Benefits Realisation

5The Benefit Track in the Analysis Phase

The first step of the project has now been completed. Together with the steering committee, a benefit-driven project design has been made, resulting in the first version of the benefit map. So far, so good.

The next part of the analysis phase is divided into the benefit track, change track, and technical track. In this chapter, I will go through the benefit track. The key to detailing the benefit and change part of the benefit map is to make it simple. During the analysis phase, the task is to estimate the benefits and describe at what pace we expect them to be realised. Thus, at the end of the analysis phase, we have a benefits realisation plan that shows when the project is expected to realise its benefits.

Before we estimate IT deliverables, efforts to create organisational change, and benefits, we need to consider how the estimates will be used. The time we spend on estimation must be weighed against the type and importance of the decisions estimates are going to support. If we decide to work three months on the project and then reprioritise based on our new learnings, estimates with less certainty can be sufficient compared to a situation where we must decide once and for all whether to carry out a big project. The accuracy of the estimates should be similar for the cost of technical deliverables, the organisational change, and the benefits, as we will weigh them against each other to assess the project. In any case, the quality ...