Benefits Identification
Workshop
1
Who Should Attend
• Users:
– Service area managers
– Service area staff (clinical and admin)
• Project Team
• Senior Managers/Sponsor (sign-off)
Output Sought
• List of benefits/improvements to be achieved,
owners and prioritisation ratings
• List of disbenefits
2
Workshop Outline
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Introduction to project team
Project background and objectives
Why have you been ask to participate?
What improvements would you like to make to
your service area as part of the project?
• Which improvements will have the most impact
on staff and patients and absolutely need to be
delivered for the project to be a success?
• Next steps
3
Defining Benefits Will Help Us
• Clarify for ourselves what we are trying to
achieve
• Understand the project’s contribution to
resolving local issues and/or improving service
delivery and management
• Identify dependencies and deliver necessary
changes (future workshops)
• Acknowledge our accountability to stakeholders
• Know what success looks like
4
What is a Benefit?
Answers
question:
So what?
5
Breakout Exercise
Write the benefits on post-it notes. Think about:
• 5 “Why (is that a good thing)”
• Think of each objective in turn and what benefits
would be realised if this objective was achieved
• Think about what frustrates you about the
current system and what improvements the new
functionalities could help you make
• Ensure benefits are clear enough for others to
understand but keep them concise
6
Coffee break
7
Prioritising Benefits
Likelihood
Use this simple matrix
High
and place each benefit
Quick Win Flagship
according to how likely it
is to be realised (a lot of
effort=low likelihood,
Low Risk High Risk
easy to implement=high
likelihood) and how
Low
High
Impact
important it is to patients
and the service or how much value it will
release/generate (big improvement/value=high
impact, little worth=low).
8
What This Means
• Benefits with the highest impact/value are
clustered to the right of the matrix:
– those requiring minimum effort should
definitely be on your key benefits list.
– those needing a lot of work are high risk and
will require additional focus to ensure they
happen. Reconsider their value in view of the
additional effort needed.
• The actual value of benefits with low impact
should be considered within the time frame and
resources available to the project. Abandon?
9
Disbenefits
• Could be skill gaps, additional workload or cost,
security or governance issues…
• Can affect the value of the project
• Identified early, they can be tackled so they don’t
jeopardise the success of the project
• If resulting from lack of information or
misunderstanding discussing them can help
“clear the air”
• May just be a necessary evil
10
Use It, Don’t Lose It
• The benefits defined today will be used
throughout the life of the project (business case,
functional specs, project plan, business
acceptance criteria). Make sure everybody
agrees before closing the workshop.
• It is important to record the list formally and
saved it for future reference.
• Use the benefits log and/or the benefit profile to
capture today’s work.
11
Before you go:
• Who (name) will be responsible for delivering
each benefit, and has the authority to make it
happen?
• Any volunteers to join the Benefits Working
Group?
• If not known, date names should be emailed by
In your team:
• Share the proposed key benefits:
– Do they understand and agree with them?
– Do they think they can be achieved?
• Get in touch with any feedback or if you need
any help!
12
Next Steps
• Set up a User Group or Benefits Working Group
to lead on and take forward benefits activities
• Define measures of success for each benefit to
ensure they can be monitored and evaluated.
• Gather baseline data.
• Identify dependencies to plan and deliver
necessary changes.
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