Vanessa StokesProject Assurance Manager| WSLHDSydney, Nsw, Australia
I was reviewing a resource plan for a major new program with a four year duration. A benefits manager was included but not until the last year. Although I've never had the luxury of a designated benefits manager on any of my projects, my understanding and experience of benefits realisation management is that it must be built in right from the planning and business justification stage. I personally would think that, if cost is an issue, it would be more important to have the benefits manager around at the start than at the end - that it would be easier to delegate benefits management responsibilities to other staff once properly planned and built into the projects, ie. at the end rather than at the beginning. I was wondering what other people thought? Saving Changes...
In your case, perhaps "benefits" equates to "value" and they (senior management) want to gauge the value of the project nearing completion. Saving Changes...
The best benefit management in a project is that people can enhance their skills, grow in their personality, get intercultural experience, time for training etc. The money benefit effect (especially at the end of a project) is less effective. Saving Changes...
Benefits management as a discipline should start before a project kicks off and continue to the end of the benefits tracking life for the product, service, or result of the project.
However, the dedicated role of benefits manager may not be needed until the transition of deliverables happens so long as roles like the Sponsor and PM are keeping an eye on expected benefits and are ensuring that procedures are in place to capture a baseline of data before the changes brought about by the project get implemented.
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