Set VISIon and oBjectIVeS
This phase builds on the starting point for the proposed project, which might be a vision set by senior management or just an idea for change, and begins to shape its scope. It involves engaging with senior representatives of the key stakeholders, preferably in a workshop process, to confirm the vision, if one exists, and to determine the objectives for the project. Normally an experienced facilitator, ideally the Benefit Facilitator, would gather the senior stakeholders together for a half-day workshop and present them with a ‘why do we need to change?’ question. The stakeholders will be asked to provide individually four or five separate answers to this question. Similar responses would then be clustered to create independent themes, with each theme summarized with an objective for change. Typically this process generates between 10 and 20 such objectives.
These objectives are rarely independent of one another and so the next step it to establish the cause and effect relationships which link them. This is best done by putting them into a Strategy Map working back from the ultimate goal, which could be the vision or one of the more strategic objectives just identified. An example of such a map, for a potential program to embed BRM within an organization, is given in Figure 8.3.
Figure 8.2 change/BrM process diagram
The next step is to use the map to determine a small subset (usually two, three or four) of objectives which define the boundary of the potential project. These are objectives which are sufficiently challenging so that the potential funder is prepared to give the project serious consideration but not so challenging that no project manager is prepared to take on the challenge. In the example illustrated in Figure 8.3 there are three such bounding objectives (represented by the circles with white background).
IdentIfy BenefItS and cHanGeS
Once the bounding objectives have been determined and agreed, further workshops, generally involving a wider selection of stakeholders, would be facilitated, also by the Benefit Facilitator, to develop for each objective a Benefit Dependency Map. (The Benefits Dependency Map is described in greater detail in the next section.) First a set of end benefits which correspond to each objective are determined. These need to be:
• collectively sufficient;
• individually necessary;
• mutually independent;
• likely to lead to different kinds of change activity.
Once these have been agreed, feeder (intermediate) benefits should be identified using similar logic. By continuing this process, always working right to left, a Benefit Map is developed for each of the bounding objectives. At this stage these Benefit Maps are logically engineered wish lists. The next step is to examine each of the benefits in the map, usually working left to right, and to determine which changes need to occur to deliver the benefit. These changes are normally a mix of enablers and business changes.
Figure 8.3 Strategy map for a potential project to embed BrM within an organization
To improve the ROI of programmes
To create and maintain
an optimum portfolio
To change to a more benefit focused culture
129 B e n e f i t s r e a l i z a t i o n M a n a g e m e n t
By adding them to the map it is transformed into a Benefit Dependency Map. This step is essentially a requirements definition process. If the map is of good quality it will show all the paths needed to maximize the achievement of the objective at the right hand end of the map; however not all paths will make an equal contribution to the objective so it may be prudent, when formulating the project plan, to leave out paths which have a high cost or risk relative to their contribution. A structured approach for doing this is described in the next section.
fInalIze requIreMentS and orGanIze reSourceS
The requirements identified during the development of the Benefit Dependency Maps (usually one map for each bounding objective) are generally fairly high level. These will often need to be specified in greater detail in order to build or acquire the required enablers and to implement the necessary business changes. Once this more detailed specification is complete (often amounting to a project brief) the results should be tested against the maps to ensure that they will still deliver the benefits. In order then to finalize requirements, duplicate enablers and changes need to be identified and consolidated.
Duplicates may occur within a single map or from among the set of maps developed for the project. Once consolidated the following checks need to be applied to each change:
• Is the consolidated change within the scope of the project?
• Is it likely to be delivered by any other project?
• Is it worth delivering relative to other options? Weighting paths and scoring entities can be used to answer this question (see the next section).
Once it is clear which changes and enablers need to be delivered and in what timescales, the most appropriate change delivery structure (such as a program or project) can be determined, established and resourced.
oPtIMIze PlanS and BuIld/acquIre enaBlerS
Acquiring enablers, whether built internally or sourced externally, often involves significant capital investment and a reasonably long lead time; however benefit activity in this phase may be light compared to the previous phases. Though light in effort, benefit considerations may still be extremely important, and as in other phases many of the decisions of this phase should be predominantly ‘benefit led’. For example if the main enabler is a computer system, the following decisions should be largely benefit driven:
• Specifying the features, functions and requirements;
• Choosing the software supplier;
• The focus and design of user training;
• Implementation sequence for system roll-out;
• Data load sequence for loading historical data.
Manage Implementation and change
This phase includes the heaviest stakeholder engagement as the enablers are implemented and the business changes are managed. Both the program/project manager and the business change manager must engage with stakeholders to:
• mitigate the impact of disbenefits;
• manage the smooth transition into business as usual;
• establish with the business an effective and enduring benefit tracking and reporting regime.
Stakeholders who feel they will experience more disbenefits than benefits are likely to feel demotivated and possibly resistant to the changes and will need particularly careful handling. Clear communication of the vision for the organization and the benefits for customers usually helps to increase motivation and mitigate the perceived disbenefits.
ManaGe PerforMance
This phase pulls together all the measurement of benefits, much of which started in Phase 3, to check that the project is on track to deliver the vision and/or bounding objectives. Where benefits are not on target remedial action may need to be taken. During this Phase the Program/Project team will disband and move on to other things as the final part of the transition to the business is completed. This includes the business taking full responsibility for ongoing measuring and reporting of benefits. The Benefit Facilitator on behalf of the Portfolio Board should check that this reporting of benefits continues and that any ‘lessons learned’ are appropriately disseminated and acted upon.