Slide 1

Realising Project Benefits

the Tasmanian Government

Approach
Carol Bond, Project Manager
Inter Agency Policy and Projects Unit

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Slide 2

The Tasmanian Government

Project Management
Framework
•Evolved since 2000.
•Based on knowledge gained by experience project
managers in the Tasmanian State Government.
•Outcome focussed.
•Includes guidelines, templates, fact sheets, frequently
asked questions and example project documentation

Department of Premier and Cabinet

We have a government focus, particularly in our governance arrangements, however the

framework is equally applicable to the private sector.

All our resources are freely available on our website at www.egovernment.tas.gov.au

Slide 3

The Bottom Line

•All Projects bring about change in the context
of an organisational corporate and business
culture.
•Planning for outcome realisation should begin
as early as possible in the project.
•Organisational change supports outcome
realisation.

Department of Premier and Cabinet

The Tasmanian Government approach to project management is outcome focused.

A project is defined as ‘a group of inter-related activities that are planned and then executed
in a certain sequence to create a unique product or service, within a specific time frame in
order to achieve outcomes.’

Additionally, ‘project management is a formalised and structured method of managing

change in a rigorous manner.’ (IAPPU, 2005). Project outputs are designed to achieve
project outcomes.
Slide 4

The ITO model

O
B
J
E
C
T
I
V
E
S

Department of Premier and Cabinet

The ‘Input-Transformation-Output’ model developed by John Smyrk (Sigma Management

Science) provides a useful way to visualise the planning and scoping process (right to left)
against the implementation process (left to right).
Slide 5

‘Benefits are not delivered or

realised by the project manager
and project team,
they require the actions of
operations management.’
(Terry Cook-Davies)

Department of Premier and Cabinet

This is a quote from Terry Cooke-Davies from The ‘real success factors on projects’
International Journal of Project Management 2002.
He added to this that, ‘This calls for close cooperation between the project team on the one
hand and the sponsor or customer on the other.’
Slide 6

Who is
responsible?
Effective governance and
sponsorship is key to realising
project outcomes

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Governance is key to outcome realisation. The effectiveness of project governance,

corporate governance and operational governance all contribute to realising the flow of
benefits to the business from a project. In the Tasmanian Government approach the Project
Sponsor and Steering Committee are responsible for ensuring that an effective Project
Business Plan is in place to form the baseline for the Outcome Realisation Plan.

A steering committee may comprise different members during the life of a project to meet the
governance needs of that stage. For example in the initiation stage there may only be a
sponsor and a project manager. A steering committee may continue to exist after project
closure as a post project monitoring committee, a stage that may only require a skeleton
group. Business Owners may be added during the output development stage once they
have been clearly identified.

The Business Owner manages and maintains outputs to achieve the benefits after project
closure. Depending on the size of the project they may continue to report on the outcomes
once the outputs have been integrated into operational mode through business unit reporting
arrangements. Essentially they have ultimate responsibility for outcome realisation.

The Project Manager is responsible for delivering the outputs and assisting the steering
committee, business owner and project sponsor with achieving the outcomes. Often they are
not involved in the Business Case processes. They may be involved in an ongoing way with
the outcome realisation in operational mode however, this is quite different to the project
management role.

An innovative Project Manager from the Tasmanian Government includes separate status
reports from both the Project Manager and the Business Owners at each steering committee
meeting. This innovation ensures that Business Owner readiness is monitored and reported
on during the course of the project.
Slide 7

Closing Projects

Evidence that target outcomes have

been realised or secured.

Department of Premier and Cabinet

It is essential that projects are formally closed. A project should be closed following close
examination of the progress against the measures identified for the target outcomes. When
there is enough evidence that the outcomes have been realized or secured the sponsor and
the Steering Committee can make a decision that the project can be closed.
Slide 8

Outcome Realisation
Confirm output ownership
Post Project Reporting
Plan for transition and
Organisational Change Management

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Planning for outcome realisation should be begun as early in the project as possible. The
Outcome realisation plan is owned by the business owner. The Project manager should
only assist in planning for this phase. Steering Committees should be demanding these
plans and ensuring that the business is ready to take on the output.

Formally document outputs delivery and the Business owners acceptance of ownership
responsibilities – including maintenance requirements.

We have a great template and guide “Outcome Realisation Plan’ that includes addressing
organisational change management – or Transition planning.

Consider also that output delivery can occur sequentially during the project. This is why it is
important to plan early for management of the required organisational change and outcome
realisation.

If you have done your work with the outcomes hierarchy it will be easy to see how the project
fits into ongoing operational corporate reporting.
Slide 9

Organisational
Change Management
Consider the current situation and the new
in terms of :
- organisational culture and structure
-- physical environment
- job design/responsibilites
- policies/procedures for outputs
- workflow processes.

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Operationalising the project benefits.

Organisational Change Management supports outcome realisation.

Change management is a discipline of its own. Many large projects will bring in change
managers to assist with the people side of the change. Culture and the people side of things
can be the most difficult to change.
Slide 10

Realising Project
Benefits

A Better Practice Project

The Realising Project Benefits project was conducted by the Better Practice Team from the
Inter Agency Policy and Projects Unit, Department of Premier and Cabinet during 2007 and
2008. The Project closed on 30 August 2008. A Project Closure and Review report was
handed over to the Business Owner providing guidance in operationalising the project
outputs, and furthering ongoing understanding, awareness raising and resource
development in the area of outcome realisation and related organisational change
management.

The Realising Project Benefits project has contributed to the continuous improvement of the
Tasmanian Government Project Management Framework. Using a project management
methodology served well, particularly in engageing of executives and senior management in
the key role that they play. The success of this Project in facilitating improvement in practice
across the Tasmanian Government provides further proof that using an outcomes rather
than output focused approach to Project Management has a greater guarantee of
contributing to organisational improvement and therefore realisation of business benefits.
Slide 11

Reason for the project

Project management maturity
across the Tasmanian
Government.
Feedback mechanisms
identified need.

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Our framework and practice across government has matured over the years. But we are
committed to continual improvement and development of knowledge. We became aware
that project outcome realisation was not being done particularly well and that work needed to
be done in this area.

Feedback from stakeholders and participants in better practice forums – often asked for
more on outcome realisation and change management.

Project Objective
To improve understanding and practice, across the Tasmanian Government, in planning for
project outcomes/benefits realisation and associated organisational change management
initiatives.
Slide 12

Target Outcome 1
Increased awareness across
Government of outcomes/benefits
realisation and organisational change
management practices through the
provision of quality resources and
information.

Target Outcome 1 was mainly achieved through the Better Practice Forum program which
attracted more than 500 registrations over the seven events.

However, awareness was raised in other Forums/meetings, such as the Inter Agency
Steering Committee, a high-level governance body comprising representatives from all
Tasmanian Government Agencies.

As anecdotal feedback began to come in indicating that many Tasmanian Government

projects are putting planning for outcome realisation higher on the agenda we felt we were
beginning to achieve this outcome.

For example, it was observed that discussions about planning for outcome realisation began
to occur within the larger work unit of the Better Practice Team, the Inter Agency Policy and
Projects Unit. It was reinforced recently by a Project Management Advisory Committee
(PMAC) member who said that her Agency had begun insisting on the development of
outcome realisation plans for all its projects.
Slide 13

Target Outcome 2
Improved understanding of the
corporate chain of accountability in
outcome/benefits realisation (including
organisational change management)
by Tasmanian Government executives,
including senior and middle managers.

Outputs designed to achieve this Outcome were refined during the Project. Steering
Committee briefings were initially designed to achieve this outcome, however it proved
difficult to attract the intended audience. However, we found that status reporting to both the
Inter Agency Steering Committee (IASC),comprising of Agency Deputy Secretaries and the
Project Management Advisory Committee (PMAC), comprising representation by
experienced Project Managers from each Agency, stimulated a high level of interest and
discussion, contributing to down-stream effects.

The target measures for this outcome were consequently amended to reflect the number of
times that project outcome realisation and organisational change management was on the
agenda and discussed at the meetings of these two Committees.

Presentation to the IASC of the updated Outcome Realisation Plan Template and Guide
stimulated an in-depth discussion regarding the key issue of responsibility of the Project
Manager in outcome realisation. This led to a request from the Committee for a workshop to
further investigate the issues of who is responsible for outcome realisation.

At its April 2008 meeting, the IASC agreed to ‘establish a small working group to clarify
roles of the business owner and the steering committee, with regard to accountability for
Outcome Realisation’. A workshop focused on Governance was attended by IASC members
and other Agency executives which contributed to the discussions on who is responsible for
outcome realisation and provided further guidance on how it can be managed.

The Project Team has negotiated with the Tasmanian Training Consortium to introduce a
workshop to its already substantial suite of project management courses called ‘Introduction
to Being a Steering Committee Member’. This will be delivered once the IASC has finalised
its deliberations. This will assist in strengthening understanding amongst Tasmanian Project
Participants in relation to governance.
Slide 14

Target Outcome 3
Improved capacity among Tasmanian Government
project participants to:
a Identify and document measurable project
outcomes and processes to monitor their
achievement;
b Effectively plan, with Project Business Owners,
for appropriate organisational change to support
the realisation of project outcomes/benefits.

New and updated resources were designed to achieve this target outcome.

The Project was evaluated and reviewed in November 2007. This review revealed that
purely producing documents and publishing them on a website may not fully achieve the
capacity that this Target Outcome hoped to achieve. Therefore, an additional professional
development activity was designed and delivered to provide guidance in using the
resources, particularly in the design of metrics for target outcomes and how to use the
Outcome Realisation Plan Template and Guide.

Target Outcome 3 will continue to be realised through the ongoing delivery of these
workshops.

Developing Measures for Target Outcomes and Planning for Outcome Realisation Forum
delivery and resource kit which can be offered on an as needs basis
Steering Committee Essentials course delivered by Left Field Solutions through the
Tasmanian Training Consortium (TTC).
Slide 15

Learnings
1. Defining measures for the target
outcomes and defining ongoing
measurement of project success in
operational mode is not easy.
2. Output flexibility was essential.
3. Value of Project closure

Because this project was about outcome realisation we decided to really walk the talk when
it came to defining meaningful measures for our Target Outcomes. All this is fine in theory,
but how does it really work?

We tweaked and adjusted the measures right up to project closure. We ran workshop on the
topic, which just raised more issues. We will be doing more work in this area in the future.

We adjusted the outputs during the project. When we found that we were not addressing the
target audience for target outcome 2. And when we lost staff and could see that we could
not do all the work. Otherwise we would never have closed the project. It would have
malingered.

Project closure gave us the opportunity to market the outputs and move on.
Slide 16

The Outcome Realisation Kit

• Project Management Resources for
outcome realisation
• Example project documentation
• Presentations from related Better
Practice Forums
• Links to related resources

PROJECT MANAGEMENT RESOURCES FOR OUTCOME REALISATION

•Tasmanian Government Project Management Guidelines, Section 4
• Outcome Realisation Plan: Template and Guide v1.1
•Project Closure Report Template and Guide (Large Projects)
•Project Closure and Review Report Template and Guide (Small projects)

EXAMPLE PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

•Realising Project Benefits Project Business Plan
•1st Stage Project Evaluation and Review
•Project Closure and Review Report
•Outcome Realisation Case Study: The Tasmanian Government Web Publishing Framework
Project, May 2008
•Web Publishing Framework Project Outcome Realisation Plan, v1.1, Oct 2006

PRESENTATIONS FROM RELATED BETTER PRACTICE FORUMS

•The Tasmanian Government Approach
•John Smyrk
•Project Examples including
•MR Project
•Change Management, Tasmania Police,

LINKS TO RELATED RESOURCES

•Performance Indicator Resource Catalogue, Department of Finance and Administration,
Australian Government, 2006
•Benefits Realisation Register, Department of Commerce, New South Wales Government,
2004

And growing…
Slide 17

Other
Tasmanian Government
Project Management
Framework Kits
Getting Started
Risk Management
Steering Committees
Project Life

You will find all these kits in quick links on the right hand side of the Project Management
pages on www.egovernment.tas.gov.au