Measuring Digital ROI & Value Realization Playbook

Most business cases estimate ROI once, at approval, and never revisit it after go-live. This playbook adds the tracking discipline that continues past delivery — baselines captured before the work starts, quarterly measurement against those baselines, and a formal reconciliation 12-18 months later comparing promised value to what was actually realized.

Reconstruct the best available baseline from historical data (prior-period reports, system logs) and clearly flag it as a retrospective estimate rather than a pre-captured baseline. It's weaker evidence than a true baseline, but still far better than no value tracking at all going forward.

The leader who controls the process or budget line where the benefit shows up — for example, the operations director who would need to actually reduce headcount or cost for a claimed savings to materialize. If no one in the business is willing to own that accountability, that's a signal the benefit may not be realistic.

Use a consistent, repeatable proxy metric (time-on-task studies, survey instruments with a fixed methodology, adoption/usage data) measured the same way at baseline and follow-up, and report it separately from hard-dollar benefits rather than converting it into an estimated dollar figure that invites scrutiny.

Treat it as an early warning, not a final verdict — investigate whether the gap is a measurement issue, an adoption issue, or a genuinely flawed original assumption, and escalate to the initiative's business owner for a corrective action plan well before the 12-18 month reconciliation makes it official.