BENEFITS REALISATION PLANS Audience Project Boards, Project Executives, Program Boards or corporate management at reasonable intervals which may correspond to Stage or Tranche Reviews. Senior managers responsible for decisions on funding of the project/program. Operational areas impacted by the project/program Benefits owners and interested stakeholders. Other Project/program managers Purpose All initiatives, irrespective of size, should have a Benefits Realisation Plan. This will be tailored to the requirements of the initiative and will include the work to track, manage and review the realisation of the expected benefits. Business areas MUST be consulted to ensure all relevant and related work in operational areas is considered in the construction of the Plan and in its execution and maintenance. The Benefits Realisation Plan (BRP) may take several forms and we have given two examples here one for a small project initiative and the other for a medium sized program. The BRP will need to follow the approvals pertinent to the governance arrangements set out in an organisation s Benefits Management Framework and for the initiative itself. It is very common for the total cost of an initiative to disregard the operational work required to ensure the benefits of a change are realised. Left ignored, this may result in A blow out of cost and time and/or Non completion of the work in operational areas resulting in the benefits not being realised. In Program environments it is therefore acceptable to embed the BRP in the Program Plan. For projects which are not part of a program, the BRP must be maintained as a separate document. It will be the responsibility of a business representative to execute and to report against, probably well after the project has closed and the Project Manager has moved on. Ideally, there will be a post- Project Review to assess benefits achievement against the expectations and to note any lessons that might be fed back to other initiatives. T >> 1300 880 361 E >> admin@benefits-institute.com Perth-Melbourne-Canberra M >> PO Box 1395, West Perth WA 6872, Australia W >> www.benefits-institute.com
SMALL PROJECT EXAMPLE A row of explanatory comments has been included for information only. This can be removed. BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 2
MEDIUM PROGRAM EXAMPLE While this may be integrated into the Program Plan, it is useful to construct it as a separate document initially to ensure the focus is on benefits rather than outputs. This BRP will be the culmination of benefits identification using benefits mapping and documenting both benefits and Opportunities for Loss in profiles. These benefit artifacts will be subject to constant review as new benefits emerge and further Opportunities for Loss become evident. The BRP schedule and any subsequent revisions will require confirmation from the affected business areas. Benefits Realisation Plan <Insert Initiative Name> Document History Document Name Document Location Approved Date Document Owner (Approver) Author Date Last updated Last updated by Version Template BI-Benefits Management Strategy-Template-v1.2 Developed by Benefits Institute January 2013 Distribution List Name Role BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 3
CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION... 5 1.1. Governance... 5 1.2. Business Case Summary... 5 1.2.1 Benefit Categories... 5 1.2.2 Benefits Map... 5 1.3. Summary Benefit Responsibility... 5 1.3.1 Benefit Ownership... 5 1.3.2 OfL Ownership... 6 1. 4 Assumptions and Dependencies... 6 2. PLAN... 6 2.1 Plan maintenance... 6 2.2 Reporting against the Plan... 6 2.3 Transition Plans... 6 2.4 Implementation Costs... 7 3. SCHEDULE... 7 4. APPENDICES... 7 4.1. Benefit/OFL Profiles... 7 BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 4
Remove the explanatory notes in parentheses prior to distribution 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Governance <If applicable, refer to the organisation s Benefits Management Framework and the Program s Benefits Management Strategy to explain the approach taken to managing the realisation of benefits in this Program.> 1.2. Business Case Summary <Restate in summary and for convenience why this Program is worthwhile and the major benefits for the organisation. Link to the main Business Case for detail> 1.2.1 Benefit Categories <Which of the benefit categories from the Benefits Management Framework are relevant for this Program. How do the benefits split between financial and non-financial?> 1.2.2 Benefits Map <Include a copy of the Benefits Map for the Program or attach it as an Appendix> 1.3. Summary Benefit Responsibility <Consistent with 1.1, complete the tables for each identified benefit and Opportunity for Loss. Alternatively, if a Benefits Register is to be used for the Program, then reference it here with a link.> 1.3.1 Benefit Ownership Benefit Measure Baseline Target Target Date Owner Business Change Manager Xref to attached Benefit Profile BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 5
1.3.2 OfL Ownership Opportunity for Loss Benefit impacted Potential Loss Mitigating actions Indicators and frequency of monitoring Owner Business Change Manager Xref to attached OfL Profile <OfL short < OfL short < OfL short < OfL short 1. 4 Assumptions and Dependencies <Assumptions and dependencies potentially impacting the delivery of capability will have been documented in the Program Plan. Risks to the achievement of the benefits will be included as OfLs. Consider if there are any other assumptions or dependencies which relate to the attractiveness or achievability of the benefits.> 2. PLAN 2.1 Plan maintenance <Consistent with 1.1, state the frequency of BRP updates and the responsible parties. If the BRP is to be integrated with the Program Plan, then explain how and when this will be done.> 2.2 Reporting against the Plan <Consistent with 1.1, state the frequency and method of status updates, how deviations will be handled and the responsible parties> 2.3 Transition Plans <The schedule for benefits realisation will depend on outputs being delivered by projects and transition into business operations. It is not realistic to write detailed transition plans until the capability has been delivered and signed off by the affected business areas. The Transition Plans will be prepared by the Business Change Managers. If not covered in the Benefits Management Strategy, state here the approach to be taken to the preparation of Transition Plans: how the placeholders in the BRP were determined in terms of timeframes and resource requirements, assistance to be given to the BCMs by the Program Manager or Change Teams, the integration of the Transition Plans into the BRP, and monitoring arrangements to be applied> BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 6
2.4 Implementation Costs <If included elsewhere in the Program budget, then insert the relevant cross reference(s) here. Otherwise, an assessment needs to be provided for The necessary operational work to achieve the benefit including back-filling of positions, change teams, parallel running, preparation of rollback plans Transition planning The cost of establishing ongoing data collection for the measures The data collection itself> 3. SCHEDULE <A Gantt Chart or some other visual format is the most common way of presenting the BRP schedule. For each benefit, the following sub-tasks/milestones are required: Transition Plan finalised (Business Change Manager) Capability Delivered (Progam Manager) Baseline measure confirmed (Benefit Owner) Transition Placeholder (Business Change Manager) (Recurring) Benefit Measure (Business Change Manager) > 4. APPENDICES 4.1. Benefit/OFL Profiles BI-BRP Templates-v1_1 Page 7