Step One - why measure the results?

In stage two of the toolkit we advised you that as part of the Project Initiation Document you should provide an outline business case indicating the likely costs of the project and the likely benefits. In stage five we looked in more detail at the key components of a business case including the tactical benefits, the strategic benefits and the costs.

If you have predicted that the preferred EDRM solution will provide a mix of tactical benefits and strategic benefits then you should build into the project plan certain key review dates when you review whether or not you have achieved these anticipated benefits.

There are two main reasons for this. The first is for audit purposes. You invested money and staff resource in a project in order to achieve a claimed set of benefits. You should measure whether or not you achieved those benefits and produce a report, which is logged as part of the project documentation. It should contain a review of whether or not the claimed benefits were achieved and if not why not? It should also list any additional benefits that resulted from the project which had not been anticipated.

The second reason is so that, if you conduct the reviews early enough, you can learn from them and adapt your objectives and requirements for the later phases of the implementation. You may also need to change some of your project plans!