Measurable Benefits Reference Table

What is it?

This tool supports benefits identification by providing a range of possible measurable benefits for you to consider in your change. It helps establish how to measure each benefit with examples of the data required to do so.  Each benefit is directly linked to the three elements of HEFCE Value for Money Reporting (Economy; Efficiency; Effectiveness); enabling you to quickly assess how the improvement work within your institution can readily feed in to sector reporting.

Use the reference table at any point in a change initiative, but in particular at the initiation stage to help identify measurable benefits to be included in business cases, and with stakeholder groups when completing a Benefits Exploration Map.

Value for Money Key

Economy

Efficiency

Effectiveness


Financial

Measurable Benefit

Example Measures

Example Data Required to Calculate Benefit

Efficiency

Staff Capacity Savings

  • Time Saved (hours)
  • Cost saved (£)
  • Processing time post-improvement compared to baseline processing time (% reduction)
  • Sample of staff time taken to complete key process steps
  • Number of times process is completed per month/year
  • Staff salary information

Economy

Space Savings


  • Space saved (m3)
  • Cost saved (£)
  • Comparison of cubic metres of space used between baseline and post-improvement
  • Space/room utilisation percentage
  • Comparison of venue rental costs between baseline and post-improvement
  • Cubic metres of space used
  • Space used as a proportion of space available
  • Venue rental costs

Economy

Resource Savings


  • Cost saved (£)
  • Baseline inventory costs compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline waste removal costs compared to post-improvement
  • Baseline temporary staff costs compared to post- improvement
  • Cost savings from asset/facilities sharing


  • Inventory costs per month/year (e.g. IT; furniture; stationery; raw materials; equipment hire; disposable laboratory items)
  • Waste removal costs per month/year (e.g. confidential waste; chemical waste; non-recyclable waste)
  • Temporary staff expenditure per month/year
  • Asset/facilities costs per job or monthly running costs

Economy

Utilities Savings


  • Cost saved (£)
  • Baseline electricity charges compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline gas charges compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline water charges compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline CO2 emission charges compared to post- improvement
  • Electricity charges per year for the area
  • Gas charges per year for the area
  • Water charges per year for the area
  • CO2 emission levels per year

Effectiveness

Increased Revenue


  • Income received (£)


  • Baseline research grant income compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline intellectual property income compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline consultancy income compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline CPD income compared to post- improvement
  • Baseline tuition fee income compared to post- improvement
  • Income received through selling of unused assets
  • Research grant income per year per FTE
  • Intellectual property income per year per FTE
  • Consultancy income per year per FTE
  • CPD income per year per FTE
  • Tuition fee income per year per full time student
  • Assets sale income


Quality

Measurable Benefit

Example Measures

Example Data Required to Calculate Benefit

Effectiveness

Increased Quality

  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of applications with an error as a proportion of total applications
  • Number of registration queries received as a proportion of total students registering
  • Number of interview ‘no shows’ as a proportion of total shortlisted
  • Number of applications with an error per month/year
  • Total number of applications received per month/year
  • Number of registration queries per month/year
  • Total number of students registering per month/year
  • Number of interview ‘no shows’ per month/year
  • Total number of shortlisted candidates per month/year

Effectiveness

Improved Conversion Rate


  • Expressed as an increase in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of applications submitted as a proportion of applications started
  • Number of student offers accepted as a proportion of offers released
  • Number of job offers accepted as a proportion of offers made
  • Number of research grants awarded as a proportion of grants submitted


  • Number of applications submitted per month/year
  • Total number of applications started per month/year
  • Number of student offers accepted per month/year
  • Total number of student offers released per month/year
  • Number of job offers accepted per month/year
  • Total number of job offers made per month/year
  • Number of grants awarded per year
  • Total number of grants submitted per year

Effectiveness

Improved Communications


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of responses received as a proportion of communications sent
  • Number of times an online communication has been accessed as a proportion of total stakeholder group
  • Comparison of baseline satisfaction rates with post-improvement
  • Number of communications sent
  • Number of responses received
  • Number of online hits
  • Size of stakeholder group
  • Satisfaction rated via bespoke survey


Operational Delivery

Measurable Benefit

Example Measures

Example Data Required to Calculate Benefit

Effectiveness

End-to-end Process Time


  • Time saved (hours or % reduction)
  • Average of end-to-end process time for a sample of times the process has been completed
  • Time stamp of when process is initiated
  • Time stamp of when process is complete
  • Sample size to calculate average

Effectiveness

Greater Productivity


  • Expressed as an increase in item being measured (% point)
  • Total value of research grants awarded as a proportion of FTE
  • Total incoming students as a proportion of FTE
  • Staff costs as a proportion of total institutional income
  • Total value of research grants per year
  • Total staff FTE
  • Number of incoming students per year
  • Total staff costs per year
  • Total institutional income per year

Effectiveness

Improved Health & Safety Levels


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of H&S incidents per year as a proportion of total staff
  • Elapsed time since last incident
  • Number of H&S incidents per year
  • Total staff FTE
  • Number of days since last incident


Experience & Engagement

Measurable Benefit

Example Measures

Example Data Required to Calculate Benefit

Effectiveness

Improved Stakeholder Experience


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of complaints received as a proportion of the number of times the process is completed
  • Average response time to query
  • Baseline customer satisfaction rates compared to post-improvement
  • Number of complaints
  • Number of times the process is completed
  • Time stamp of query received
  • Time stamp of response sent to query
  • Query sample size to calculate average
  • Customer satisfaction rates via bespoke survey

Effectiveness

Improved compliance


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Number of applications not adhering to guidelines as a proportion of total applications submitted
  • Number of proposals submitted after the deadline as a proportion of total proposals submitted
  • Number of financial returns with missing data as a proportion of total financial returns
  • Number of applications not adhering to guidelines per month/year
  • Total number of applications per month/year
  • Number of submission after the deadline per year
  • Total number of proposals submitted per year
  • Number of financial returns with missing data per year
  • Total number of financial returns per year

Effectiveness

Improved Engagement


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)
  • Appropriate representation at meetings/committees
  • Number of responses received as a proportion of requests sent
  • Attendance at meetings/committees
  • Number of responses received
  • Total number of requests sent

Effectiveness

Improved Staff satisfaction


  • Expressed as an increase/decrease in item being measured (% point)

  • Comparison of staff time spent working on the process at baseline with post-improvement
  • Comparison of baseline staff satisfaction rates with post-improvement
  • Sample of staff time taken to complete key process steps

  • Number of times process is completed per month/year

  • Staff satisfaction scores via bespoke or annual survey


Tips when using the tool

The table above is not an exhaustive list of measurable benefits. You may identify others depending on the type of change. To support benefits identification, use the figure below to help articulate the benefit, and avoid confusion with other attributes of a change initiative.