Managing Benefits in the Public Sector. Surveying Expectations and Outcomes in Norwegian Government Agencies

Government agencies currently experience increasing pressure to document benefits from spending on eGovernment efforts. Hence, structured methods for benefits management (BM) are being developed. However, hardly any studies have investigated how such approaches are used and experienced. This study addresses this practice-research gap by reporting a study of a project involving 30 Norwegian government agencies using a common BM approach. A questionnaire was answered by project managers. Results show that that some 80 % of the managers considered their early quantifications of expected benefits to be realistic. Further, the managers found the approach useful. They felt projects became more focused, and expect to continue working with a BM approach. While the benefits that were identified and quantified in the reported projects represent estimates and not measurements, this study shows that BM can be useful - and even welcomed - in eGovernment projects and that demonstrating benefits from such projects can be accomplished.