Benefits management presentation led by Richard Breese.Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Business School, specialising in organisational change management.

1. Benefits Management: Practice makes
perfect?
Introductory Thoughts
Dr Richard Breese
Senior Lecturer
Sheffield Business School
Sheffield Hallam University
r.breese@shu.ac.uk
and Committee Member of theAPM Benefits
Management SIG

2. Content of my presentation
• Definitions
•Benefits Management and my work
roles over 30 years!
•Development of Benefits Management
as a branch of Project Management

3. what’s in a name? (Pellegrinelli, 2011)
3
Disbenefit
Change
Capability

4. Definitions
Benefit
‘positive and measurable impact of change', on the
performance of an organisation, contributing to one or
more strategic objectives
Benefits Management
‘the identification, definition, planning, tracking and
realisation of business benefits'.
APM Body of Knowledge 6th Edition

5. 5
Town Planner in the 1980’s
Benefits at the policy and
project levels
Planning policies and retail impact studies
for new retail developments
Balance of benefits and disbenefits, for
different stakeholders
Evidence-based, but no agreement
between different parties with vested
interests
Do new retail developments create jobs?
Has Meadowhall been good for Sheffield?
My Background (1)

6. 6
Regeneration Programmes Manager in
the 1990’s and early 2000’s
Benefits at the programme level
Programmes consisting of a diverse
range of capital and revenue projects
Targets for standard outputs, such as
number of jobs created, numbers of
people trained,
Links from outputs to outcomes and
overall objectives for regenerating
disadvantaged areas
My Background (2)
What is the link between outputs, outcomes and
objectives?

7. My background (3)
Self-employed consultant, 2008/9 (brief!)
Use of Benefits Maps with cricket clubs to help them decide
on priorities for their Business Plans to access funding

8. My background (4)
•Lectures on Benefits Realisation Management, mainly
to students on MBA programmes and other Masters’
courses, eg Information Technology
•Research and publications on benefits management ,
reflecting on my previous work roles (eg Breese, 2012)
•Supervising Doctoral and Masters’ dissertations
•Links with practice
- at Sheffield Hallam University (with Nicola and
colleagues)
- elsewhere, through the APM Benefits Management
SIG
Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, 2009+

9. Origins of Benefits Realisation Management
Development of Benefits Management over time –
Compare the chapters in ‘Managing Successful
Programmes’ in the first edition (1999) and the
most recent (fourth) edition (2011)
BRM arose out of dissatisfaction with
investment appraisal techniques (APM Benefits
Management SIG, 2009), particularly as
applied to IT projects and programmes in the
1980’s (Bradley, 2010)

10. ‘Managing Succesful Programmes’in 1999
and 2011 – similarities
•Terminology (eg Benefits, Disbenefits, Benefits
Profile, Benefits Management Strategy)
•Stages in the Benefits Management Life-cycle
•The key roles in the benefits management
process

11. ‘Managing Succesful Programmes’in 1999
and 2011 – differences
• More on how managing benefits fits into the overall
process of managing programmes
• Emphasis on the relationship between benefits and
organisational strategies/corporate objectives
• More techniques, and more examples, eg of benefits
mapping
• More tips and guidance as to what might go wrong

12. Our SIG Thought Leadership......
Series of publications from 2009 to 2012
All reports are available FREE at www.apm.org.uk
Community –> Specific Interest Groups –> APM Benefits Management SIG

13. ‘Managing Benefits’ guidance, accompanying the
APMG-International Certification in Benefits
Management, launched in 2012
•Overview of benefits
management
•Seven principles and five
practices
•Applying benefits management
at the portfolio level, as well as
programme and project
•International focus
•Multi-disciplinary

14. Current Benefits Management SIG
activities......
Focus on practice – linked series of
workshops later in 2013 (London area)
Recent application to the Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) for a Knowledge
Exchange project on benefits management -
result will be known in July

15. References
APM (Association for Project Management), 2009, Benefits Management – A strategic business
skill for all seasons, (prepared by the APM Benefits Management Specific Interest Group),
accessed through, http://www.apm.org.uk/news/benefits-management-strategic-business-skill-
all-seasons, last viewed on 5 February, 2013
APM, 2012, Body of Knowledge (6th Ed), Princes Risborough:APM
Bradley G., 2010, Benefit Realisation Management (2nd Ed), Farnham: Gower
Breese, R., 2012, ‘Benefits realization management: Panacea or false dawn?’ International
Journal of Project Management, Volume 30, Number 3: 341-351
Cabinet Office, 2011, Managing Successful Programmes (4th Ed), London: TSO
CCTA, 1999, Managing Successful Programmes (1st Ed), London: TSO
Jenner, S., 2012, Managing benefits: Optimising the return from investments, APMG/TSO
Pellegrinelli, S., 2011, ‘What’s in a name: Project or Programme?’ International Journal of
Project Management 29, 2:232-240