Benefits Review and Harvesting
Establish oversight mechanisms to ensure that the forecasted benefits are delivered, and that the organization avails of any unexpected benefits that arise.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for Benefits Review and Harvesting at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Oversight of Harvesting is managed by the programme sponsor.
- Outcome
- Harvesting is managed (or delegated) by the programme sponsor.
- Metric
- % of completed projects/programmes with harvest oversight.
- Practice
- Assign accountability for the harvesting of targeted benefits to business areas.
- Outcome
- Accountability for benefits delivery is at the general business area level.
- Metric
- % of projects/programmes for which a benefits owner is identified.
- Practice
- Review benefits harvesting at various points after go-live.
- Outcome
- Benefits harvesting in some form is carried out after the project is implemented.
- Metric
- % of projects that review benefits harvesting after go-live.
- Practice
- No formal processes for work practice evolution at this stage.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Establish a post-implementation harvesting steering group to oversee delivery of targeted benefits for some projects/programmes.
- Outcome
- The harvesting team, composed of key IT and other Business stakeholders, oversees benefits delivery and holds benefit owners accountable.
- Metric
- % of completed projects/programmes with a harvesting team.
- Practice
- Assign accountability to named business individuals for the harvesting of targeted benefits.
- Outcome
- Accountability assignment exists for benefits delivery.
- Metric
- % of completed projects/programmes with accountabilities assigned for harvesting.
- Practice
- Bake targeted benefits into business unit budgets.
- Outcomes
- Targeted benefits are baked into corporate systems and processes.
- Benefit accountability is enforced through budgets and head-counts.
- Metric
- % of projects with benefits baked into budgets.
- Practice
- Review benefits harvesting throughout the project life cycle.
- Outcome
- Benefits harvesting stage gates are enacted and reviewed throughout the life cycle.
- Metric
- % of projects that review benefits harvesting throughout the life cycle.
- Practice
- Evolve working practices to achieve targeted benefits.
- Outcome
- Changes are embedded in work practices, and oversight and reward systems throughout the entire organization.
- Metric
- % of projects where work practices are evolving throughout the project.
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Establish a post-implementation harvesting team for all IT-enabled change initiatives above a defined threshold.
- Outcome
- Harvesting teams are standard practice across the organization.
- Metric
- % of completed projects/programmes with a harvesting team.
- Practice
- Link personal objectives to achievement of committed project/programme benefits.
- Outcome
- Benefit accountability is enforced through individual scorecards and incentives.
- Metric
- % of projects with benefits baked into individual incentives.
- Practice
- Give business accountability and ownership of evolving work practices and continued benefits harvesting.
- Outcome
- Benefits targets are integrated into the overall organizational performance monitoring.
- Metric
- % of projects where benefits targets are integrated into the overall performance monitoring.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Recognize business ownership as a routine aspect of delivering benefits through business change.
- Outcome
- Business ownership for benefits delivery and business change is organizationally formalized in job specifications and HR policies.
- Metric
- HR policies and practices mandating business ownership of business change and benefits delivery.
- Practice
- Integrate formal benefits harvesting into the organization's financial governance.
- Outcome
- Benefits harvesting directly impacts subsequent Financial Planning (savings and revenues reflected in adjusted budgets, cost allocations etc.).
- Metric
- % of projects where benefits harvesting directly impacts financial planning.
- Practice
- Routinely undergo external harvesting audits.
- Outcome
- Oversight of benefits delivery is done in the context of the overall portfolio.
- Metric
- % of projects where benefits delivery is overseen in the context of the overall portfolio.