Benefits have long been associated with the deployment of technology and the use of decision making. Traditional decision making approaches are often focused on the measurement and consideration of the costs and the benefits associated with an undertaking and cost/benefit analysis has evolved as a process for evaluating the desirability of an option, technology or policy. Such calculations are based on the assignment of monetary values to the positive and negative aspects of a decision, or option, enabling a direct comparison.

In the last twenty years the project management literature has come to terms with the idea of benefits realisation through portfolios. The main idea is to ensure that the benefits used to justify an investment can be realised and managed so that the performance of the system or policy matches the promise, and hopefully that the expectations derived from the promise and the business case are fulfilled.