Harvesting Benefits

Tom Mochal, PgMP, PMP, TSPM is the president of TenStep, Inc., a methodology development, consulting and training company. Tom won the Distinguished Contribution Award from the Project Management Institute for his work spreading knowledge of project management around the world. He is a speaker, lecturer, instructor and consultant to companies and organizations around the world.

  Estimating   Portfolio Management   ProjectsAtWork  

Many organizations don’t do a good job measuring the benefits of the projects within their portfolios, and many more fail to formally compare the realized benefits to the estimated benefits in the business case. The process of business realization management can help.

Every project represents an investment by its sponsoring organization as well as the expected benefits from this investment. When projects deliver real benefits, clients and stakeholders are likely to be satisfied, project sponsors get their return on investment, and team members enjoy the tangible results of their work.

Identifying and managing benefits is an integral component of portfolio management. This new management area is frequently referred to as Benefits Realization Management or BRM, which can be defined broadly as “the process of organizing and managing so that potential benefits arising from investments are actually achieved.”

Unfortunately, most organizations are not very good at measuring the benefits of the projects within their portfolios, and they especially fall short in comparing the realized benefits to the estimated benefits in the business case. Collecting benefits data can be difficult and requires long-term focus and effort that some organizations are unwilling to commit.

Implementing BRM Practices

The following guidelines …

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