1. Building a Benefits Management Framework within IAG
Natalie Pritchard October 2013
I have worked in the financial services industry in various disciplines over the past 25 years, including operations, business analysis, retail, quality, project management, and is Six Sigma certified. 
I am accountable for the management of benefits for a major cross functional strategic change initiative in IAG.

2. Introduction
IAG has a portfolio of general insurance businesses with leading and established brands across its home markets of Australia and New Zealand, and a growing presence in Asia.
IAG underwrites around $9 billion of insurance premiums each year and employs over 13,000 people
Direct Insurance trades nationally under the SGIO, SGIC & NRMA brands
Core lines of business include Motor, Home, CTP and Business insurance
Direct Insurance initiated a major strategic change program last year
More than 70 projects will deliver significant Customer, Staff and Financial benefit over 5 years
Benefits Management is one of the key controls employed to ensure that the change program is delivering successfully

3. Benefit Management in IAG DI
Guiding Principles
Every Project is responsible for delivering or improving one or more business capabilities in line with the End State Design
Delivery/improvement of capability triggers Benefit Drivers that deliver Benefits.
Project success measures are defined and accountability for delivering Benefits is agreed prior to business case approval. Benefit Owners sign up to benefit estimates included in business cases.
Benefit realisation is tracked throughout the project lifecycle and for a period of time after project completion as a measure of sustainability.
2. A Benefit Driver is a lead indicator, directly attributable to the project, that drives realisation of project benefits. A Benefit is a measurable, sustainable improvement in business performance.
3. Important to involve benefit owners during the development of the business case

4. Benefit Management in IAG DI
Guiding Principles
Every project is able to be linked directly or indirectly to the success of the change program
The PMO facilitates the application of the benefits frameworks and provides tools and support
Estimating and tracking benefit realisation is an art not a science - we cannot do it with complete accuracy but we must make best effort
The Benefit Framework will continue to evolve and will be reviewed regularly– it will start simple and increase in sophistication over time
5. Important to lock in success measures, metric, target, ownership

5. Governance Program Governance Structure
Project Roles & Responsibilities
Benefit Owner: Accountable to validate and sign-off on benefit estimates as well as their achievement
Project Manager: Responsible for the delivery of the project and agreed business capability measures
Project Sponsor: Accountable for delivery of the overall project benefits and business case
PMO: Accountable for quality assurance over benefit management (end to end)

6. Benefit Management End to End
Consult with project teams
Maintain consolidated benefit register
Benefit Management End to End
What does the business / project do?
Tool / Artefact
What does GO Benefit Framework Manager
do?
Propose
Identify, categorise and quantify benefits
Value Driver Map
Feasibility
Identify Benefit Owners Validate or refine benefit estimates
Benefit Analysis Tool Business Case
QA the business case
Initiate
Plan for benefit realisation
Benefit Register
Create and pre-populate Benefit Register for project
Incorporate into cost and revenue centre budgets
Facilitate the inclusion of benefits in budgets
Build and Implement
Revalidate benefit estimates and follow change control process if material variance
Facilitate the change control process if applicable
Realise Benefits
Track realisation of benefits Agree rationale and corrective action for material variance Report on benefit realisation to PMO
Update benefit actuals into consolidated Benefit Register Report to ECC on benefit realisation for the program
Feasibility. Validate or refine benefit estimates including type, amount, baseline and forecast values
Initiate. Plan for benefit realisation: identify data sources, accountabilities and frequency of tracking, validate baseline and forecast values. Complete the population of Benefit Register
Realise Benefits. Track realisation of benefits Agree rationale and corrective action for material variance with relevant governance forum Report on benefit realisation to PMO

7. Value Driver Map

8. Benefit Analysis Tool

9. Business Case Quality Assurance Review
Overall Assessment (reviewer name)
Alignment to DI Strategy and GO roadmap
Solution design alignment to the Design Principles
Capability delivery clearly articulated
Overall cost/benefit outcomes (inclusive of non-financial and intangible benefit)
Appropriateness of any trade-off decisions
Recommendation
Delivery Assurance (reviewer name)
Costs (reviewer name)
Benefits (reviewer name)
Technology (reviewer name)
Recommendations:
<Provide summary of Risk recommendation assessment with commentary>
<Provide summary of Financial recommendation assessment with commentary>
<Provide summary of Benefits Management recommendation assessment with commentary>
<Provide summary of Technology recommendation assessment with commentary>
Key Findings:
Risk / issue identification and management
Resourcing
Scheduling
Interdependencies and constraints
Appropriate documentation and confidence
All costs estimated
Reasonable estimation of costs with appropriate level of variance
Suitable contingency
Availability of funding on current GO slate
All tangible benefits specific, measurable, plausible
Due diligence applied to benefit estimates
Identification of benefit drivers and contribution to GO Success Targets
Sign-off of benefits and impact to budget
Net Present Value, Payback Period, Internal Rate Return
Architectural goals met
Complexity reduced or managed
etc
Program Sponsor -
Program Manager – Project Manager -
The following documents were reviewed:
<Business case name including version number>
<Name and version of other documents reviewed e.g. DCF>
LEGEND
One or more evaluation criteria has not been met, with a material impact on the validity of the Bus Case
One or more evaluation criteria has not been met, without material impact on the validity of the Bus Case
All evaluation criteria has been met

10. Benefit Realisation Register

11. Transition benefit realisation to BAU
Handover to BAU criteria:
Full quantum of financial benefit has been reflected in operational budgets
Majority of benefit actuals have been within 10% of target for at least 3 months
Capability has been embedded into BAU
A minimum of 6 months has elapsed since commencement of benefit realisation
Confirmation received from relevant governance forum (as per delegated authority levels) that benefits no longer need to be tracked for the project specifically

12. Conclusion What does good look like? Where are we now / lessons learnt
1. Projected benefits for all GO projects are endorsed by Benefit Owners, recorded centrally by project and benefit type, and aggregated
In place
Traceability and audit control
2. A schedule is in place for business case development and assistance is proactively offered to business case authors
Position PMO as ‘value add’ rather than ‘policeman’
3. All benefit projections are incorporated into operational budgets
Partially achieved
Unambiguous sign off of benefits

13. Conclusion What does good look like? Where are we now / lessons learnt
4. Benefit Realisation Benefit Registers are in place for all projects / business areas
In place, requires maintenance
Measurable benefits
5. Benefit realisation is tracked and addressed at appropriate governance forums and informed decisions made to manage variance
Culture change
6. Benefit management applies to financial and non financial benefits
In place for financial benefits
Work in progress for non financials
Relationship management