At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope that it can be done, then they see that it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. – Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Frances Burnett was no stranger to hardship. Her father died when she was only 3 and her family moved to America 12 years later to live in abject poverty in an abandoned log cabin. She picked and sold wild grapes to make enough money to write for magazines, before eventually enjoying great success as an author with classics such as the 'Secret Garden' and 'Little Lord Fauntleroy'.
 

Faith and Vision

In the beginning, there is only vision
and faith. Frances had faith that one day she could be a great author and she achieved this 'American Dream' in spite of the greatest hardships.

In the same way, your intranet portal project began with vision and promises to stakeholders who shared your faith that 'a strange new thing could be done'.

Hope and Patience

Whilst making your case, you used analysis and benchmarking of other organisations to create a momentum of hope. That was grounded in specifics; the hard and soft benefits your project was to deliver.
 

Seeing is believing

But hope only takes you so far. After time, tangible delivery needs to be seen and felt, by your employees (first by stakeholders and then by your detractors!)
 

The Benefits Dependency Network

A good starting point for benefits tracking is to agree (early on in the project) a Benefits Dependency Network (BDN).

Developed by Cranfield University, the BDN is a great tool to (a) get your stakeholders and team on a single page as to vision and (b) to make that vision real through a set of measurable benefit outcomes.

Once the benefits have been determined, the team can further develop the network to "ground" benefits by identifying the dependent process, business & technology changes required. The project scope drops out of the network, as it summarises all the necessary changes - that can be tracked - from the current state to the desired state.

The Benefits Realisation Plan

The scoped items can then be loaded into a Benefits Realisation Plan, which includes a comprehensive system for tracking the evidence that benefits have been realised.

The plan need not be complex (in the panel right, I propose the use of a simple spreadsheet). However, there are a number of core elements that must be included:

Challenges along the way

In the change management chapter
I highlighted the j-curve effect, whereby things often tend to get worse before they get better. For this reason, you should time benefit measurement to occur some time after a particular piece of content or application has gone live (leaving time for it to 'bed in').
 

Changes in direction

Sometimes during the project, it may be neccessary to make scope changes (for example, where a pilot proves a particular
approach to be unfeasible). It is vital that the impact analysis in your change control
process takes into account any changes to the timing or nature of benefits and that the benefits realisation plan is updated.
 

A final thought on Benefits

In the Business Case chapter, I pointed
out that it is much easier to identify the benefits of a portal post-implementation! Do not hesitate to add to the plan!