One of the major deliverables from the Opportunity Framing process is the plan to achieve
success – the Opportunity Roadmap. This is the highest level plan covering the first four of the
the five phases1 of the Opportunity Realisation Process (ORP) lifecycle. The Roadmap brings
together the principal aspects of the opportunity plan into a single diagram that can be used as
the opportunity ‘map’ by all levels in the organisation, both inside and outside the
opportunity/project team.
The ORP is intended as a framework within which opportunity/project team managers lead
teams in the development of opportunities. The team leaders are permitted considerable
discretion, subject to agreement of the overall plan and strategies by the Decision Makers. The
vehicle for reaching this agreement is the Opportunity Roadmap. The Roadmap serves as part
of the contract between Decision Makers and the Work Team.
The Roadmap provides the information for the team, its management and the decision makers
that allows them to track the logic of the opportunity plan and the progress of its major
elements. The Roadmap is developed at the very outset of each phase when the opportunity is
framed/reframed in readiness for that phase. Figure 2.3.1 illustrates the major Roadmap aspects
and a Roadmap in practice for a typical oil-related opportunity is illustrated in Figure 2.3.2.
The Roadmap’s great strength is its clarity and transparency.