Project Management Articles
Managing Program Benefits
By Gar Houston
6 Aug, 2008 - 11:42:26 AM

Managing Program Benefits

Portfolio Management is the management of the various competing ideas or initiatives in the organisation to further investigate and deliver the right, or optimum set of initiatives to achieve or meet the organisations strategic objectives.

Programs are strategic initiatives designed to deliver specific outcomes for the organisation that marry up with the current strategic direction of the organisation.

In this context, projects are temporary endeavours designed to deliver the program.  As such, projects may not have a stand-alone benefit to the organisation, but may be facilitating components of the overall program outcomes / benefits, i.e., projects are the tactical means to deliver the program which is the strategic endeavour.   

Program Management is the investigation, justification, approval and delivery of specific initiatives into production as part of a strategic plan for the organisation.

Project Management is the planning, organisation, and management of, teams, resources, communications, risks and issues to deliver an agreed scope of work, to an agreed quality, within an agreed timeframe and budget.

As per the above definitions, a key aspect of the Program Management process is the investigation and justification of initiatives. This implies that the initiative or program must have a benefit to the organisation that warrants the investment of resources to plan, organise and implement.

The program of work in this definition, is implemented in order to deliver some business outcome, or set of outcomes, i.e., the business benefit.

The business benefits are the reason the program is being delivered, and form the basis of the program business case.

There are several aspects to effectively managing program benefits as follows:

• Capture the planned business outcome
• Translate the business outcome into specific benefit items that must be delivered if the project is to be successful
• Develop the program business case around the agreed benefits
• Map the business outcome to specific benefit items to be delivered
• Ensure that proposed benefits are agreed to by the affected or owner areas
• Develop and capture the program requirements
• Map the program requirements to the business benefits to be delivered (this mapping document is often referred to as a Requirements Traceability Matrix or RTM)
• Develop a program solution
• Map the solution to the program requirements and business benefits (by updating the Requirements Traceability Matrix or RTM)
• Continually update the RTM for any agreed program scope changes (either increases or decreases in scope)
• On completion of the program conduct a post program review to follow-up on the benefits realisation
• Produce a report of the benefits realisation focusing on whether each proposed benefit was realised and the extent to which the benefit was realised
• Ensure there is follow-up action to learn from mistakes and make managers accountable for the program benefits outcomes.

For the Benefits Management process to be effective it is absolutely critical that business areas sign-up to any proposed benefits and that the actual outcome is then measured against the proposed / planned outcome.

Managers should be made accountable for the proposed benefits to ensure that business cases are prepared well and to ensure that business funds are invested judiciously.