What does "Benefits Achieved" REALLY mean on non-monetary Benefit Plans?

[Uncle Rob]

There's a checkbox on Benefit Plan called "Benefits Achieved". 

Docs has an unnuanced definition:

Two of my customers have asked for clarity on this field.  Both teams saw a tension between two definitions that Docs doesn't address.

1)  Planned <= Actual: "We have achieved the benefits we hoped for"

2)  Fully Actualized:  "We've actualized as much of the benefit as we can at last measure.  This is as good as its going to get"

REALLY curious on what ServiceNow's stance is, since two different teams had these two interpretations at a time.

[Namita Mishra · Accepted solution]

Hi @Robert Fedoruk ,

The 'Benefits Achieved' field on the non-monetary benefit plans is a free form field. As we start tracking actual benefit achieved, a project or demand manager can select this field to signify that they have achieved all the benefits that they aimed for.

There may be situation when planned < actual still PM feels that this is what can be achieved & can select 'Benefits Achieved' & that is correct as well.

Thanks,

Namita Mishra

[Uncle Rob]

Appreciate the time Namita.

Maybe consider hardening the definition and maybe splitting the two intents across two fields.  One to mark "this benefit plan is finished being measured" vs "the actuals were <>= the planned"

At any rate, please know I'm a HUGE fan of benefit plans... especially the new non-monetary ones.  

[Namita Mishra]

Hello @Robert Fedoruk ,

Thanks for the feedback & I think most of the users would like to see this. It would be great if you can create an idea on the community

Glad to know that you liked the non-monetary benefit plans capability introduced for demand and projects in Rome release.

You may be aware that this capability is now extended for Scrum & SAFe Epics. Starting San Diego release, the product managers and scrum masters are able to create & manage the monetary as well as non-monetary benefit plans for Scrum & SAFe Epics as well. 

Thanks,

Namita Mishra

[Uncle Rob]

That's good news.  Most of my ITBM people aren't fully bought into the agile stuff yet.  (BUT WE"RE WORKING ON IT!)