Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22 - Issue 4

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framework, Symcor dramatically im-
proved the way it does business. From
2010 – 2012, Symcor cancelled more
than 80 projects that had poor to no ROI
and saved approximately US$70 million.
Equally important, those project cancella-
tions were not seen as a failure but rather,
the execution of a successful process.
Just over half of respondents from PMI’s
Pulse report said the process of identify-
ing project benefits has increased the vis-
ibility of formalized project management
throughout the organization. Fortunately
for organizations, this suggests a poten-
tial to move the topic of benefits — and
how to deliver them through projects —
to the top of the agendas for organization
executives and project sponsors.
It’s time for more organizations, both
public and private, to step up to the plate
like Symcor did — and realize the real ef-
fects that identification and management
of benefits can have on an organization’s
bottom line. PMI’s Pulse report shows that
when project benefits are identified be-
fore the start of a project, 54 percent more
projects meet original goals and business
intent. The numbers don’t lie. A proper
benefits management process can ensure
that an organization’s projects align to the
overall strategy of the organization — and
in turn save significant taxpayers’ dollars.
Craig Killough,
Vice President,
Organization Markets,
Project Management
Institute (PMI).
Special Report
Leading organizations, both in the
public and private sectors and
across geographic boarders, con-
tinue to embrace project man-
agement as a way to control spending
and improve desired project outcomes.
However, the reality is that many of these
same organizations are not paying atten-
tion to a vital step of the project manage-
ment process – aligning project benefits
to the strategic objectives of the organi-
zation.
According to findings from the Project
Management Institute’s (PMI) 2016 Pulse
of the Profession®: The Strategic Impact
of Projects, most organizations are miss-
ing significant opportunities to add stra-
tegic value because they lack a formal and
focused approach to identifying and then
managing benefits .
High performing organizations with
strong benefits maturity are wasting on
average, $USD54M per $USD1B invested
in projects and programs, compared to
low performers with ad-hoc approaches
to benefits who are wasting $USD166M
per $USD1B invested. For governments,
that’s a savings of $USD112M tax dollars.
While organizations that implement a
strong project management framework
may excel at completing projects and pro-
grams successfully, they rarely connect
their projects back to the business pur-
pose — often because they have failed to
identify the expected benefits before the
start of the project — and that leaves val-
ue unrealized. Benefits realization man-
agement assures that the coveted goals
and outcomes of a project align with the
overall purpose of a business.
When benefits are managed well, gov-
ernment organizations realize the great-
est possible savings for taxpayers. But far
too few organizations have effective ben-
efits realization management processes in
place. In fact, many have no benefits man-
Formalizing Benefits Management
Increases ROI and Reduces Costs
of Projects and Programs
Canadian processing services provider saved approximately US$70 million
through implementation of formal benefits management process
By Craig Killough, Vice President, Organization Markets, PMI
agement approaches at all. And, as the
findings from PMI’s recent research show,
organizations are missing an opportunity
to ensure that their projects deliver the
expected strategic impact and drive or-
ganizational success.
The new study from PMI quantifies the
value of aligning identified project bene-
fits with strategic goals. When the two are
in sync, 80 percent more projects meet or
exceed forecasted ROI and 57 percent
more meet goals and business intent. In
addition, 45 percent more are within bud-
get, and 50 percent more are on time.
Despite these clear indicators of the value
added by managing benefits realization,
data from PMI’s 2016 Pulse of the Profes-
sion shows that a staggering 83 percent
of organizations lack maturity with these
processes.
Symcor, one of Canada’s leading finan-
cial processing services providers, imple-
mented a focused approach to benefits
management a few years ago and the
results have been astounding. As Symcor
Vice President, Enterprise Project Officer
Haresh Desai noted in PMI’s report, Sym-
cor’s benefits identification process was
truly a “cultural shift” for the company,
one that led them to “think about projects
and their prioritization in a very different
manner.”
Symcor prioritizes projects based on a
set of criteria dictated by corporate objec-
tives for revenue, cost reductions, efficien-
cies and growth. Before a project can com-
mence, the project sponsor has to identify
potential benefits and estimate high-level
costs —which leads to a statement of work
that has to be approved before the proj-
ect can begin. Furthermore, the identified
benefits are monitored throughout the
project. At any time, the sponsor can make
a decision to cancel the project if he or she
feels the benefits are not being realized.
By developing a benefits management
April 2016 // Canadian Government Executive / 21