its project. This article presents the tool in principle and use an illustrative real-life case. The case looks like an IT project at the outset, but when using the Mission Breakdown Structure tool, we recognise that it is much more than that and that different stakeholders need to be involved to secure a successful project. Advice on how to use the Mission Breakdown Structure tool is also provided.