Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

7.1. KEY 1: ENSURING ALL BENEFITS CLAIMED ARE ROBUST AND REALIZABLE

"First, we need to ensure that all benefits forecast in business cases are robust and realizable," Bill continued. "This provides a degree of confidence in the claims made and helps ensure we select the right projects for our portfolio."

"That sounds great, but how do we go about that in practice?" asked John.

"Well the problem that we find in many organizations is that the business case overstates the benefits to get funding, but that means we don't have a reliable basis on which to prioritize our available funds and then, in due course, we don't actually realize those benefits."

"Tell me about it," interrupted John. "I feel kind of 'poacher turned game keeper' here—I used to write business cases in my last job and most of the time the task was to present the case in the most favorable terms. Not lying, you understand, it's just that we wore some very rose-tinted spectacles at times."

"Don't feel too bad about it," Bill reassured John. "It's not uncommon, and there are three things you need to consider in dealing with the problem."

"First, establish a set of rules about how benefits will be classified, quantified, and valued. When we consider costs, our friends in finance ensure that we use a consistent rule set, but when it comes to the other side of the value for money coin—benefits—too often anything goes. So step number one is to ensure you have a rule set that applies to benefits across the portfolio, ensuring ...