Benefits Realisation

Benefits realisation starts before delivery, with a clear statement of the expected benefits, who will own them and how they will be measured. It continues during delivery, as teams check that the work still supports those benefits, and after delivery, when someone confirms whether the benefits were achieved. It is a common weakness in organisations: projects are measured on delivery to scope, time and cost, but nobody checks the outcome afterwards. Programme and portfolio management rely on benefits information to decide what to continue or stop. Example: A company introduces a new expense system to reduce processing time. The benefit is defined as a reduction in the time to approve claims, owned by the finance manager and measured monthly. Six months after launch, the data shows approvals take half the previous time, confirming the benefit. Without benefits tracking, organisations cannot tell whether investment worked. Benefits owners should sit in the business, not the project team.