Benefits Management

John Chapman

Touchstone

Member of the Programme Management SIG

Member of the Planning , Monitoring & Control SIG

Author, speaker and subject matter expert

Agenda

1. The importance of language & Benefit Classes

2. Corporate Governance and Benefits Management

3. Benefit Dependency Charts

4. Stakeholders

5. Time-lines to consider

6. Projects (outputs) v Programmes (Outcomes)

7. Questions and close

The importance of language

In what book was

Newspeak introduced?

Newspeak

The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a

medium of expression for the world-view and mental

habits proper to the devotees of IngSoc, but to make all

other modes of thought impossible.

It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted

once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten,

a heretical thought, that is, a thought diverging from the

principles of IngSoc – should be literally unthinkable,

at least so far as thought is dependent on words

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com

Newspeak

Oldspeak terms which no longer exist

• Tangible Benefits

• Intangible Benefits

• Hard Benefits

• Soft Benefits

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com

• Types of benefit

• Financial benefit

• Non-financial benefit

Benefit Classification

• Financial benefits are those which

• Raise revenue

• Reduce Cost / Contain cost

• Non-Financial Benefits for example:

• Improve the quality of service

• Provide a better working environment

Benefit Classification

Non-Financial Benefits can have savings which are not easily

converted into financial values

For example:

• If the average time spent raising purchase orders is reduced

from 30 minutes to 5 minutes (through the use of

eProcurement) then this is a 25 minute saving – can it be

found through to the financial accounts?

• If employee motivation is improved, such as removing some

mundane administration, then could this be converted to a

financial value?

• If a manager saves 1 hour a month through process

improvement could this be classified as financial?

Be careful if you want to turn these into a financial value!

Non-financial benefits

The Link to Corporate

Governance

Corporate Governance

The Institute of Directors

1995 : Standards for the Board

Bob Garratt

The Fish Rots from the Head

The crisis in our boardrooms:

developing the crucial skills of

the competent director

ISBN: 9781 861 976 161

Corporate Governance

The Director Dilemmas1

1. The Board must be simultaneously entrepreneurial

and drive the business forward whilst keeping it

under prudent control.

2. The Board is required to be sufficiently

knowledgeable about the workings of the company

to be answerable for its actions, and yet to stand

back from the day-to-day management and retain an

objective longer term view

1. Bob Garratt, The Fish Rots from the Head: The crisis in our boardrooms: developing the crucial skills of the competent director, ISBN: 9781

861 976 161

Aligning technology & business

Dilemma No 1

Entrepreneurial but prudent

Can we show how the project supports the organisation goals

Benefit Dependency Charts

BENEFITS DEPENDENCY NETWORK

Facilities &

Technology

Enabling

Changes

Business

Changes

Business

Benefits

Investment

Objectives

D

R

I

V

E

R

S

JW113

BENEFITS DEPENDENCY NETWORK - measures & responsibilities

Facilities & Technology

Enabling Changes

Business Changes

Business Benefits

Investment Objectives

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achieve: Respons:

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Evidence of

Achievement: Change Responsibility

Measure:

Benefit owner(s):

Measure:

Benefit owner(s):

Measure:

Benefit owner(s):

Measure:

Benefit owner(s):

Measure:

Benefit owner(s):

JW117

EXAMPLE OF (part of) BENEFITS DEPENDENCY NETWORK - Sales and Marketing System

Facilities

&Technology Enabling

Changes

Business

Changes

Business

Benefits

Investment

Objectives

Campaign

Planning &

Management

System

Customer

Prospect

Database

Contact

Management

System

Enquiry Quotation & Response

Tracking System

Portable

PCs for

Sales

Staff

Release sales time from post

sales activity to pre sales

Introduce

new account

management

processes

Redefine

customer

segments

Reduce marketing

staff time on

admin activities

Introduce project

management

for all A&P campaigns

Measure outcome

of campaigns

re objectives

Use database to

improve targeting

in segments

Realign sales

activity with new

customer segments

New sales

staff

incentives

Use system to

target sales

activity/contact

time

Increase sales

time with

customers

Allocate sales

time to potential

high value leads

Co-ordinate sales

and marketing activity

in follow-up

Identify most

appropriate

communication medium

for target customers

Reduced cost by

avoiding waste on

irrelevant customers

Increased response

rate from A&P

campaigns

Increased rate

of follow-up

of leads

Increased conversion

rate of leads

to orders

effectiveness of

promotion (A&P)

To improve the

advertising &

spend

To increase sales value and volume

from new

customers

JW116

Stakeholders

Map Stakeholders to an Influence Attitude Grid

Benefit Realisation Management, p15

Influence

Attitude

High

Low

Negative Neutral Positive

Operational

Management

Board

CEO

End Users

Regulators

List benefits, levels of commitment and

changes needed

Benefit Realisation Management, P152

Senior

Mngt

Improved

Reputation

Provide

Incentives

Reluctant

to change

reward

structures

C R

To deliver benefits may require changes & meet resistance

Time-lines for benefit

realisation

Time-lines for Benefit Realisation

• When the organisation can

expect to accrue benefits

• What the earliest / latest

feasible start date is

• What the earliest / latest

feasible completion date is

Time-lines for Benefit Realisation: Business Solutions

On the day the

system is set to

live running

Three to six

months after go

live

After 1 year

Time-lines for Benefit Realisation

January July August &

September

Analyse

Data

Meet Suppliers

Identify non-

conformance

October to

December

6 months 9 months

Improve

Processes &

reduce costs

Celebrate

system live

Outputs : Project

Outcomes : Programme

Benefits Management

Projects were focused on

– The technology

– The people resources

– The software solutions

– The time-line for delivery

– There was little focus was on the benefits to be delivered

Benefits Management

The Gower Handbook emphasised that

– Benefits come from system usage, not

installing the system

– Projects create deliverables aka outputs.

(We bake the cake, not eat it!)

Benefits Management

The Gower Handbook emphasised that

– Programmes should create capabilities that

enable benefits to be delivered. e.g. educate

managers on what to do with information, not

just give them data on the desktop

– Benefit management processes ensure that

capabilities are then realised into benefits (don’t

just build helicopters, use them)

Benefits Management

Benefits Management

From Project to Programme

– Organisational competencies in programme and project

delivery have grown

– The focus is more than just ‘getting the system live’

– As individuals have worked on projects they are able to find

‘brain space’ to think about what the change means to them

– There is recognition that IT systems are enablers to help

solve business problems, not the answer to the problem

Reading List • Benefit Realisation Management. A practical guide to achieving benefits through

change. Gerald Bradley. ISBN 0566-08687-5

• The Gower Handbook of Programme Management: Geoff Reiss, Gower Publishing,

ISBN 0566086034

• Benefits Management. Releasing Project Value into the Business. Michael Payne.

Project Manager Today, ISBN 978-1-900391-16-0

• Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2. Office of Government Commerce

• Achieving Business Value from Technology: A practical guide for today’s executive:

Tony Murphy, Gartner, ISBN 0471-232300

• Return on Investment in training and performance improvement programs. Jack J

Philips. Butterworth Heinmann. ISBN 0884154920

• Managing Successful Programmes: the Stationery Office, ISBN 0113313276

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