Supply Chain Optimisation Benefits Realisation Plan
This is a practical guide to building a benefits realisation plan for a supply chain optimisation project — how the project’s benefits will be measured and actually realised, adapted to the realities of improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain.
What a Benefits Realisation Plan is
A benefits realisation plan is how the project’s benefits will be measured and actually realised. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Benefits Realization. On a supply chain optimisation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Supply Chain Optimisation project
Supply Chain Optimisation projects live or die on improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain. A well-built benefits realisation plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how supply chain optimisation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Target benefits
- Metrics / KPIs
- Baseline values
- Owner
- Realisation timeline
Supply Chain Optimisation-specific considerations
Tailor the benefits realisation plan to the risks that most often derail supply chain optimisation projects:
- Data visibility
- Supplier coordination
- Change to established processes
Example
On a real supply chain optimisation project, the benefits realisation plan would be shaped by improving the efficiency and resilience of the supply chain. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — data visibility, supplier coordination, change to established processes — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.