Concept / Term · Established
Business as Usual
The normal ongoing operation of a service or organisation, distinct from time-limited project or transformation work.
Field note
BAU is the steady-state work that keeps an organisation or service operating after a project has delivered its change. It includes routine support, maintenance, administration and recurring operational responsibilities.
The initials expand to “Business as Usual”. The phrase moved from everyday business language into programme and change management, where it marks the boundary between temporary change work and permanent operations.
Teams use BAU to clarify ownership, budgets and handover: is this still project work, or has it become part of normal operations?
If that boundary is vague, important work can fall between a delivery team that is closing down and an operational team that has not accepted responsibility.
In a sentence“Once the migration is complete, monitoring and user support pass to the BAU team.”