How benefits are measured
A benefit in Works is a claim with a way of checking it. This page explains what a benefit has to declare, how its status is worked out from what you record, and the cases where a person, not a figure, decides.
What a benefit declares
Section titled “What a benefit declares”When you create a benefit in Deliver, Benefits register, you choose a Type (quantitative or qualitative) and what it is Measured by. Works refuses a benefit that has no basis for being measured, whatever the description says.
| Measured by | It must have |
|---|---|
| A metric (a number to hit) | A unit, and a target value. |
| A milestone (a date it is due by) | A target date. |
A quantitative benefit also needs a baseline value, the starting point that change is measured from. Every benefit has an owner. A measurement frequency, such as monthly, is recorded but is not used to calculate anything.
How the status is worked out
Section titled “How the status is worked out”A benefit has one of five statuses: Not started, On track, At risk, Realised and Deferred.
For a quantitative benefit, Works takes the latest measurement (by its date) and compares it with the baseline and target.
- If the target is below the baseline, lower is better. Otherwise higher is better. If there is no numeric baseline, it is treated as zero.
- Progress is the latest value minus the baseline, signed so that a positive number always means moved toward the target.
- Span is the distance from baseline to target.
| Progress | Status |
|---|---|
| At least the span | Realised |
| Above zero, below the span | On track |
| Zero or less | At risk |
With no measurement, or no target value, the status is Not started.
The status is recalculated each time a measurement is recorded, when the baseline, target, type or basis is edited, and when a linked deliverable is signed off, rejected, linked, unlinked or deleted. Because it comes from the latest measurement alone, a later and worse measurement takes a benefit back out of Realised.
Realised needs the work to be accepted
Section titled “Realised needs the work to be accepted”A measurement can reach the target while the work behind it is not yet accepted. Each benefit can be linked to the deliverables that produce it. While any linked deliverable has not reached signed off, the status is held at On track and is never promoted to Realised by the figures. A benefit with no linked deliverables is not held back.
Measured from assessments
Section titled “Measured from assessments”A benefit whose purpose is compliance can take its figure from assessments instead of from typing. On the benefit’s detail, Measure from assessments switches it. The button appears only for a holder of the benefit edit permission, on an instance with Assess, for a benefit linked to findings.
- Which outcomes. The outcomes of the findings the benefit is linked to. They must all be in one framework and one scope, and the scope must be one that everyone who reads assessments can read. A restricted scope is refused, with the reason in words.
- Unit and baseline. The unit is “outcomes achieved”. The baseline is the count achieved in the current assessment when you choose it. The target defaults to every outcome in the set and can be lowered to a whole number from 1 to the number of outcomes.
- When it is measured. Each time an assessment of that framework and scope is baselined, Works writes one measurement. A draft never counts, and nothing runs on a schedule.
- What cannot be done by hand. A measured benefit takes no typed measurement. Its type, baseline and unit cannot be edited while it is measured this way. A figure typed before the switch is kept as history and ignored.
- It is a change like any other. Switching a benefit to or from this is held where your instance holds changes. Measure by hand instead switches it back.
The status then works as it does for any quantitative benefit, including the acceptance cap below. The benefit shows “Measured from assessments: 6 of 9 outcomes achieved in CAF 4.0”, and, where accepted work projects more, “8 projected from accepted work, not yet reassessed”. See how delivered work shows in compliance.
Only a reader who holds Assessments: View sees the figure and the framework and scope it came from. Everyone else sees the benefit’s status and a neutral line, “This benefit is measured from assessments.” If a newer version of the framework is assessed, the benefit stops receiving measurements and says so, and what to do (raise the findings on the new version and link them to the benefit).
Existing benefits stay on manual measurement.
Where a person decides
Section titled “Where a person decides”Two cases are not worked out by the formula.
- A qualitative benefit has no number to compare. It stays Not started until a person resolves it as Realised or Deferred.
- Resolve. On any benefit, Resolve lets a person with the benefit resolve permission set it to Realised or Deferred. This pins the status. A later measurement does not change it, and the acceptance hold does not apply.
- Unpin. A pinned quantitative benefit shows Unpin in its detail. It recalculates the status from the measurements and the change is audited. A qualitative benefit stays as a person set it.
Deferred is only ever a person’s decision; no measurement produces it.
What else a benefit does
Section titled “What else a benefit does”- A deliverable can declare how much of a benefit it contributes, as a percentage. Where it does, the spend attributed to the benefit is split on that basis; where it does not, each linked deliverable’s spend counts in full for the benefit, so benefits can overlap.
- A benefit mapped to a framework outcome cannot be deleted until the mapping is removed.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”- No automatic Realised for a milestone benefit with no target value. The formula needs a target value. A benefit measured by a milestone and without one stays Not started until a person resolves it.
- The latest measurement is the only one that counts. A single mistaken reading, if it is the latest, sets the status.
- Measurement frequency is a note. Works does not chase missing measurements.
- What others see. On an instance with limited roles, a role’s people see benefits outside their own work only as that role’s settings allow. See How a role’s visibility works.