Delivering the business's goals and associated business benefits should always be the key driver behind all programmes and projects – whether those benefits be quantifiable cost benefits, legislative requirements or less tangible qualitative benefits. However, sometimes projects and programmes lose sight of what their key drivers and benefits are. Changes in circumstances during programmes may result in the original benefits plan being out of date. This could result in the originally identified benefits no longer applying, with the programme needing to re-assess and re-focus on what it needs to achieve.
ASE's Approach
The purpose of ASE's Benefits Realisation service is to translate the quantitative and qualitative benefits identified during the construction of the programme/project business case into tangible changes that will occur in the organisation (e.g. reduction in headcount in a particular department/group, reduction in service contract costs for a particular contract, etc) and critically to drive ownership of the benefits realisation to the managers that will realise them.
ASE's Benefits Realisation service translates business case benefits into realistic benefits that can be clearly understood, owned, monitored and ultimately delivered. To achieve this ASE engages with the client to understand the specifics of the project/programme in question and then works with key stakeholders and the project team to deliver:
- A benefits map: showing the decomposition of the overall programme/project benefits into the component parts and areas of ownership
- A benefits realisation plan: detailing for each component of the benefits map:
- the owner
- KPIs against which the achievement of the benefit is to be assessed
- when the benefit (KPI) will be achieved
- Benefits realisation tracking tools for the benefit owners to use to report progress against benefit realisation components to the SRO (Senior Responsible Owner).
This service can span all stages in a programme/projects lifecycle e.g. as part of Initiation, where a project/programme's business case and benefits realisation plan is of concern and needs assurance; where there has been an internal or external change which means the benefits plan may be impacted; or as part of programme delivery to ensure the stated benefits remain real and will be clearly owned and hence delivered after the core delivery team has been disbanded.
Key Benefits
- Re-Focus on Benefits: undertaking the process ensures the programme/project will re-focus on the core drivers for the project and on benefits delivery
- Proven Benefits: Accurate Independent validation of the currently stated benefits will give the board and wider organisation confidence in the validity of the business case
- Transparency: Clear break down of benefits will provide confidence in the accuracy of benefits and again provide all stakeholders with confidence in the business case
- Ownership: The process identifies clear owners for benefits within the organisation and outside of the project team and gets their buy into the stated benefits – hence ensuring clear, bought into, and ongoing accountability for benefits realisation within the organisation
- Realisation Traceability: the process ensures that there are clearly structured tools and reporting mechanisms in place to ensure that benefits are realised to an agreed plan
- Repeatability: The process is consistent and can be utilised across multiple projects to give a standard approach that the client can leverage to ensure best practice across all projects. The work can be shadowed by a client member of staff ensuring that the client builds the capacity to undertake their own benefits realisation reviews in future