Tracking Initiative Benefits

Projects are executed in order to achieve some sort of value or benefit to an organization. In single-installment projects, the tracking of benefits takes place after a project is completely implemented.  With other more complex (phased) programs, the organization should see incremental step benefits achieved throughout the total life of a program.

The challenge for all projects leaders is that when benefits are not tracked, they tend to melt into everyday operating costs.  In some cases, goodness can disappear and this makes it difficult for organizations to determine whether or not a project has been a success.

It’s critical for project leaders to reflect benefits realization.  Fail to achieve this project step and you don’t have the credibility to reflect true ROI. This will make it difficult to get future buy-in.

So, you know you need to track benefits realized but it’s a struggle for a variety of reasons.  I have seen many companies struggle with tracking benefits and so you certainly are not alone in this.

Try using the following steps when measuring/tracking project benefits:

1. Ensure that you have complete alignment on exactly what the actual benefits will be.  Don’t wait for these changes to materialize later on; if you want to measure something, you need to understand what it is.   You will also need to ensure that you account for concurrent projects within the organization and what their impact might be on your result.  Avoid having two projects competing for the same benefit. 
2. Understand what data will need to be collected in order to measure the benefit.  What information are you going to need to receive in order to properly measure impact?  Spend some time on this step to make sure you really get it. 
3. Establish a collection process and structured report format to communicate result.  This means alignment with the sponsor/business on not only what the format should look like but also consensus on what the baseline is for the benefit itself.  This might require a lot of work to mine/analyze past data, but this task is completely necessary if you are going to accurately assess result.
4. Assign measurement accountability.  Who is on point to measure? Someone must be tasked with collecting and assessing the information.  Be transparent in that this measurement may have to go on for some time; make sure that when you nominate someone to perform this function that they have the capacity and skill-set to do it correctly.

Based on my experience,  its common for companies to fall victim to point #3 and then attempt to over-compensate with #4.  But the single biggest oversight I have seen, especially in larger matrix organizations, is the failure to acknowledge the impact of competing projects on benefit.  Rushing through benefit definition and ignoring the need for alignment can be disastrous and benefit failure. This, of course leads to frustration and will undermine the potential credibility of future projects.

A Couple Of Last Points

Just because a benefit is intangible doesn’t mean it is of ‘no value’ and it certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be tracked. On the other of the coin, there might be benefits that simply cannot be tracked.

In both cases, be clear to everyone up front that there is no monetary value associated to the benefit.  If a benefit cannot be tracked, then call that out too and avoid burning effort. Be transparent above all else, but stress the value the project brings in whatever language is appropriate.

John Woodward has 15 years of experience making Supply Chains work better and smarter. And he can help you too. 

Feel free to contact him to discuss your current or future needs

john.woodward@sympatico.ca

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/johntwoodward