ValuePoint works with the TOP methodology as part of our value delivery management approach, including the groundbreaking TOP Value Equation: a structured and intuitiveset of processes and tools that helps organizations identify, quantify and manage the business benefits and maximise business value that in turn drive successful project execution and delivery.
Recap & background
In most organizations, project progress is measured through requirements fulfilled, milestones reached, and time and budget spent and tied to technical deliverables.
But here’s the problem:
🔹 What about the actual business value?
🔹 Where do benefits fit in?
In organisations where benefits management is already part of the project governance framework, we often see it being applied at the start of a project for the project to get approved for execution whereafter it – at best – takes a back seat or is entirely forgotten.
‘If you don’t identify, track and manage benefits,
you shouldn’t count on getting any!’
In Part 3 of this series, we dove into the process for benefits identification.
It’s quick and easy to integrate into your project governance and efficiently tackles identifying all the benefits your project is capable of delivering.
But ‘capable of delivering’ is not a goal – what you want is to use that capability to efficiently deliver the desired outcomes, realise the benefits and achieve the maximum amount of business value available from every one of your projects.
Is there complexity involved? Not really.
If an organisation is resistant to change, change becomes more complex.
But if ‘Business value delivery is a critical discipline for my organisation’ is prioritised, it’s no more complex than what is already managed and followed up on – scope, deliverables, effort, cost, etc.
When leadership leads by encouraging and endorsing real change, real change happens.
Giving Life to Benefits Realisation: Breaking it down
Once you have run your benefits identification workshop, you find yourself with a wealth of benefits data.
Step 1: Prioritize What Really Matters!
After a benefits identification workshop, you’ll likely have a long list of potential benefits.
Now, refine it:
🔹 Eliminate redundancy – Go through your list of benefits and remove any duplicates.
🔹 Remove non-critical benefits – Focus on what truly holds the biggest impact and is most important to your organisation.
🔹 Align with strategic goals – The most valuable benefits support the organization’s broader initiatives.
📌 Pro Tip: Managing benefits and following up on business value delivery does take resources as follow up normally does. Simplify by focusing on the three to five most critical and valuable benefits and expand from there in accordance with your capacity and the feasibility of the benefits.
Step 2: Quantify – Turning Benefits into Business Value
To shift focus from technical solutions to business value delivery, quantifying benefits is essential. A measurable benefit ensures that:
🔹 It becomes a key part of the Business Case
🔹 It can be tracked and managed during and after project execution
🔹 It establishes clear expectations for project outcomes
Example: Quantifying Customer Satisfaction
Your project aims to introduce a Customer Rewards Program, and you define the following benefit:
‘Improve the Customer Satisfaction Rate by 15% over 18 months
as result of our new Customer Reward Program‘
📊 Baseline Data: Current customer satisfaction is 80%, based on past surveys.
🎯 Target: After project completion, satisfaction is expected to reach 95% over 18 months.
⏳ Tracking: Quarterly customer surveys will measure progress.
By quantifying this benefit (15% customer satisfaction increase in 18 months), you establish clear success metrics for your project.
Step 3: Accountability – Who Owns the Benefit?
Without clear accountability, benefits risk being overlooked, unmanaged, ignored or forgotten. The solution? Assign ownership to those who have the most to gain and who can directly impact the realisation of the benefit.
🔹 Identify who benefits most from a particular project benefit
🔹 Assign benefit ownership accountability to key decision-makers (often Steering Committee members)
🔹 Ensure accountability is embedded in governance frameworks
Step 4: Governance – Making Benefits Realisation Standard Practice
Strong governance is essential to ensure that benefits realisation isn’t just a one-time effort but an integrated and core part of the project lifecycle.
🔹 Integrate benefits realisation into project governance
🔹 Ensure accountability is clear (e.g., PMO, Portfolio Management Team, Steering Committee, etc.)
🔹 Secure leadership endorsement – Without leadership buy-in, benefits realisation won’t succeed
📌 Key Governance Actions:
🔹 Use processes and tools to identify and manage benefits
🔹 Quantify benefits for the Business Case and for the ongoing management of project delivery
🔹 Measure project success by business value delivery
🔹 Make benefits realisation and tracking a key topic in project reports, Steering Committee meetings, project communications and evaluation.
The Wrap-up
Is benefits realisation complex? Only if business value isn’t prioritized. When leadership champions outcomes delivery and benefits realisation, it becomes second nature.
At ValuePoint, our mission is to drive project success through projects delivering business outcomes and real business value. Whether you’re launching a new product, streamlining operations, or enhancing customer satisfaction, prioritizing, quantifying, and tracking benefits from a business value delivery perspective enables you to maximise the business value output from your projects.
‘If you don’t know what outcomes, benefits and business value your project will bring, don’t do it’
📌 Next Steps: If you’re ready to integrate benefits realisation into your project governance, start by assessing your organisation’s current approach.
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🚀 Let’s make outcomes delivery and benefits realisation the driving force behind increased project success!