S40040138

Jorge Junior

Assessment 1

Part A – Written or Oral Questions

1. Define Benefit Management. (1 marks)

The benefit management tied to project management are often

overlooked but should be a critical aspect of successful project
management. This is when a project manager takes time just to make
sure that the final project outcome will provide some value to the
organization. Before any project begins, project managers sit
together with other important stakeholders such as top management
and employees. They discuss important projects that the
organization can implement in order to make things better in the
organization. The expectation from stakeholders is that once the
project manager completes and signs off a project, then the
organization should begin to experience some positive impact from
the project.

2. Provide two examples of Benefit Profile Types. (4 marks)

In order to better illustrate Benefits Management let us use the

example of the STU Company. STU is an organization that wants to
hire a Jorge, a project manager to develop a system that tracks
product inventory. This system output from the project should
enable the organization to accurately manage its outbound and
inbound inventory and possibly even reduce cases of product theft.
These are also the benefits that STU hopes to achieve from the
project that Jorge implements.
The process by which these benefits are realized and monitored is
known as benefits management. STU can accrue a number of
advantages through proper use of Benefits Management. As
mentioned, securing benefits from a project is the primary reason
why projects are implemented in the first place. Benefits should
be positive and measurable attributes that an organization
experiences when a project is successfully implemented. These
benefits can be tangible such as an increase in the number of cars
assembled in a car assembly plant within a day or a decrease in the
number of stolen raw materials. Benefits can also be intangible such
as improvement in company goodwill and reputation and improvement
in customer satisfaction.
Jorge, the project manager's task, in this case, is to ensure that all
the activities that are carried out during project implementation are
tied to that final outcome, where the final outcome should be
a positive and measurable attribute. In our case the final outcome
should be reduced theft of inventory through better tracking
mechanisms. The next section analyses further how Jorge can
ensure that he carries out proper benefits management.
3. Why is it important to clearly identify types of benefits? (2
marks)

Identify types of benefits it’s important that’s explains how

benefits will be managed. It sets out policies for aspects such as
measurement, roles and responsibilities, priorities and key
performance indicators (KPIs). Requirements are captured from
sources such as the project mandate and stakeholders. Benefits
depend on the delivery of outputs and the achievement of outcomes.
The interrelationships between these need to be understood
through benefits modelling and mapping. Each benefit (and
disbenefit) should be documented in terms of priority,
interdependencies, value, timescales and ownership.

4. Provide and define one example of short and long-term Benefits.

(4 marks)

Well basically as example I would say the needed for long term
sustainable development goals, it has been very clear for a long time
that the lack of actions to prevent issues such as global climate
change, poverty, biodiversity losses or various types of chemical
pollution will significantly impact current, and to even greater
extents, generations to come. However, many of the worsening
impacts (e.g. sea level rise) are either very progressive or will only
start to become significantly apparent into the future.
While adaptation strategies now seem inevitable, prevention should
still be on the agenda (to lessen the severity of the impacts to
come) and new strategies to finance much needed long term
development plans need to be applied. The hybrid short-long term
approach is perhaps the best option and the less damaging to the
economy.
The need for short term financially viable goals, while long term
goals are needed, the point here is that it is becoming increasingly
difficult to fund such projects if there is no direct financial returns
and benefits to current communities.
It is apparent that one of the failures of sustainable development
strategies has been to separate the two concepts of short and long
term strategies when in fact the solution relies in a continuity and
synergy between the two.
While it is difficult to obtain funding for sustainable development
plans, short term high-added value projects that benefit current
communities and can contribute to the economy are abundant and
finding a way to tap on these projects to meet longer term plans is
key if viable sustainable development strategies are to be achieved.
The approach of ‘investing for the future’ separately of current
needs is clearly one that hasn’t been successful. It is clear that
arguments such as ‘we must invest in generations to come rather
than the current needs’ or ‘we won’t see the impacts now but it is for
the greater good of future generations’ despite true and much
needed are outdated and unsuccessful. What we need is an approach
that clearly benefits the present while at the same time having a
longer term agenda and this should be a systematic approach to
development.
There are two human psychological factors that development goals
should pay much more attention to: first, we don’t react well to long
term progressive threats (e.g. climate change) and second, we are
much more effective at short term goals than long term ones.

5. At what stage of Benefit Management is it appropriate or

necessary to communicate short and long-term benefits with
pertinent stakeholders? (4 marks)

Implementing a new direction for your company without the time to

test and tweak your ideas requires you to roll the dice on an
initiative. Committing to a short-term schedule for a product launch
or change in operations may not allow you to make adjustments
based on the results you see occurring. Set long-term goals that let
you track results and make any necessary adjustments.
We must find ways to better utilise mainstream development goals
with direct short term impact on current human societies to also
serve sustainable development goals as they are more likely to be
successful.
The link between short and long term goals must become much more
comprehensive and apparent in developments strategic planning. We
shouldn’t keep on making distinctions between short term financially
viable projects and longer term sustainable development objectives
but on the contrary systematically incorporate longer term
objectives within short term ones.

6. What are benefit trade-offs? (2 marks)

When you own your own small business, you lose out on a lot of
benefits that you would receive as a full-time employee. Health,
dental and vision insurance, retirement benefits, vacation pay, sick
leave and personal days all fail to automatically exist when you're an
entrepreneur. This leaves you to find your own health, dental and
vision insurance, which are often expensive. If you want to take a
day off, you do so without pay. You must also set up a retirement
account to contribute to, but don't expect to receive any matching
funds. Also, no workers' compensation or unemployment insurance
exists for business owners.

7. When managing an internal and external program, how often

should expected Benefits be monitored and evaluated? (2 marks)

Monitoring involves checking at regular intervals that a project,

programme or policy is being implemented on target, on time and
within budget. This provides an essential source of information,
indicating the extent to which objectives are being achieved, giving
an early warning of potential problems, and of the possible need to
adapt the policy, programme or project to ensure success.
Monitoring also provides information for the evaluation stage. To be
fully effective, plans for monitoring must form part of the initial
planning of a policy, programme or project. Evaluation plans should
determine the purpose, the timing, the mechanism to be used, and
how results will be shared and applied. Each review and evaluation
activity should be designed specifically for the initiative, drawing on
a range of resources.

8. Provide two examples of changes that may occur within a program

that would trigger a review or amendment to expected benefits. (4
marks)

- It helps to confirm that the benefits established and defined in

the initiative's development stage are being achieved and that the
implemented initiative is running smoothly.
- It measures the extent to which the initiative achieves the
outcome(s) sought (as described in the Business Case) and to what
extent further justified actions are required to achieve and/or
enhance benefits.
- It provides learnings for future planning, assessment and decision-
making.

9. During which stage of Benefit Management should expected

benefits be reviewed and updated accordingly? (2 marks)

It should be noted that benefits evaluation is broader than a post-

completion review as it encompasses planning actions necessary for
the full realisation of project benefits, such as undertaking
complementary projects or altering land use plans. These actions are
frequently outside the direct control of the project proponent, so
the Benefits Management Plan has to address how the responsible
parties can be influenced to ensure their actions are aligned.

A benefit evaluation report may be prepared to document findings

and lessons learned as part of this process.

10. When expected benefits are updated, why is it important to

confirm trade-offs with pertinent stakeholders? (2 marks)

Stakeholders are a major source of uncertainty in projects. This

uncertainty encompasses who relevant stakeholders are, how they
could influence a project, and what their motives are in so far as
their actions affect project activity. A generic project uncertainty
management process framework is employed to provide a structure
for a review of approaches to analysing stakeholders and related
uncertainty management issues. This framework, the SHAMPU
(Shape, Harness, and Manage Project Uncertainty) process, consists
of nine phases: project definition, focusing the uncertainty
management process, identifying sources of uncertainty, structuring
issues, clarifying ownership, estimating variability, evaluating
implications of uncertainty, harnessing plans, and managing
implementation. A variety of approaches to stakeholder analysis are
considered in relation to these phases. In particular, characterizing
projects on a ‘hard–soft’ spectrum suggests generic strategies for
managing stakeholder expectations and fostering trust between
stakeholders. An important conclusion is that a systematic approach
to stakeholder management is facilitated by the use of project
uncertainty management processes that distinguish different stages
of the project life cycle.

PART B – PROJECT

1. Benefit reference number: 420

2. Benefit Title Brand building

3. Benefit Owner: Jorge Mazola

4. Metric What gets measured gets done

5. How is it measured To measures not only to

determine their accuracy,
relevance and cost to collect, but
more importantly for the possibly
undesirable behaviours they will
cause in the future

6. Unit of measure because of the need to be aware

of the cost of measurement and
avoid the temptation to over-
 measure, it follows that
frequency, duration and timing of
measurement all require careful
consideration

7. National or benchmarking National, when benchmarking

performance data if relevant internally, organizations
benchmark against their own
projects

8. Baseline or current Baseline, when you have finished

performance planning your project, and you
have all the scheduled dates,
hours, and costs (and charges if
applicable) agreed

9. Date of baseline Date from which the terms of

payment apply. The baseline
date for payment is the basis for
determining the permitted cash
discount amount or when an
invoice is due

10. % phasing / kick in Planning, structuring and actual

realisation of the benefits of a
business change or business
improvement project. Despite
vast sums being spent on
projects, many organisations do
not do most of the following
11.Target start date must start in the earliest stages
of the change/project cycle

12. Target end date end financial results

13. Full target value  Focused on target savings,

instead of expressing business
benefits in a manner that can be
clearly understood and
implemented

14. Measure date  Few measurable improvements

are achieved, or sometimes the
reality is even far worse

15. Value Most value are realised at

an affordable cost and on
schedule

16. Cash value The cash value of an insurance

contract, also called
the cash surrender value or
surrender value, is
the cash amount offered to the
policy owner by the issuing life
carrier upon cancellation of the
contract. This term is normally
used with a life insurance or life
annuity contract
17. Is this cash releasing? Yes / Yes an outcome that is
Part/ No advantageous to a group of
people or an individual

18. Is this a recurring benefit? Some benefits are easy to

measure, others are less
tangible, though they may, over
time, lead to quantifiable
benefits. For instance, an
organisation might undertake a
marketing project