Benefits Management Strategy 1043A - WhatDoTheyKnow€¦ · business change or policy outcomes have been clearly defined, are measurable, and provide a compelling case for investment

Benefits Management Strategy Version 0.0a 21/09/09

1.1.1.1.1.1

Benefits Management Strategy 1043A

Version: 0.0a Date: 21/09/09

Benefits Management Strategy Version 0.0a 02/10/09 Page 2 of 25

Document Control

Key personnel

Title Benefits Management Strategy

Author

Approver Programme Board SRO

Owner Programme Manager

Summary

Version history

Version Date Summary of changes Changes marked

0.0a 21.09.09

Distribution

Name Area

See Annex

References

Doc reference Document title

1050 Benefits Management Strategy

0067 Programme Outline Business case

OGC TSO Managing Successful Programmes

HM Treasury. TSO The Green Book Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government

Cabinet Office Service Transformation Benefits Management Strategy

PU367 HM Treasury Service Transformation Agreement


Contents

Glossary of Benefits Management terms 4

1 Introduction 5

2 Context 7

2.1 Investment Objectives 7

2.2 The Service Transformation Agreement (STA) and the role of the Programme 7

3 Benefits Management Strategy: Purpose & Objectives 11

3.1 Benefits Management Strategy - Purpose 11

3.2 Benefits Management Strategy – Objectives 11

4 Governance: Responsibilities & Accountabilities 13

4.1 Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) 13

4.2 Programme Director 13

4.3 Programme Benefits Manager 13

4.4 Benefits Owners and Business Benefits Realisation Leads 14

4.5 Benefits Management Assurance 14

4.6 Aligning Benefits Management with Personal Performance Objectives 14

5 Benefits Categorisation 15

5.1 Benefits Categorisation 15

5.2 Benefits categorisation by recipient 16

5.3 Service Transformation Benefits Categorisation 16

6 Benefits Planning 17

6.1 Benefits Quantification and Valuation 17

6.2 Benefits Profiles and Benefits Register 17

6.3 Annual Benefits Realisation Plans 19

6.4 Booking Benefits in Business Plans 19

7 Benefits Realisation Activity 20

7.1 Phased Realisation of Benefits 20

7.2 Joint responsibility for Benefits Realisation 20

7.3 Benefits Reporting 21

8 Implementation of this Strategy 22

8.1 2009-10 Benefits Management Action Plan 22


Glossary of Benefits Management terms

Benefits The quantifiable and measurable improvement resulting from an outcome which is perceived as positive by a stakeholder and which will normally have a tangible value expressed in monetary or resource terms. Benefits are expected when a change is conceived. Benefits are realised as a result of activities undertaken to effect the change.

Care should be taken to avoid defining benefits that cannot be measured. If a benefit cannot be assessed in any realistic way it is usually better not to claim it at all.

Source: OGC Managing Successful Programmes

Benefits Management A continuous management process running throughout the programme. It provides the programme with a target and a means of monitoring achievement against that target on a regular basis.

The aims of Benefits Management are to make sure that desired business change or policy outcomes have been clearly defined, are measurable, and provide a compelling case for investment – and ultimately to ensure that the change or policy outcomes are actually achieved.


Benefits Realisation Management Benefits realisation management is the identification of potential benefits, their planning, modelling and tracking, the assignment of responsibilities and authorities and their actual realisation. In many cases, benefits realisation management should be carried out as a duty separate from day to day project management.

Source: HMT Green Book

Benefits Profile The complete description of a benefit or dis-benefit.


Benefits Realisation Plan A complete view of all the Benefits profiles in the form of a schedule.


Benefits Management Strategy How the programme will handle benefits management.



1 Introduction 1.1 The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) publication ‘Managing Successful

Programmes’ (MSP) states, “The fundamental reason for beginning a programme is to realise benefits through change” where benefits are, “The quantifiable and measurable improvement…which will normally have a tangible value expressed in monetary or resource terms. Benefits are expected when a change is conceived.”

1.2 The purpose of a Benefits Management Strategy is to describe, “How the programme will handle benefits management.”

1.3 Unfortunately, evidence indicates that many projects and programmes struggle to demonstrate the realisation of planned benefits – the OGC has reported in its ‘Successful Delivery Toolkit’ that, “Deficiencies in benefits capture bedevils nearly 50% of government projects” and, “30-40% of systems to support business change deliver no benefits whatsoever.” There is a particular problem with benefits that are realised beyond departmental boundaries – the Cabinet Office noted in its 2006 report to the OECD that, “identification and quantification of external benefits i.e. to users or other departments, was less strong, resulting in business cases that often understated benefits and provided an incomplete base for tracking future third-party benefits through to realisation.”

1.4 Furthermore, research indicates that the benefits claimed in business cases tend to be unrealistic - the HMT Green Book for example concludes that, “There is a demonstrated, systemic tendency for project appraisers to be overly optimistic. This is a worldwide phenomenon that affects both the private and public sectors…appraisers tend to overstate benefits, and underestimate timings and costs.”

1.5 This strategy seeks to address these failings and to learn from previous experience by adopting:

a holistic approach where all relevant benefits are identified and managed through to realisation;

a flexible approach where benefits realisation activities are adjusted to reflect the materiality of the benefits, the organisational contexts in which they are realised, and the value to be derived from measuring them; and

a phased approach with the focus at the planning stage on realism in forecasting, shifting to one based on enthusiastic user engagement post implementation to capture unplanned benefits and to disseminate learnings.

1.6 Reflecting the modular nature of the programme and that many benefits will be emergent, this Strategy is a ‘living document’ and explicit provision is made for regular updating to take into account learnings from implementation and changes in programme scope.

1.7 This Strategy includes:

Section 1 – Introduction: including formal approval of this Strategy by the Programme Director and Senior Responsible Officer.

Section - 2 Context: the Investment Objectives and the programme’s place in the cross-government Service Transformation Agreement (STA).

Section 3 - The Purpose and Objectives of the Benefits Management Strategy.

Section 4 – Governance: responsibilities and accountabilities in relation to benefits management of: the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO), Programme Director, Programme Benefits Manager, Business Managers and Benefits Owners, and provision for independent assurance on Benefits Management activity.


Section 5 - Benefits Categorisation: the categories of benefits used on the programmeand how they align with the recently introduced cross-government STA benefitscategories.

Section 6 - Benefits Planning: articulation, quantification and valuation of benefits inprofiles and a benefits register; validating them with business heads and benefits ownersincluding ‘booking’ benefits in business plans and budgets; and preparation of an annualBenefits Realisation Plan.

Section 7 - Benefits Realisation Activity: including tracking and reporting benefitsrealised against the annual Benefits Realisation Plan, and active engagement with usersto identify unplanned and emergent benefits.

Section 8 – Implementation: including the 2009-10 Benefits Management Action Plan.

1.8 Approvals

1.8.1 By the Programme Director

I am content that this Strategy provides a sound basis for the management of benefits from the investment in the programme. As such I recommend that the SRO endorse this Strategy subject to the actions listed in Section 8.1 which I will monitor in the forthcoming period.

Signed Date

1.8.2 By the Senior Responsible Officer

I am satisfied that this Strategy provides a sound basis for providing me with an acceptable degree of confidence that the potential benefits will be effectively managed and that adequate evidence will be collected in due course to demonstrate benefits realisation.

Signed (Terry Moran) Date


2 Context

2.1 Investment Objectives

2.1.1 The primary Investment Objectives for the programme are reflected in the following quotes from Leigh Lewis and Liam Byrne:

This, “is a major programme, being led by DWP on behalf of Government as a whole, to transform the way in which people can tell Government (central and local) about changes to their circumstances. At its heart – as it says on the tin – is the proposition that people should only have to tell us things – like a birth or death – once and we will make sure that information reaches all the Government Departments and Agencies that need to know. That sounds an utterly obvious thing to do – and it is – but making it a reality is very challenging.”

Leigh Lewis

“As services are scrutinised for ways to deliver greater value to the taxpayer, we will learn from how the best services are delivering higher quality at lower costs by reducing the number of services trying to tackle the same problems in partial ways.”

Liam Byrne

2.1.2 As such it seeks to enable services that are better for the citizen, front line staff, and better for the taxpayer:

Citizens will receive a better experience, faster, cheaper and easier access togovernment services.

Government and taxpayers will benefit from faster and more effective identification ofcustomers for their services, reduced unnecessary contact and improved efficiency.

Staff will see improved job satisfaction as they are able to do their job more effectively.

2.1.3 The benefits management approach adopted by the programme, and as outlined in this Strategy, will reflect these Investment Objectives by focusing on benefits to users as well as to government and staff.

2.2 The Service Transformation Agreement (STA) and the role of the programme

2.2.1 The Vision for Service Transformation is, “to change public services so they more often meet the needs of people and businesses, rather than the needs of government, and by doing so reduce the frustration and stress of accessing them. The result will be services that are better for the customer, for front line staff and better for the taxpayer.”

2.2.2 As such, the STA Benefits Management Strategy recognises that the primary objective of Service Transformation is to improve the customer experience in accessing public services and two key progress measures were identified to measure this:

1. To achieve a 50% reduction in avoidable contact by the end of the CSR07 period. TheSTA defined avoidable contact as, “demand caused by customers initiating contactbecause they are confused, need to check on progress, pass on information they havealready given to other parts of the public sector and so on. This is contact that would notbe necessary if the public sector could get things right first time”; and


2. To migrate more than 95% of the total identified websites to Directgov and

Businesslink by the end of the CSR07 period.

2.2.3 The STA also recognised that significant efficiency savings should be delivered from the re-design of services around the needs of the user and stated that the Cabinet Office would track these efficiency savings as they arose. The importance of realising efficiencies that enable government to deliver more with less has recently been emphasised by the Public Value and Operational Efficiency Programmes.

2.2.4 The vision, strategies and publicly committed metrics of the STA are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: STA Strategy Map

2.2.5 The role of the programme in this wider cross-government agenda encompasses:


Specific mention of the programme under the strategies of ‘Grouping services in ways that are meaningful to the customer’ and ‘Making better use of customer information the public sector already holds’ and under the heading of ‘Faster and more effective services’

Contributions in terms of the other strategies of, ‘Learning from citizens’, ‘Rationalising services for efficiency and improvement’, ‘Linking local and central government’ and ‘Engaging front line staff’.

Contributions to the agreed metrics in terms of:

- Improved customer experience;

- Reduced avoidable contact; and

- Enabling efficiency savings.

2.2.6 The central place of the programme in this agenda is also reflected in the Benefits Logic Map shown at Figure 2.


Figure 2: Benefits Logic Map


3 Benefits Management Strategy: Purpose & Objectives

3.1 Benefits Management Strategy - Purpose

3.1.1 According to the OGC’s ‘Managing Successful Programmes’, a Benefits Management Strategy is used to establish the approach to managing benefits and its contents typically include:

Table 1: Contents of a Benefits Management Strategy

Contents See

Outline description of the programme’s benefits and where in the organisation the benefits will occur

Section 5

Model of the benefits showing any interdependencies and dependencies on specific areas of change required within the organisation.

Sections 2, 5, 6 & 7

Description of the functions, roles and responsibilities for benefits planning and realisation, aligned with the programme’s organisation structure

Section 4

Review and assessment process for measuring benefit realisation covering: who will be involved in the reviews; how and when the reviews will be carried out.

Sections 4, 6 & 7

3.1.2 This Programme-level Benefits Management Strategy and the supporting Benefits Realisation Plan will collectively address these requirements – although it is also recognised that adjustments will be required to reflect the cross-government nature of the programme and consequently the wide range of stakeholders able to influence benefits realisation.

3.2 Benefits Management Strategy – Objectives

3.2.1 Beyond meeting the above requirements, this Strategy is designed to ensure that the potential benefits are maximised by applying a holistic approach encompassing:

planned and emergent benefits;

financial and operational benefits; and

benefits to citizens and to government.

3.2.2 As such, this strategy is based on three principles:

Firstly, ensuring that all relevant benefits are identified. This is achieved by collaborative working between the programme, users, front-line staff and business representatives to ensure all relevant benefits are captured in the context of the programme and STA benefits categorisation frameworks (see Section 5). This encompasses both pathfinder activity and the establishment of a cross-government ‘Engine Room’.


Secondly, ensuring that benefits forecast are robust and realisable. This is achieved by:

- Utilising evidence from the pathfinder sites;

- Agreement and validation of benefits forecasts with the ‘Engine Room’, Editorial Board, relevant business owners and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs);

- Booking benefits in budgets, business plans and performance targets wherever possible; and

- Independent assurance on the approaches taken to benefits in the Business Case and Benefits Realisation Plans.

It is noted that the Engine Room is cited as a ‘best practice’ example of cross-government collaboration in the ST Benefits Management Strategy from the Cabinet Office – see extract below.

Figure 3: Extract from ST Benefits Management Strategy

Example: Cross-government collaboration

The Programme for example, established an ‘Engine Room’ of cross-government stakeholders to inform and validate the analyses underpinning the Business Case. Such engagement also helped develop, and gain commitment to, a shared vision of the potential for a ‘’ service.

Thirdly, by establishing an appropriate framework for managing benefits post

implementation ensuring that:

- booked benefits are actually realised (rather than creating an unfunded pressure);

- emergent benefits are captured and disseminated; and

- lessons learnt are captured and acted upon in future phases of the programme.

3.2.3 This is explored further in Sections 6 and 7. The emphasis will shift as we progress from planning to implementation:

at the planning stage the focus is on realism – ensuring that benefits claimed are prudent and realisable and justify the planned investment; whilst

post-implementation - the emphasis will shift to learning and ‘exploitation’ – ensuring that we make the best use of the capability and capacity created cross-government to optimise the return in terms of improved customer experience and more efficient use of resources.

3.2.4 It is also recognised that this Strategy is itself an emergent one – it will be revised to reflect the development of the Programme, learnings from implementation, and developments at a cross-government level in the STA.

3.2.5 It is therefore proposed that this Strategy will be updated and presented to the Programme Director and SRO (and Programme Board) for re-approval on an annual basis alongside a Programme-level summary Benefits Realisation Plan for the forthcoming year.


4 Governance: Responsibilities & Accountabilities

4.1 Senior Responsible Owner (SRO)

4.1.1 The Senior Responsible Owner (Terry Moran) is responsible for ensuring that the programme retains a focus on benefits and he is ultimately accountable for the overall realisation of benefits from the programme.

4.2 Programme Director

4.2.1 The Programme Director (Lyn McDonald) is responsible for the Benefits Management Strategy – and for ensuring that it is updated on at least an annual basis as stated in this Strategy, to provide an appropriate level of assurance that benefits will be realised. In particular, she is responsible for:

Approving the periodic benefits reports;

Ensuring that the lessons learned from benefits reviews are actioned across the Programme. She is supported in this by the Programme Benefits Manager;

Escalating any issues which impact materially on benefits realisation, and which cannot be resolved, to the Programme Board and/or Steering Group; and

Advising the SRO on the adequacy and effectiveness of the regimes established to manage benefits and benefits realisation across the programme.

4.3 Programme Benefits Manager

4.3.1 The Programme Benefits Manager is responsible for:

Establishing the framework for managing benefits across the programme;

Updating this Benefits Management Strategy (including assessing its effectiveness and any required changes) on at least an annual basis. This review should encompass both the adequacy of process and the effective realisation of benefits;

Working with business leads and SME’s to ensure that all relevant benefits are identified, quantified, valued and validated. This will include benefits mapping, baselining current performance, and conducting workshops;

Documenting benefits in Benefits Profiles and a Benefits Register;

Developing an annual Benefits Realisation Plan that provides a basis for reporting on the realisation of benefits;

Compiling periodic reports (frequency TBA) on benefits forecasts and realisation for the Programme Director, SRO, Programme Board and Steering Group;

Ensuring arrangements for engaging with users and for capturing emergent benefits are adequate and effective;

Commissioning and participating in evaluation reviews to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of benefits realisation activity – and making recommendations so that learnings are acted upon;


Acting as a champion for the programme to help ensure the capability and capacitycreated is exploited to its full extent;

Advising the Programme Director on the adequacy and effectiveness of benefitsmanagement regimes across the Programme;

Escalating any issues which impact materially on benefits realisation, and which cannotbe resolved, to the Programme Director; and

Liaising with the Cabinet Office ST team and representing the programme on the cross-government ST Delivery & Benefits Management Board.

4.4 Benefits Owners and Business Benefits Realisation Leads

4.4.1 Benefits Owners will be identified for all material benefits. In the case of Local Authorities it is considered that rather than seeking an owner for each benefit, it may be more effective to identify a ‘Business Benefits Realisation Lead’ responsible for coordinating benefits realisation activity in that LA. In either case, the role of the Benefits Owners/Business Benefits Realisation Leads includes:

Agreeing/validating claimed benefits;

Ensuring forecast benefits are realised;

Reporting on benefits realisation to the Programme Benefits Manager.

4.5 Benefits Management Assurance

4.5.1 Provision will be made for independent expert assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the approaches adopted to Benefits Management and Benefits Realisation. This will include:

Advising on the updating of this Benefits Management strategy;

Advising the Benefits Manager on the completion of Benefits Profiles, the BenefitsRegister, and Benefits Realisation Plans;

Participating in periodic benefits reviews and advising the Programme Director andBenefits Manager on the adequacy and effectiveness of the benefits managementregimes established; and

With the Programme Benefits Manager, representing the programme at a cross-government level, including the ST Delivery & Benefits Management Board.

4.6 Aligning Benefits Management with Personal Performance Objectives

4.6.1 The OGC’s ‘MSP’ says, “One way to make this ‘ownership’ meaningful is to link benefits realisation to personal performance targets.” The above responsibilities should therefore be included in the relevant individuals’ performance objectives. Consideration will also need to be given to how best to ensure that this also applies to those in operational roles able to influence the realisation of benefits in practice. This will be addressed in the Benefits Realisation Plan.


5 Benefits Categorisation

5.1 Benefits Categorisation

A Benefits categorisation framework encompassing benefits to the Citizen, Staff and the Taxpayer has been adopted by the programme reflecting the agreed programme investment objectives. Benefits are further categorised as: direct or indirect; and financial (AME or DEL) or non-financial. Financial benefits will be further sub-categorised as shown below. This framework is designed to be consistent with the ST Benefits Management Framework (see below), minimise double counting and the risk that potential benefits are omitted.

5.1.1 It is noted that the approach to Citizen/User Benefits is identified as an example of good practice in the Cabinet Office ST Benefits Management Strategy.

Figure 4: Extract from the ST Benefits Management Strategy

Extract from the ST Benefits Management Strategy

People who report changes in their lives to Government often have to repeat and verify the same information to various departments, agencies and local authorities. This can be time-consuming, stressful and expensive for them. The Programme will address this initially in relation to birth, death and bereavement – and benefits to the citizen in time, money and reduced frustration will be monitored and managed.

5.1.2 In relation to benefits to the taxpayer, these include financial benefits/efficiency savings to government which may be:

Costs avoided i.e. consequential savings in other budgets resulting from the decision to invest in the programme. These benefits should be formally validated by the relevant budget holder.

Cashable savings i.e. benefits such as staff savings or lower running costs that are realised in the form of reduced budgets and/or reduced unit costs. These benefits should be validated with the Finance department of the relevant organisation.

Non-cashable staff time savings which are re-invested in improved services. These benefits should be agreed with the relevant Benefit Owner/Business Benefits Realisation Lead including what conversion ratio is assumed realistic i.e. what percentage of the potential time savings can be realistically converted to other value adding activities.


5.2 Benefits categorisation by recipient

5.2.1 In addition to type, benefits can also be categorised by recipient. The Programme Benefits Manager will therefore ensure that Benefits Owners are identified in the Benefits Profile and Register, and that analysis by recipient is also reflected in the annual Benefits Realisation Plan. Benefits recipients include:

Citizens (Users) – agreed/validated by customer satisfaction sampling and engagement with representative organisations where applicable.

Central Government departments e.g. DWP, HMRC, DVLA and IPS – agreed/validated with relevant business leads.

Local Authorities - agreed with/validated by appropriate business representatives of these organisations.

5.3 Service Transformation Benefits Categorisation

5.3.1 The benefits categorisation adopted for the cross-government STA is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: ST Benefits Categorisation

Using a consistent benefits categorisation framework

User value

Monetary

Time-based non-monetary

Value-based non-monetary (such as less frustration from reduced unnecessary contact)

Departmental efficiency

Contributions to departmental

efficiency plans/targets (from

website rationalisation, channel

shift, shared infrastructure,

removal of duplicate processes)

Departmental effectiveness

Improved policy impact

Increased regulatory compliance, etc

Wider Public Value

Trust

Reputation

Inclusion, etc

5.3.2 The ST Benefits Management Strategy accepts that government departments will adopt different approaches to benefits categorisation reflecting established departmental procedures and the particular circumstances of each programme. Nevertheless it can be seen that there is a high degree of alignment between the programme approach and that adopted for the STA as a whole – particularly in relation to User/Citizen value and departmental efficiency benefits.


6 Benefits Planning

6.1 Benefits Quantification and Valuation

6.1.1 As stated in the OGC’s ‘Managing Successful Programmes’, benefits are, “The quantifiable and measurable improvement resulting from an outcome which is perceived as positive by a stakeholder and which will normally have a tangible value expressed in monetary or resource terms.”

6.1.2 Points to note are that:

Quantification

Benefits should be quantified – but the quantification should relate to the nature of the benefit i.e. financial benefits should be expressed in monetary terms, whilst effectiveness benefits (to users or government) should be expressed in terms of the performance improvement anticipated (time savings for example). Measures and indicators will be agreed with the relevant Benefits Owner or Business Benefits Realisation Lead and will be recorded in the relevant Benefits Profile and Benefits Realisation Plan.

Valuation

Non-financial benefits may be valued in monetary or economic terms in the Business Case as required by the HMT Green Book (“The general rule is that benefits should be valued unless it is clearly not practicable to do so” and, “The NPV is the primary criterion for deciding whether government action can be justified.”) but the Benefits Profile and Benefits Realisation Plan will quantify such benefits in non-monetary terms i.e. as time savings, improved satisfaction etc.

In valuing staff time savings, the binding guidance contained within the HMT Green Book will be used in relation to the Business Case i.e. time should be valued at, “the opportunity cost of the time to the employer. This will be equal at the margin to the cost of labour to the employer: the gross wage rate plus non-wage labour costs such as national insurance, pensions and other costs that vary with hours worked.” In relation to Benefits Management activity the focus will be more on the actual time saved and the use to which this time saving is put.

In valuing citizen time savings, the guidance agreed by the Total Cost to Serve team and HM Treasury should be used. This currently values citizen time savings at £14.10 per hour (but £13.60 is utilised in the Strategic Outline Business Case as that was the rate agreed at that time).

6.2 Benefits Profiles and Benefits Register

6.2.1 A Benefits Profile will be completed for all material benefits showing the salient information for each benefit including:

The type/categorisation of benefit;

Owner;

Measures/Indicators to be used and baseline performance. Wherever possible existing management information systems should be used. As well as numeric measures (£,


%’s), ‘recognition events’ will also be identified where applicable which will provide evidence of benefits realisation;

Scale - £ or % or numerical improvement anticipated;

Trajectory and timing for realisation;

Any dependencies, changes or enablers upon which benefits realisation is dependent. In particular, this will identify how staff time savings will be re-deployed to other value-adding activity and what conversion ratio is considered appropriate; and

Any disbenefits and required mitigating actions.

6.2.2 A prudent and realistic approach has been taken to the inclusion and valuation of benefits in the Business Case. This policy will also be reflected in the Benefits Profiles with each benefit having a confidence/sensitivity assessment based on the approach recommended by the Cabinet Office ST Benefits Management Strategy – see Figure 6.

Figure 6: Benefits Confidence Assessment

6.2.3 The OGC’s ‘Managing Successful Programmes’ guidance states that, “Each benefit should be owned by an appropriate senior manager to ensure accountability for successful delivery. Ownership of the overall set of benefits rests with the Senior Responsible Owner. Whilst overall responsibility and accountability for benefits realisation rests with the SRO, individual benefits owners should be identified who are able to influence the realisation of specific benefits.” As noted above, the programme benefits will be agreed with relevant Benefits Owners and Business Benefits Realisation Leads.

6.2.4 The template for the Benefit Profile has been developed from good practice templates sourced from DWP and the OGC.

Difficulty in attribution of benefits to the project/activity - possibility that factors outside the project/activity may be the cause of benefit realisation rather than the project/activity

Service Transformation Benefits Confidence Assessment

High Medium Low

Confidence in attributing benefits realisation to the project/activity

Score 1 2 3

Empirical evidence exists supporting the cause and effect analysis between project/activity and benefits realisation.

3 3 6 9

Logical argument for cause and effect supported by some empirical evidence that is testable over time.

2 2 4 6

Logical argument for cause and effect but with little or no empirical evidence and testing the relationship between initiative and benefit is problematic.

1 1 2 3


6.2.5 Collectively, the benefits profiles will form the Programme Benefits Register.

6.2.6 This Register and the detailed Profiles will be formally updated on an annual basis although more frequent updates will be made where necessary.

6.3 Annual Benefits Realisation Plans

6.3.1 The Benefits Profiles and Register will be used in compiling an annual Benefits Realisation Plan. This will include analyses by benefit and by recipient for the forthcoming period.

6.4 Booking Benefits in Business Plans

6.4.1 ‘Booking’ benefits in business plans is recognised as best practice (for example, Kaplan (2005) Strategic IT Portfolio Management) but notwithstanding this, there is a programme responsibility to ensure that forecast benefits are actually realised, that improvements can be attributed to the programme, that systems are used effectively, emergent benefits are captured, learnings are disseminated, and lessons learned are fed back into the programme. This will be addressed during the implementation and ‘Business As Usual’ phases as outlined in the next section.


7 Benefits Realisation Activity

7.1 Phased Realisation of Benefits

7.1.1 The Benefits from the programme will be realised in a phased manner and this Strategy, and the supporting Benefits Realisation Plans, will reflect this reality. Benefits will be realised:

Firstly, in terms of improved customer experience reflecting the overriding raison d’etre of the Service Transformation agenda;

Secondly, in terms of releasing cashable and non-cashable savings in Central and Local Government;

Thirdly, from re-deploying staff time saved to other value-adding activities so contributing to improved services;

Fourthly, from capturing and disseminating unplanned and emergent benefits, and feeding back lessons learned in future phases of the programme; and

Fifthly, from exploiting the capability and capacity created in future phases of the programme such as for Change of Address, registered social housing, pensions notification etc. Indeed the STA states that initiatives, “such as this programme which would not only provide immediate benefit to customers and greater efficiency for government, but which would also lay the foundations for a new generation of public services.”

7.2 Joint responsibility for Benefits Realisation

7.2.1 Responsibility for realising benefits encompasses both the programme (as outlined in Section 4) and the relevant businesses. The programme will take the lead in monitoring benefits realisation including ensuring citizen (user) benefits are realised. Business representatives in contrast have responsibility for realising business benefits including those from non-cashed staff time savings, although the programme will engage to ensure such benefits are tracked and reported.

7.2.2 Benefits realisation activity will be adjusted to reflect decisions yet to be made about the funding mechanism adopted, although it is intended that such activity will encompass:

Implementation Phase

Engaging with local business managers during implementation to make them aware of the potential of the programme to improve operational and service performance. This may be facilitated by a Benefits Management toolkit that can be used by the implementation teams;

Use of a menu-based approach enabling LA business managers to focus on the benefits that are most important to them with tailored indicators and measures;

Development of local Benefits Realisation Plans to show how staff time saved will be re-deployed to other value-adding activities and to include targets in local business plans to demonstrate the realisation of benefits from the programme; and

Exit interviews after implementation.


Business As Usual Phase

Participation in user groups;

User surveys to assess time and financial savings as well as increased satisfaction;

Front-line staff and user surveys;

Tracking benefits realised to ensure that performance matches the promise and that emergent benefits are identified and disseminated;

Analysis of trends and learnings from benefits reporting;

The scale of benefits is highly dependent on service take up – consequently there will be a focus on encouraging user and LA adoption of the services;

Formal periodic benefits reviews encompassing three questions:

- Are we realising the forecast benefits (and if not, what action is required)?

- Are there any benefits that were not originally forecast (and if so, what action is required to ensure they are realised across the Service)?

- Are we exploiting the capacity and capability created?

Post-implementation reviews – these will be formative rather than summative in nature i.e. the focus will be on lessons learned and looking forward rather than a backward looking justification of the investment; and

Independent Gateway 5 (benefits realisation) reviews. The timing of these reviews will be confirmed in the Benefits Realisation Plan.

7.3 Benefits Reporting

7.3.1 Responsibility for collecting and consolidating data on benefits realisation and updating forecasts to identify trends, track performance against plan and ensure an adequate view on benefits realisation exists, lies with the Programme Benefits Manager.

7.3.2 Wherever possible, existing MIS and data collection mechanisms will be used to provide evidence of benefits realisation. Where this is not possible new measures will be considered taking into account the scale of the benefit anticipated and the cost of collecting reliable evidence of benefits realisation. Sampling of users and front line staff will be used where applicable.

7.3.3 It is also important that the measures and indicators used should include intermediate benefits (such as reduced avoidable contracts) as well as end benefits such as improvements in the customer satisfaction, time and cost savings to citizens and government.

7.3.4 The frequency and format for reporting on benefits realisation to the Programme Board and Steering Group is yet to be agreed although the programme already reports to the Cabinet Office on a six monthly basis.


8 Implementation of this Strategy

8.1 2009-10 Benefits Management Action Plan

8.1.1 The main deliverables in 2009-10 are shown below.

Table 2: Main deliverables in 2009-10

What? Who? When?

1. Strategy formally approved (inc. being signed off by the Programme Director and SRO).

Programme Director SRO Oct 09

2. Complete first iteration of Benefits Profiles

Programme Benefits Manager Oct 09

3. Complete Benefits Register Programme Benefits Manager Oct 09

4. Benefit Statements and Benefits Realisation Plan signed off for CDR

Programme Benefits Manager Dec 09

5. Report to STA – updated BLM and ST Benefits Profile

Programme Benefits Manager Feb 10

6. 2010-11 Benefits Realisation Plan Programme Benefits Manager March 10

7. Agree template for benefits reporting Programme Benefits Manager March 10


Annex 1 - Distribution List

Name Reason Area SRO Terry Moran PDCS Chief Executive Programme Dapo Adekola Review IS/IT Matt Briggs Review Programme Manager Julie Brown Review Benefits Realisation Darren Buller Review Design Andy Carroll Review Strategy and New Business Stella George Review PMO Gill Haizelden Review Communications Steve Jenner Review Business Case / Benefits Realisation Adrian Jones Review New Business Diane Leggo Review Business Case Manager Margaret Logan Review Design & Implementation Lyn McDonald Review Programme Director Ben McGough Review Implementation Jane Mapp Review Business Case Fiona March Review Implementation Graham Newsom Review Communications Mel Scott Review LA Liaison Steve Scott Review IS/IT Gill Simpson Review Finance Tara Solanki Review New Business / Legals Maureen Thompson

Review IS/IT

Carol Wright Review Business Case Identity Management Programme Martin McGuire Review Programme Manager DWP CIT Pam Barrett TBC Assurance and Risk Services Kenny Robertson Info Transformational Government Director Trisha White TBC GMAM PDCS David Douse Review Resources & Performance Alison Gibbons Review Strategy Directorate Bernie Keay Info Strategy, Deputy Director Strategic Design &

Assurance Peter Lowe Info Change and Transformation Rachel Lowerson TBC Business Strategy Deputy Director

Lisa McAnulty Review Change & Implementaion


Alan Travis Review Change & Transformation Directorate via [email protected]

Sharon Norton Review Head of Operations Support Bev Raine Review Strategy Directorate Design & Assurance Sarah Scullion Review Human Resources Director Gillian Snaith Review Resources & Performance Other DWP Steve Bangay Info Jobcentre Plus, Strategic Development Division Helen Bauldry TBC DWP Corporate & Shared Services, Strategy

Directorate, Forecasting Division

Chris Bywater TBC Deputy Director, Head of Business Continuity and Security

Raymond Cathline TBC DWP Change Management Sharon Cooper Review Directgov Katherine Courtney

TBC DWP Customer Insight

Ruth Elliot TBC Finance, People and Planning Directorate, EG and WWG

Sue Harding Review DWP Change Management Ann Harris Review DWP PPMD Deputy Director Investment ManagementPete Harvey

TBC DWP Planning and Performance Management, Deputy Director Financial Management

Neil Hickling Review Jobcentre Plus, Transformation & Product Management, Business Design

Steve Holland TBC DWP Corporate & Shared Services, Strategy, Information and Pensions, Finance, Planning and Performance Division

Sharon Jones TBC Deputy Director Data Sharing Strategy Huw Meredith TBC Finance, People and Planning Directorate, EG and

WWG, Governance Performance and Risk Lee Nixon Review Business Strategy Manager Shared Services Debt

Management Yvonne O’Hara TBC Head of Internal Communications Stuart Proud Review DWP Change Programme Finance Support Kay Willmer (lawyer)

TBC IS, JSA , Social Fund and Data Policy Issues

Jane Wing Review DWP PPMD HMRC Steve Cullen Review HMRC Richard Kent Info HMRC HMT Martin Edwards TBC Her Majesty’s Treasury Dan Hanson Review Her Majesty’s Treasury Labour Market Policy


IPS Lee Anstice Review IPS Dominic Hartley TBC IPS – Strategy Architect Communities & Local Government

William Barker Info Cross-Government Advisor LA Associations (LGA, IDeA and IRRV)

Maura Brooks TBC Local Government Delivery Council Siobhan Couglan Review IDeA Programme Management Service

Transformation John Hayes Review IDeA Stephen Jones TBC LGA David Magor Info IRRV Las Eleanor Kelly & Dominic Cain

TBC Southwark Council Deputy Chief Executive

Janet Callender TBC LA Delivery Council Chair Donna Hall TBC Chorley Chief Executive Tim Rainey Info Tameside John Sellgren TBC Director of Strategy & Partnership Hertfordshire

County Council Mike Suarez

TBC Lambeth Council Executive Director Finance and Resources

Bob Trahern

TBC North Warwickshire Borough Council Assistant Director for Revenues and Benefits

Other Government Departments

David Evans Review DVLA Corporate Affairs Director Sarah Fogden Review Cabinet Office

Deputy Director Service Transformation, Implementation Delivery and Transformation Group

Rajan Khakhar Info Cabinet Office Stephen McCartney

TBC Head of Data Protection Promotion

Ray Wright

TBC NISSA Deputy Director Delivery and Innovation Division

Documents

Benefits Management Strategy 1043A - WhatDoTheyKnow€¦ · business change or policy outcomes have been clearly defined, are measurable, and provide a compelling case for investment