Benefits realisation management (BRM) (also benefits management or benefits realisation) is the explicit planning, delivery and management of whole life benefits from an investment. An investment is only successful if intended benefits are realised and BRM supports key choices and actions to achieve this success.[1] Popularity of BRM has grown recently in the UK with the inclusion of the BRM by the UK Government in their standardised approach to programmes, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP).[1]
BRM has clear roles and responsibilities, processes, principles and deliverables that are common across investment types. Common investment types include procurement, projects, programmes, portfolios and in continuing business operations. Outcomes are changes identified as important by stakeholders and can be strategic or non-strategic. A benefit is a measurable positive impact of change. A dis-benefits is a measurable negative impact of change. [2] Successful BRM requires accountable people, relevant measures and proactive management.
A generic BRM process is to:
A technique used in 'identify the investment outcomes' is the creation of a pictorial view of the outcomes of interest on an outcome map (also called a results chain [3], benefits dependency network [4] or benefit map[5]). This technique supports agreement of the outcomes sought as it shows the outcomes and relationships between them on a single page. They can be agreed upon and communicated clearly as a result.
Data can then be captured either separately or within a suitable modelling tool for each outcome that will include the benefit measures used for each, ownership and accountability information and information to support realisation management.