💷 The benefits tracker your board pack actually needs.
Notion-native. Three linked databases. Five-state lifecycle. Quarterly board-pack rollup. One worked example with a decayed benefit so you see the lifecycle — not just the headline.
Why this template, why 2026
Three things landed in the last 18 months that turned benefits realisation from a 'nice line in the closure pack' into a board-meeting standing item.
- UK Consumer Duty (FCA) — second cycle requires written evidence of outcomes vs business case.
- NHS Long-Term Plan reset — quarterly benefits dossier required, not a one-off PIR.
- Capex compression — every CFO conversation in 2026 starts with realisation against the original case.
Every Etsy benefits tracker on the market today is a single-tab Excel. The Notion-native lane is uncolonised. This is that template.
After-import setup checklist
- Rename this page to your programme name.
- Open Evidence Log → add Relation property pointing to the Benefits Master DB. Repeat for the Decay Log.
- Add rollups on Benefits Master: Realised £ (sum from Evidence Log financial+operational rows); evidence count (count from Evidence Log); decay events (count from Decay Log).
- Duplicate the Ardendale worked example, then clear it for your programme.
- Pin the Quarterly Board Pack view to your sidebar — it's the one your CFO and steerco will look at.
- Cadence: monthly review of in-flight benefits, quarterly review of realised benefits for decay.
How this template works
Four ideas hold the whole tracker together:
- Every benefit is a row in Benefits Master. No orphan claims.
- Every realisation claim needs evidence. A benefit with zero evidence rows is forecast, not realised.
- Benefits decay. The lifecycle has Sustained and Decayed states because real benefits erode. Most trackers ignore this. Boards no longer do.