Objectives
The objectives of the benefit modelling phase are to:
- establish and document the relationships between different benefits
- capture any additional benefits or disbenefits emerging from the process
The Benefits Manager should organise and co-ordinate this stage of the process with the actual development work done by the programme or project team, benefits working group and any additional business side contributors as required.
A benefits model illustrates the benefits of a programme or project on a one page diagram. It is a route map of how change and new capabilities delivered can lead to benefits to the business. The inter-relationship and dependencies between programme or project outputs and business benefits are represented using a cause-and-effect model.
The main sections of the model are:
- enablers - any new capabilities that are directly attributable to the investment in the programme or project; they are what it is going to build, buy or deliver - if an enabler doesn’t come directly from what the programme or project delivers then it cannot be part of its benefits
- intermediate benefits - these describe the actual operational improvement resulting from the programme or project, for example quicker access to information, improved financial management, faster turnaround times. These functional or operational benefits must be measured. If an intermediate benefit cannot be measured then it is not a useful benefit - an individual benefit profile is produced for each intermediate benefit. This profile records the benefit, allocates responsibility for measuring it, and identifies any activities required to manage benefit delivery
- end benefits - strategic or organisational level benefits linked to the wider NICS, aligned with organisational strategy and corporate plans. End benefits usually describe what the organisation is seeking to achieve as a result of the business changes, and measured through the component intermediate benefits
Benefits modelling guidelines
When developing a benefits model, important points to remember are:
- enablers must be new tangible capabilities directly attributable to the investment in the programme or project
- an intermediate or end benefit will always have one or more predecessors and must be traced back to an enabler
- intermediate benefits can stem from other intermediate benefits
- intermediate benefits should have a unique identifier, e.g. A, B, C
- intermediate benefits should be categorised; e.g. cost, time or satisfaction
- end benefits can stem from another end benefit
Further Information
More detailed information on benefits management and modelling is available at the link below: