Benefits management

Abstract

Analyses and post-mortems of programme failure tend to concentrate on whether the programme delivered the product as specified on time, on budget and to a certain quality. In other cases, a post implementation review may conclude that the programme has been delivered successfully, the team are successfully redeployed, suppliers have been paid and the impacted users or stakeholders are reasonably happy. Much more rarely does the most pertinent question of all get asked: that is, did the programme really deliver the benefits that were outlined and predicted when the investment was sanctioned? A‘successful’ programme that does not deliver the intended benefits is akin to that cliché of medical black humour, ‘the operation was a complete success; unfortunately the patient died’. This chapter on benefits management discusses the processes required to ensure that the survival of the patient is identified as a key success measure, that the pulse is taken throughout the course of the operation, and the patient’s well-being is monitored for a relevant post-operative period of time.