Should a business case for internal product development consider opportunity costs?

I work for an established software company in operations, which means that I do not have any role in product management or developement. I want to pitch an software project idea to the product management team based on my work with our clients. I have written most of the business case with revenue projections, development costs, and continuing maintenance costs based on some internal and external data. However, I'm struggling with the advice I've seen to consider opportunity costs. How do I get that data? Does my business case need to include it?

Wow. That is an enterprising product management effort for someone not in product management. I hope your company rewards your initiative even if they don't support the project. Companies differ widely on whether and when to include opportunity cost analysis for internal business plans. Most companies probably don't follow any process. Sounds like it will be difficult for you to include opportunity cost analysis without access to all the projects the product management is considering. I would recommend focusing on the solid projections of revenue. No hockey sticks! Estimating revenue potential is the most difficult part of an internal business plan. Identify someone in the organization, maybe in finance or product management, who can give you an objective assessment of your financial model.