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WHITE PAPER
Implementing Benefits Management
Developing a culture of value

For many organisations, implementing Benefits Management and delivering a Benefits-led portfolio is at best an
afterthought. Hence, effective benefits governance calls for a Benefits Driven Portfolio an approach that seeks not
to discourage appropriate change initiatives being carried out, but to select the change initiatives that deliver the most
benefit, strategic plan alignment and value.

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Table of Contents
Foreword

What is Benefits Management?

Managing Benefits - Why so hard?

Benefits Management Models

The Benefits Management Strategy

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Benefits Management Maturity

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Implementing Benefits Management

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Is Benefits Management for Me

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Further Information

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Foreword
A Simple Approach to Implementing Benefits Management
For many organisations, managing benefits is at best an afterthought to justify already selected initiatives and the concept of
benefits-led is far from practical. Hence, effective benefits governance calls for a Benefits Driven Portfolio an approach that
does not add needless red tape but provides a clear line of sight from strategy to each and every change initiative being delivered- thus creating a culture of value where change initiatives are prioritised on the value delivered back to the organisation and its
overall strategy.
Managing benefits deals with the actual value realised from change initiatives instead of many organisations doing activities that
may or may not actually benefit them or add value. Typically stakeholders understand better the real accomplishments when
communicated via benefits language, because the benefit is owned by the business and as such is worded in business language.
The concept of The Benefit Driven Portfolio integrates Benefits Management into the concept phase of an initiative, aligning it
to organisational strategy and business value and has Benefits as one of the key prioritising factors within the portfolio.
Many Project Management Offices (PMOs) and Directors we work with are still getting their heads around how to effectively
implement Benefits Management and its associated governance for their organisations -- rather than adding it as a box-ticking
exercise or needlessly adding more red tape.
In this paper, we aim to give Board Members, Directors and PMOs a practical overview to implementing and executing Benefits
Management and prioritising your portfolio by benefit and value. At the heart of the paper is a way for you to implement benefits
management for your organisation, keeping it simple, reusing what you have in place and aligning it with your existing
methodologies, guides, frameworks and governance -- delivering increases in maturity and better outcomes for your organisation.
We offer this practical guide-- not as a comprehensive solution or a silver bullet, but as a high level guide and a catalyst for
focused discussion and action. You can use it as a reference and a guide to your efforts in that particular area of focus. You can
read the entire document and the associated information briefing presentation for a more comprehensive view of the essential steps
we think boards can take to enable benefits governance-- and you can share it with management and other key leaders to help them
understand your expectations and goals.
If you want to dig deeper into any or all of the topics weve presented, please dont hesitate to contact us with questions and
comments. We hope you find this document useful in helping you guide your organisation towards success.

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What is Benefits Management?

Firstly lets be clear what a Benefit and Dis-benefit is:
A benefit is a measurable improvement that is enabled or delivered through a change in capability that is
understood to be an advantage by the stakeholder(s).
[Noun] an advantage or profit gained from something.
[Verb] to receive an advantage; profit.
A dis-benefit is a measurable decline resulting from an outcome, perceived as negative by one or more
stakeholders, which detracts from one or more organisational objectives.
[Noun] a disadvantage or cost as a result of something.
[Verb] to experience a disadvantage; cost.
So then in turn, benefits management is the management of the benefit from its initial conception through to
realisation. This is usually delivered through change initiatives (projects and programs), ensuring that all risks are
effectively mitigated and dis-benefits minimised. APMG are one of the premier global organisations providing
training and certification on methodologies, (from their Managing Benefits guidance) define Benefits Management
as:
Benefits Management (BM) (also benefits realisation management (BRM)) is the identification, definition,
tracking, realisation, and optimisation of benefits
Benefits are grouped into different categories, for example you can have cost related benefits (cost savings, increased
revenue, reduction in spend, cost avoidance, etc.), service related benefits (Increased productivity, service
enhancement, Increased customer service, etc.) or you can have political benefits (Greater participation, Greater
accountability, More effective strategy/policy making, etc.). When you are more mature and getting the basics right,
you can start to implement more complex categorisation (if you so choose) such as Dual Dimension Benefit
Categories (which we will not go into in this whitepaper).
Benefits management is an integral part of change
management and is aimed at increasing the successful
delivery of quantifiable and meaningful business
improvements to an organisation. It focuses on how
business areas or organisations will benefit from
change and provides a framework for identifying,
planning, measuring and actively managing these
benefits and in turn transitioning them to business as
usual where the benefit is usually realised.
The Diagram to the right shows how benefits
management gives clear line of sight and transitions
project outputs through to the organisational Strategy.

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This diagram shows the

impact
of
benefits
realisation in the transition
from project to business as
usual. The blue line is
where you start (and
continue)
to
realise
benefits from the change
initiative, as not all
benefits can be properly
realised at the end of the
project; the red is the start
of a dis-benefit as a result
of the change initiative.
The second green line is
the New BAU level after
the benefit and dis-benefit
are realised.
Benefits management forms an important part of well-established PPM management methodologies such as Axeloss
Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O), Management of Portfolios (MoP), Managing Successful
Programmes (MSP), and PRINCE2. The APM Group have now brought out Managing Benefits which ties in all of
the other Axelos methodologies, predominantly MoP and MSP. Importantly, focusing on benefits and how they will
be managed helps provide focus for change initiatives and ensures that benefits continue to be realised throughout the
change process and on after closure into Business As Usual (BAU).
There are a number of thing that usually lead to the introduction of a Benefits Management approach or at least
inclusion of benefits management at a project and programme level. Four common causes of adoption appear to be:
A Crisis A major investment is out of control, costs are escalating and it appears that few if any of the benefits
will be delivered. The Benefits Management toolkit is then used to reappraise the program or projects business
case and develop a benefits realisation plan to redefine the scope or implementation plan.
An Intervention Business managers are reluctant or unable to engage in the development of business cases for
initiatives involving technology or infrastructure. Instead they prefer to leave it to the technical teams. This often
occurs when the technical team operates in isolation from their business partners and the business managers feel
isolated from their technical partners.
A New Initiative There is historical evidence that current methods used are inadequate and ineffective in
delivering the investment objectives. Benefits Management is introduced in response to improve collaboration
between the various participants e.g., the technical teams and the business owners.
Improved Governance Where investment has a significant impact on agency performance and its future
capability to succeed, the need for more effective and adept governance processes become paramount. This
improves decision-making and ensures that investments are driven by strategy or are instrumental in creating new
strategic options.
The different reasons often influence the resulting extent of the implementation as will the complexity of the
investment being considered. The roles and responsibilities of those involved in managing the benefits will also
vary accordingly.

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Managing Benefits - Why so hard?

Almost every company accepts the need to manage project and programme benefits, but very few actually do it or
do it well. There are several factors that make benefits so hard to manage the firstly being the change in peoples
thinking. I see people all too often retro-fitting benefits in projects and programmes and are missing the overall
portfolio view and alignment, meaning you are only really ticking a box and not being benefits driven. This
approach is not really of use as you are doing the project anyway, regardless of if it has actual benefit.
Some of the difficulties and factors to address when implementing benefits management are as follows:
The (often long) time lag between an investment decision and the realisation of any benefits
The desire to just get on and do it, baseline data is missed and benefits cannot be proven
No defined governance around benefits
The maturity level of the organisation
Benefits are not standard or comparable
Accountability for benefits is misplaced or misunderstood
Unrealistic and over exaggerated business cases
Benefits are not verifiable
The loss of learning and knowledge as senior staff change roles, get promoted and leave organisations.
How can you tell if a benefit derived from a change initiative was the original intended or just an unplanned
consequence? And so was it a success?
Change initiatives usually close down before benefits are to be realised or finished realising
The knowing-doing Gap
Pfeffer and Sutton (2000) argue that there is a paradox in many areas of management in that best in class practice
is known and seldom applied. Evidence of this can be seen in benefits management. The topic has been around for
over 10 years and yet we still see the same issues and barriers, people not implementing it well or even
understanding how to approach it. The lowest scoring focus areas in maturity assessments are always (in my
experience) benefits management and resource management.
Misconceptions around benefits management
There a number of factors that inhibit or limit the implementation of benefits management and compromise the
effectiveness of an implementation. Some of these are listed here:
A Silver bullet solution
It is a one size fits all solution
It is an out of the box solution
A model/framework for managing the benefit from a chosen solution or change initiative
A model/framework for managing an initiatives benefits
A complete stand-alone framework that will run alongside all the others you already have in place
A process that just measures what will happen regardless if the change initiative is successful.
Cognitive biases and barrier beliefs
The cognitive biases that affect benefits management are as numerous as all human psychology impacts seem to
be, but here are a few for example that are specified and explained in the Managing Benefits guide from APMG:
The illusion of control
The status quo bias
The sunk cost effect
Confirmation bias
Framing
Mental accounting
Ignoring regression to the mean
The affect heuristic
The endowment effect

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Conclusion
To summarise, the area of benefits realisation management is an accepted concept in most organisations, and
sometimes even a mandate for heads of a PMO. However, there is a gap between intention, implementation and
execution. Throwing governance behind this could make things even worse. The reality is that until the intrinsic
limitations introduced by causality relationships are addressed, this endeavor will neither be realised nor beneficial.
So how do we proceed from here? Should we really be looking at Benefits Management?
Of course we should and I will now walk you through some Benefits Management Models and Frameworks and
then how to implement Benefits management in your organisation, in a way that will not only add value to the
business but minimise change fatigue and the addition of red tape.

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Benefits
Management
Models
APMGs Managing Benefits Model consists of a Benefit Management Cycle consisting of the five (5) Benefit
Management Practices underpinned by the seven (7) Benefit Management Principles. This tied in with your
Portfolio Management process is very powerful and will maximise your benefit outcome from your projects and
programmes and also allow you to avoid the Dis-Benefits. It will help keep your focus on the end required benefit
and ensure successful delivery, assuming the benefit is still applicable and relevant (if not typically you would
stop the project if there is no justification to complete it).
A Benefits Management Cycle like the one below is best aligned to your (P3M) Portfolio, Programme and
Project Management Methodologies/frameworks.
This cycle is not a stand-alone process that looks at initiatives benefits. It is intended to directly link with your
P3M models and frameworks to ensure that benefits management is aligned to your organisation strategy giving
a clear line of sight between that strategy and the change initiatives you are delivering.

The model diagram below shows how the seven principles of Managing Benefits support and underpin the
Benefits Management Cycle. I think the principles all speak for themselves and need no explanation.

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The Cranfield University also has a Benefits Management Model
and Approach. To the left you can see their Benefit Management
Matrix showing the predictability and effect of an outcome and
depending on where you find the benefit placed it can be categorised
as a Benefit or dis-benefit also indicating the best management
approach.
The Cranfield Benefits Management Process Model consists of five
(5) iterative and interlinked steps or phases as below. This is also (as
you would expect) best served being integrated with your Project,
Programme and Portfolio Management Methods.

As you would expect there are certain artifacts and

documents that would be required to be produced as
part of the Portfolio, Programmes and Projects.
You can see below the documents and artifacts
required at each level of change Initiative and at the
portfolio level.
These artifacts will provide a clear line of sight and
ensure delivery of benefits from the projects though
the programmes and straight up to the
organisational strategy/portfolio level.

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The Benefits Management

Strategy
The development of the Portfolio Benefits Management Strategy aims to arrive at a comprehensive and fully
informed view of the activities required to ensure successful implementation of Benefits Management within an
organisation, its portfolios and change initiatives.
The Portfolio Benefits Management Strategy, Portfolio Benefits Realisation Plan and the Portfolio Benefits
Dashboard together set the context for benefits management in the organisation and the implementation approach
for benefits management in programs and projects. Now, the process of benefits management begins. They also
display a clear line of sight between the organisations strategy and the main benefits to be realised in the coming
review period, including KPIs, Measures, Risks and results.
Benefits management takes place predominantly at the Programme level, taking project level outputs and
capabilities and tuning them into business outcomes and benefits. At this level we have Benefits Management
Strategy (for the programme), a Benefits Realisation Plan and Benefits Profiles (one for each benefit and disbenefit). These documents provide a clear representation and line of sight to the organisations main benefits and
strategy, ensuring alignment. You will of course have a benefits register where your progress is captured and
benefits are reported together showing progress on each over and above the baseline measures.
Each Benefits Management Strategy should respect the maturity of the organisation in its capability and ideally
should propose a realistic and pragmatic staged maturing of the organisation.

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Benefits Management Maturity

It is recommended to conduct a baseline maturity assessment prior to implementing Benefits Management, to get
a complete picture of the As Is situation and also give you baseline KPI data prior to implementation and conduct
a second maturity assessment after to show the maturity increase as a result of your work.
There are various maturity models that can be applied to P3RM including Benefits Management, some examples
are CMMI (SEI), OPM3 (PMI) and P3M3 (Axelos).
P3M3 (Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model) looks at Portfolio, Programme and
Project Management Maturity across seven (7) themes, of which one of these is Benefits Management. Below is
an example of Benefits Management at the Portfolio Level using P3M3.

P3M3 Portfolio Level

Benefits Management
Maturity Levels

Here is a generic example of a maturity

model, as you can see there are
similarities across all of the models.

As long as a maturity assessment is

conducted based on a standard model
and the same model is used before and
after, ensuring complete objectivity, it
really does not matter what model you
use.

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Implementing Benefits
Management
Implementing benefits management can be as simple or as complex as you make it
It is advised to implement Benefits Management into your organisation though a change initiative (Project or
Programme) and align to your existing P3RM and Organisational frameworks and governance.
There are 3 main approaches to implementing Benefits Management, depending on the Organisational and P3RM
(Portfolio, Programme, Project and Risk Management) maturity, size, complexity and executive buy in:
A big bang approach can be used in organisations with higher
P3RM and Organisational maturity and that have senior executive
drive and buy-in for implementing benefits management
organisation-wide to have a benefits-led approach ensuring that the
company and organisational strategy defines the projects and
programmes that are funded.

An evolutionary approach is probably the most

common of approaches, where you have some senior
management buy in and medium Organisation and
P3RM maturity. This method delivers an incremental
increase in benefits maturity.

Ad hoc Implementations are the least effective but are required for
organisations that have lower P3RM and Organisational maturity and
little buy in from the senior management team to deliver a top down
organisation-wide implementation. This method implements benefits
management into individual projects and programmes, in a bottom up
rather than a top down approach.

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Is Benefits Management for Me

Do you run projects?
Do you run programmes?
Do you have a portfolio to manage?
Are you driving your organisation to a strategic objective?
Do you require change in your organisation?
If you can answer Yes to any of the above, then Managing Benefits IS for you!
It can be as simple or as complex as you make it, so talk to us at Acache to find how best to implement benefits
for you and embed it in your Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Frameworks.
We have enabled Benefits Management for many organisations and focus on incremental increase in capability
to avoid change fatigue and reduce negative impact on Project and Programme (as well as BAU) workload.

Further Information
For further information, please contact:

Check out Industry links for Benefits/PPM:

LinkedIn Managing Benefits Group
APMG Managing Benefits Certification
APMG Managing Benefits Repository
Cranfield University Benefits Management
Cranfield Whitepaper: Managing the Realization of Business Benefits from IT Investments

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