Categories: benefits, Benefits Management, Benefits Realization, Business Case, measuring performance
Last time I wrote about the business benefits that you might want to consider for your business cases. But identification of the benefits is only the first step. The training I was putting together was an hour-long overview, so nothing really deep dive, but I wanted to cover the process for managing benefits beyond simply brainstorming the things we could list to justify the business case.
This is the process I included in my presentation.
1. Identify
This is the step covered in my last article. Define what benefits the project is expected to deliver. Consider financial, customer, operational, strategic, employee, and ESG benefits.
As well as the list I shared last time, go back to some past business cases and see what kind of things they included, as well as the level of detail expected. For example, some business cases I’ve seen are really high-level with hardly any detail and they still got approved! I think it depends on how much you have already socialised the idea and how much the exec team want to do the project… But don’t waste too much time doing the work if you don’t need to in order to get it approved. Maybe stick to two or three good quality benefits instead of listing out 15 non-quantifiable benefits instead.
2. Define and quantify
Make each benefit SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Where possible, quantify in financial terms or KPIs.
This is the step where you’ll spend the most time. It’s normally quite easy to work out the kinds of benefits you’ll get from the project activity. It’s really hard to agree what the baseline is and how you are going to work out the measures going forward.
3. Map and align
Link each benefit to project outputs and strategic objectives. Ensure they support organisational goals.
Do this on a slide to include in the business case or just in a paragraph. This bit doesn’t have to be too much work but you will want to evidence to the decision makers that you have thought about strategic alignment.
4. Plan for realisation
Clarify how and when each benefit will be achieved, who owns it, and what dependencies exist. Go back to step 2 – normally it’s the person who owns the baseline data who will own the ‘new’ data for the benefit. Think about when the benefit kicks in. If it’s about more sales, do they happen in the same month as you made them on the call? If customers have 60 days to pay their invoice, maybe you need to recognise the revenue 60 days later?
This step is another time-consuming one as you work out and negotiate all these pieces.
5. Track and measure
Include plans to track benefits through delivery and beyond. Does the project need to deliver a new dashboard to track sales or some other target? Add those tasks to the project plan otherwise you’ll get to the end and have no way of measuring your achievements.
6. Review and update
I wish I could have made this into 5 steps for the training because 6 doesn’t fit so nicely on a slide! But there is this final step which is to keep benefits under review. Update the business case as the project evolves or as assumptions change. This might mean going back around the approval process if the benefits are hugely different.
Hope that helps with your next business case and benefits discussions! Let me know what else you do in the comments below.
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