Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Get value early by piloting a scorecard for objectively determining project value, and then examine your current state of project intake to set realistic goals for optimizing the process.
Take a deeper dive into each of the three processes – intake, approval, and prioritization – to ensure that the portfolio of projects is best aligned to stakeholder needs, strategic objectives, and resource capacity.
Plan a course of action to pilot, refine, and communicate the new optimized process using Info-Tech’s expertise in organizational change management.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Set the course of action for optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization by examining the current state of the process, the team, the stakeholders, and the organization as a whole.
The overarching goal of optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process is to maximize the throughput of the best projects. To achieve this goal, one must have a clear way to determine what are “the best” projects.
1.1 Define the criteria with which to determine project value.
1.2 Envision your target state for your optimized project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
Draft project valuation criteria
Examination of current process, definition of process success criteria
Drill down into, and optimize, each of the project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
Info-Tech’s methodology systemically fits the project portfolio into its triple constraint of stakeholder needs, strategic objectives, and resource capacity, to effectively address the challenges of establishing organizational discipline for project intake.
2.1 Conduct retrospectives of each process against Info-Tech’s best practice methodology for project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
2.2 Pilot and customize a toolbox of deliverables that effectively captures the right amount of data developed for informing the appropriate decision makers for approval.
Documentation of new project intake, approval, and prioritization process
Tools and templates to aid the process
Reduce the risks of prematurely implementing an untested process.
Methodically manage the risks associated with organizational change and maximize the likelihood of adoption for the new process.
Engagement paves the way for smoother adoption. An “engagement” approach (rather than simply “communication”) turns stakeholders into advocates who can help boost your message, sustain the change, and realize benefits without constant intervention or process command-and-control.
3.1 Create a plan to pilot your intake, approval, and prioritization process to refine it before rollout.
3.2 Analyze the impact of organizational change through the eyes of PPM stakeholders to gain their buy-in.
Process pilot plan
Organizational change communication plan
Capacity-constrained intake is the only sustainable path forward.
"For years, the goal of project intake was to select the best projects. It makes sense and most people take it on faith without argument. But if you end up with too many projects, it’s a bad strategy. Don’t be afraid to say NO or NOT YET if you don’t have the capacity to deliver. People might give you a hard time in the near term, but you’re not helping by saying YES to things you can’t deliver."
Barry Cousins,
Senior Director, PMO Practice
Info-Tech Research Group
Most organizations approve more projects than they can finish. In fact, many approve more than they can even start, leading to an ever-growing backlog where project ideas – often good ones – are never heard from again.
The appetite to approve more runs directly counter to the shortage of resources that plagues most IT departments. This tension of wanting more from less suggests that IT departments need to be more disciplined in choosing what to take on.
“There is a minimal list of pending projects”
“Last year we delivered the number of projects we anticipated at the start of the year”
What is fiduciary duty?
Officers and directors owe their corporation the duty of acting in the corporation’s best interests over their own. They may delegate the responsibility of implementing the actions, but accountability can't be delegated; that is, they have the authority to make choices and are ultimately answerable for them.
No question is more important to the organization’s bottom line. Projects directly impact the bottom line because they require investment of resource time and money for the purposes of realizing benefits. The scarcity of resources requires that choices be made by those who have the right authority.
Who approves your projects?
Historically, the answer would have been the executive layer of the organization. However, in the 1990s management largely abdicated its obligation to control resources and expenditures via “employee empowerment.”
Controls on approvals became less rigid, and accountability for choosing what to do (and not do) shifted onto the shoulders of the individual worker. This creates a current paradigm where no one is accountable for the malinvestment…
…of resources that comes from approving too many projects. Instead, it’s up to individual workers to sink or swim as they attempt to reconcile, day after day, seemingly infinite organizational demand with their finite supply of working hours.
“Squeaky wheel”: Projects with the most vocal stakeholders behind them are worked on first.
“First in, first out”: Projects are approved and executed in the order they are requested.
80% of organizations feel that their portfolios are dominated by low-value initiatives that do not deliver value to the business (Source: Cooper).
Project intake is a key process of project portfolio management (PPM). The Project Management Institute (PMI) describes PPM as:
"Interrelated organizational processes by which an organization evaluates, selects, prioritizes, and allocates its limited internal resources to best accomplish organizational strategies consistent with its vision, mission, and values."
(PMI, Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed.)
Triple Constraint Model of the Project Portfolio
Project Intake:
All three components are required for the Project Portfolio
Organizations practicing PPM recognize available resource capacity as a constraint and aim to select projects – and commit the said capacity – to projects that:
92% vs. 74%: 92% of high-performing organizations in PPM report that projects are well aligned to strategic initiatives vs. 74% of low performers (PMI, 2015).
82% vs. 55%: 82% of high-performing organizations in PPM report that resources are effectively reallocated across projects vs. 55% of low performers (PMI, 2015)
CEOs today perceive IT to be poorly aligned to business’ strategic goals:
43% of CEOs believe that business goals are going unsupported by IT (Source: Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Survey (N=124)).
60% of CEOs believe that improvement is required around IT’s understanding of business goals (Source: Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Survey (N=124)).
Business leaders today are generally dissatisfied with IT:
30% of business stakeholders are supporters of their IT departments (Source: Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey (N=21,367)).
The key to improving business satisfaction with IT is to deliver on projects that help the business achieve its strategic goals:
Optimized project intake not only improves the project portfolio’s alignment to business goals, but provides the most effective way to improve relationships with IT’s key stakeholders.
Benchmark your own current state with overall & industry-specific data using Info-Tech’s Diagnostic Program.
Many IT departments struggle to realistically estimate available project capacity in a credible way. Stakeholders question the validity of your endeavor to install capacity-constrained intake process, and mistake it for unwillingness to cooperate instead.
Project intake, approval, and prioritization involve the coordination of various departments. Therefore, they require a great deal of buy-in and compliance from multiple stakeholders and senior executives.
Many PMOs and IT departments simply lack the ability to decline or defer new projects.
Defining the project value is difficult because there are so many different and conflicting ways that are all valid in their own right. However, without it, it's impossible to fairly compare among projects to select what's "best."
Establishing intake discipline requires a great degree of cooperation and conformity among stakeholders that can be cultivated through strong processes.
Info-Tech’s Methodology | ||
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Project Intake | Project Approval | Project Prioritization |
Project requests are submitted, received, triaged, and scoped in preparation for approval and prioritization. | Business cases are developed, evaluated, and selected (or declined) for investment, based on estimated value and feasibility. | Work is scheduled to begin, based on relative value, urgency, and availability of resources. |
Stakeholder Needs | Strategic Objectives | Resource Capacity |
Project Portfolio Triple Constraint |
Our methodology is designed to tackle your hardest challenge first to deliver the highest-value part of the deliverable. Since the overarching goal of optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process is to maximize the throughput of the best projects, one must define how “the best projects” are determined.
In nearly all instances…a key challenge for the PPM team is reaching agreement over how projects should rank.
– Merkhofer
A Project Value Scorecard will help you:
The Project Value Scorecard Development Tool is designed to help you develop the project valuation scheme iteratively. Download the pre-filled tool with content that represents a common case, and then, customize it with your data.
Organizational change and stakeholder management are critical elements of optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization processes because they require a great degree of cooperation and conformity among stakeholders, and the list of key stakeholders are long and far-reaching.
This blueprint will provide a clear path to not only optimize the processes themselves, but also for the optimization effort itself. This research is organized into three phases, each requiring a few weeks of work at your team’s own pace – or all in one week, through a workshop facilitated by Info-Tech analysts.
Tools and Templates:
Tools and Templates:
Tools and Templates:
Info-Tech uses PMI and ISACA frameworks for areas of this research.
PMI’s Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed. is the leading industry framework, proving project portfolio management best practices and process guidelines.
COBIT 5 is the leading framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT.
In addition to industry-leading frameworks, our best-practice approach is enhanced by the insights and guidance from our analysts, industry experts, and our clients.
33,000+
Our peer network of over 33,000 happy clients proves the effectiveness of our research.
1,000+
Our team conducts 1,000+ hours of primary and secondary research to ensure that our approach is enhanced by best practices.
Optimized project intake, approval, and prioritization processes lead to a high PPM maturity, which will improve the successful delivery and throughput of your projects, resource utilization, business alignment, and stakeholder satisfaction ((Source: BCG/PMI).
Measure your success through the following metrics:
$44,700: In the past 12 months, Info-Tech clients have reported an average measured value of $44,700 from undertaking a guided implementation of this research.
Add your own organization-specific goals, success criteria, and metrics by following the steps in the blueprint.
Industry: Financial Services
Source: Info-Tech Client
Challenge
PMO plays a diverse set of roles, including project management for enterprise projects (i.e. PMI’s “Directive” PMO), standards management for department-level projects (i.e. PMI’s “Supportive” PMO), process governance of strategic projects (i.e. PMI’s “Controlling” PMO), and facilitation / planning / reporting for the corporate business strategy efforts (i.e. Enterprise PMO).
To facilitate the annual planning process, the PMO needed to develop a more data-driven and objective project intake process that implicitly aligned with the corporate strategy.
Solution
Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard tool was incorporated into the strategic planning process.
Results
The scorecard provided a simple way to list the competing strategic initiatives, objectively score them, and re-sort the results on demand as the leadership chooses to switch between ranking by overall score, project value, ability to execute, strategic alignment, operational alignment, and feasibility.
The Project Value Scorecard provided early value with multiple options for prioritized rankings.
“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”
“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”
“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”
“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”
1. Set Realistic Goals for Optimizing Process | 2. Build New Optimized Processes | 3. Integrate the New Processes into Practice | |
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Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Define the criteria with which to determine project value.
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2.1 Streamline intake to manage stakeholder expectations. 2.2 Set up steps of project approval to maximize strategic alignment while right-sizing the required effort. 2.3 Prioritize projects to maximize the value of the project portfolio within the constraint of resource capacity. |
3.1 Pilot your intake, approval, and prioritization process to refine it before rollout. 3.2 Analyze the impact of organizational change through the eyes of PPM stakeholders to gain their buy-in. |
Guided Implementations |
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Onsite Workshop |
Module 1: Refocus on Project Value to Set Realistic Goals for Optimizing Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Process |
Module 2: Examine, Optimize, and Document the New Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Process |
Module 3: Pilot, Plan, and Communicate the New Process and Its Required Organizational Changes |
Phase 1 Outcome:
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Phase 2 Outcome:
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Phase 3 Outcome:
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Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
Workshop Day 1 | Workshop Day 2 | Workshop Day 3 | Workshop Day 4 | Workshop Day 5 | |
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Activities |
Benefits of optimizing project intake and project value definition 1.1 Complete and review PPM Current State Scorecard Assessment 1.2 Define project value for the organization 1.3 Engage key PPM stakeholders to iterate on the scorecard prototype |
Set realistic goals for process optimization 2.1 Map current intake, approval, and prioritization workflow 2.2 Enumerate and prioritize process stakeholders 2.3 Determine the current and target capability levels 2.4 Define the process success criteria and KPIs |
Optimize project intake and approval processes 3.1 Conduct focused retrospectives for project intake and approval 3.2 Define project levels 3.3 Optimize project intake processes 3.4 Optimize project approval processes 3.5 Compose SOP for intake and approval 3.6 Document the new intake and approval workflow |
Optimize project prioritization process plan for a process pilot 4.1 Conduct focused retrospective for project prioritization 4.2 Estimate available resource capacity 4.3 Pilot Project Intake and Prioritization Tool with your project backlog 4.4 Compose SOP for prioritization 4.5 Document the new prioritization workflow 4.6 Discuss process pilot |
Analyze stakeholder impact and create communication strategy 5.1 Analyze stakeholder impact and responses to impending organization change 5.2 Create message canvas for at-risk change impacts and stakeholders 5.3 Set course of action for communicating change |
Deliverables |
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Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 1: Set Realistic Goals for Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Process Proposed Time to Completion: 1-2 weeks |
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Step 1.1: Define the project valuation criteria Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Project Value Scorecard Development Tool |
Step 1.2: Envision your process target state Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates: Project Intake Workflow Template Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template |
Phase 1 Results & Insights:
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Where traditional models of consulting can take considerable amounts of time before delivering value to clients, Info-Tech’s methodology for optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process gets you to value fast.
The overarching goal of optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process is to maximize the throughput of the best projects. To achieve this goal, one must have a clear way to determine what are “the best” projects.
In the first step of this blueprint, you will pilot a multiple-criteria scorecard for determining project value that will help answer that question. Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard Development Tool is pre-populated with a ready-to-use, real-life example that you can leverage as a starting point for tailoring it to your organization – or adopt as is.
Introduce objectivity and clarity to your discussion of maximizing the value of your project portfolio with Info-Tech’s practical IT research that drives measurable results.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard Development Tool.
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria |
1.2 Envision process target state |
2.1 Streamline intake |
2.2 Right-size approval steps |
2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity |
3.1 Pilot your optimized process |
3.2 Communicate organizational change |
PPM’s goal is to maximize the throughput of projects that provide strategic and operational value to the organization. To do this, a PPM strategy must help to:
Info-Tech's Project Portfolio Management Process Model |
3. Status & Progress Reporting |
1. Intake, Approval & Prioritization | 2. Resource Management | 3. Project Management | 4. Project Closure | 5. Benefits Tracking |
Intake | Execution | Closure |
If you don’t yet have a PPM strategy in place, or would like to revisit your existing PPM strategy before optimizing your project intake, approval, and prioritization practices, see Info-Tech’s blueprint, Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy.
In today’s organizations, the desires of business units for new products and enhancements, and the appetites of senior leadership to approve more and more projects for those products and services, far outstrip IT’s ability to realistically deliver on everything.
The vast majority of IT departments lack the resourcing to meet project demand – especially given the fact that day-to-day operational demands frequently trump project work.
As a result, project throughput suffers – and with it, IT’s reputation within the organization.
Where does the time go? The portfolio manager (or equivalent) should function as the accounting department for time, showing what’s available in IT’s human resources budget for projects and providing ongoing visibility into how that budget of time is being spent.
Most of the problems that arise during the lifecycle of a project can be traced back to issues that could have been mitigated during the initiation phase.
More than simply a means of early problem detection at the project level, optimizing your initiation processes is also the best way to ensure the success of your portfolio. With optimized intake processes you can better guarantee:
80% of organizations feel their portfolios are dominated by low-value initiatives that do not deliver value to the business (Source: Cooper).
"(S)uccessful organizations select projects on the basis of desirability and their capability to deliver them, not just desirability" (Source: John Ward, Delivering Value from Information Systems and Technology Investments).
Every organization needs to explicitly define how to determine project value that will fairly represent all projects and provide a basis of comparison among them during approval and prioritization. Without it, any discussions on reducing “low-value initiatives” from the previous slide cannot yield any actionable plan.
However, defining the project value is difficult, because there are so many different and conflicting ways that are all valid in their own right and worth considering. For example:
This challenge is further complicated by the difficulty of identifying the right criteria for determining project value:
Managers fail to identify around 50% of the important criteria when making decisions (Source: Transparent Choice).
Sometimes it can be challenging to show the value of IT-centric, operational-type projects that maintain critical infrastructure since they don’t yield net-new benefits. Remember that benefits are only half the equation; you must also consider the costs of not undertaking the said project.
Scorecard-driven approach is an easy-to-understand, time-tested solution to a multiple-criteria decision-making problem, such as project valuation.
This approach is effective for capturing benefits and costs that are not directly quantifiable in financial terms. Projects are evaluated on multiple specific questions, or criteria, that each yield a score on a point scale. The overall score is calculated as a weighted sum of the scores.
Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard is pre-populated with a best-practice example of eight criteria, two for each category (see box at bottom right). This example helps your effort to develop your own project scorecard by providing a solid starting point:
60%: On their own, decision makers could only identify around 6 of their 10 most important criteria for making decisions (Source: Transparent Choice).
Finally, in addition, the overall scores of approved projects can be used as a metric on which success of the process can be measured over time.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard Development Tool.
This tab lists eight criteria that cover strategic alignment, operational alignment, feasibility, and financial benefits/risks. Each criteria is accompanied by a qualitative score description to standardize the analysis across all projects and analysts. While this tool supports up to 15 different criteria, it’s better to minimize the number of criteria and introduce additional ones as the organization grows in PPM maturity.
Type: It is useful to break down projects with similar overall scores by their proposed values versus ease of execution.
Scale: Five-point scale is not required for this tool. Use more or less granularity of description as appropriate for each criteria.
Blank Criteria: Rows with blank criteria are greyed out. Enter a new criteria to turn on the row.
In this tab, you can see how projects are prioritized when they are scored according to the criteria from the previous tab. You can enter the scores of up to 30 projects in the scorecard table (see screenshot to the right).
Value (V) or Execution (E) & Relative Weight: Change the relative weights of each criteria and review any changes to the prioritized list of projects change, whose rankings are updated automatically. This helps you iterate on the weights to find the right mix.
Feasibility: Custom criteria category labels will be automatically updated.
Overall: Choose the groupings of criteria by which you want to see the prioritized list. Available groupings are:
Ranks and weighted scores for each project is shown.
For example, click on the drop-down and choose “Execution.”
Project ranks are based only on execution criteria.
Follow the steps below to test Info-Tech’s example Project Value Scorecard and examine the prioritized list of projects.
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Conduct a retrospective of the previous activity by asking these questions:
Iterate on the project valuation criteria:
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In this step, you’ve begun improving the definition of project value. Getting it right will require several more iterations and will require a series of discussions with your key stakeholders.
The optimized intake process built around the new definition of project value will help evolve a conceptual discussion about project value into a more practical one. The new process will paint a picture of what the future state will look like for your stakeholders’ requested projects getting approved and prioritized for execution, so that they can provide feedback that’s concrete and actionable. To help you with that process, you will be taken through a series of activities to analyze the impact of change on your stakeholders and create a communication plan in the last phase of the blueprint.
For now, in the next step of this blueprint, you will undergo a series of activities to assess your current state to identify the specific areas for process optimization.
"To find the right intersection of someone’s personal interest with the company’s interest on projects isn’t always easy. I always try to look for the basic premise that you can get everybody to agree on it and build from there… But it’s sometimes hard to make sure that things stick. You may have to go back three or four times to the core agreement."
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
This step is highly recommended but not required. Call 1-888-670-8889 to inquire about or request the PPM Diagnostics.
Info-Tech's Project Portfolio Management Assessmentprovides you with a data-driven view of the current state of your portfolio, including your intake processes. Our PPM Assessment measures and communicates success in terms of Info-Tech’s best practices for PPM.
Use the diagnostic program to:
* Steps denote the place in the blueprint where the steps are discussed in more detail.
Use this workflow as a baseline to examine your current state of the process in the next slide.
Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the processes currently in place for project intake, approval, and prioritization.
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Document the results of the previous table-top exercise (Activity 1.1.1) into a flow chart. Flowcharts provide a bird’s-eye view of process steps that highlight the decision points and deliverables. In addition, swim lanes can be used to indicate process stages, task ownership, or responsibilities (example below).
Review and customize section 1.2, “Overall Process Workflow” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
"Flowcharts are more effective when you have to explain status and next steps to upper management."
– Assistant Director-IT Operations, Healthcare Industry
Browser-based flowchart tool examples
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Download Info-Tech’s Project Intake Workflow Template (Visio and PDF)
In the previous activity, accountable and responsible stakeholders for each of the steps in the current intake, approval, and prioritization process were identified.
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There are three dimensions for stakeholder prioritization: influence, interest, and support.
These parameters will inform how to prioritize your stakeholders according to the stakeholder priority heatmap (bottom right). This priority should inform how to focus your attention during the subsequent optimization efforts.
Level of Support | |||||
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Stakeholder Category | Supporter | Evangelist | Neutral | Blocker | |
Engage | Critical | High | High | Critical | |
High | Medium | Low | Low | Medium | |
Low | High | Medium | Medium | High | |
Passive | Low | Irrelevant | Irrelevant | Low |
There may be too many stakeholders to be able to achieve complete satisfaction. Focus your attention on the stakeholders that matter the most.
Use Info-Tech’s Intake Capability Framework to help define your current and target states for intake, approval, and prioritization.
Capability Level | Capability Level Description |
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Capability Level 5: Optimized | Our department has effective intake processes with right-sized administrative overhead. Work is continuously prioritized to keep up with emerging challenges and opportunities. |
Capability Level 4: Aligned | Our department has very strong intake processes. Project approvals are based on business cases and aligned with future resource capacity. |
Capability Level 3: Engaged | Our department has processes in place to track project requests and follow up on them. Priorities are periodically re-evaluated, based largely on the best judgment of one or several executives. |
Capability Level 2: Defined | Our department has some processes in place but no capacity to say no to new projects. There is a formal backlog, but little or no method for grooming it. |
Capability Level 1: Unmanaged | Our department has no formal intake processes in place. Most work is done reactively, with little ability to prioritize proactive project work. |
Refer to the subsequent slides for more detail on these capability levels.
Use these descriptions to place your organization at the appropriate level of intake capability.
Intake | Projects are requested through personal conversations and emails, with minimal documentation and oversight. |
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Approval | Projects are approved by default and rarely (if ever) declined. There is no definitive list of projects in the pipeline or backlog. |
Prioritization | Most work is done reactively, with little ability to prioritize proactive project work. |
PMOs at this level should work to have all requests funneled through a proper request form within six months. Decision rights for approval should be defined, and a scorecard should be in place within the year.
To get a handle on your backlog, start tracking all project requests using the “Project Data” tab in Info-Tech’s Project Intake and Prioritization Tool.
Use these descriptions to place your organization at the appropriate level of intake capability.
Intake | Requests are formally documented in a request form before they’re assigned, elaborated, and executed as projects. |
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Approval | Projects are approved by default and rarely (if ever) declined. There is a formal backlog, but little or no method for grooming it. |
Prioritization | There is a list of priorities but no process for updating it more than annually or quarterly. |
PMOs at this level should strive for greater visibility into the portfolio to help make the case for declining (or at least deferring) requests. Within the year, have a formal PPM strategy up and running.
Something PMOs at this level can accomplish quickly without any formal approval is to spend more time with stakeholders during the ideation phase to better define scope and requirements.
Use these descriptions to place your organization at the appropriate level of intake capability.
Intake | Processes and skills are in place to follow up on requests to clarify project scope before going forward with approval and prioritization. |
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Approval | Projects are occasionally declined based on exceptionally low feasibility or value. |
Prioritization | Priorities are periodically re-evaluated based largely on the best judgment of one or several executives. |
PMOs at this level should advocate for a more formal cadence for prioritization and, within the year, establish a formal steering committee that will be responsible for prioritizing and re-prioritizing quarterly or monthly.
At the PMO level, employ Info-Tech’s Project Intake and Prioritization Tool to start re-evaluating projects in the backlog. Make this data available to senior executives when prioritization occurs.
Use these descriptions to place your organization at the appropriate level of intake capability.
Intake | Occurs through a centralized process. Processes and skills are in place for follow-up. |
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Approval | Project approvals are based on business cases and aligned with future resource capacity. |
Prioritization | Project prioritization is visibly aligned with business goals. |
PMOs at this level can strive for more accurate and frequent resource forecasting, establishing a more accurate picture of project vs. non-project work within the year.
PMOs at this level can start using Info-Tech’s Business Case Template (Comprehensive or Fast Track) to help simplify the business case process.
Use these descriptions to place your organization at the appropriate level of intake capability.
Intake | Occurs through a centralized portal. Processes and skills are in place for thorough follow-up. |
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Approval | Project approvals are based on business cases and aligned with future resource capacity. |
Prioritization | Work is continuously prioritized to keep up with emerging challenges and opportunities. |
PMOs at this level should look at Info-Tech’s Manage an Agile Portfolio for comprehensive tools and guidance on maintaining greater visibility at the portfolio level into work in progress and committed work.
Current State: | |
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Target State: | |
Timeline for meeting target |
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To frame the discussion on deciding what intake success will look like, review Info-Tech’s PPM strategic expectations:
For a more detailed discussion and insight on PPM strategic expectations see Info-Tech’s blueprint, Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy.
While assessing your current state, it is important to discuss and determine as a team how success will be defined.
Optimization Benefit | Objective | Timeline | Success Factor |
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Facilitate project intake, prioritization, and communication with stakeholders to maximize time spent on the most valuable or critical projects. | Look at pipeline as part of project intake approach and adjust priorities as required. | July 1st | Consistently updated portfolio data. Dashboards to show back capacity to customers. SharePoint development resources. |
Review and customize section 1.5, “Process Success Criteria” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
Establish realistic short-term goals. Even with optimized intake procedures, you may not be able to eliminate underground project economies immediately. Make your initial goals realistic, leaving room for those walk-up requests that may still appear via informal channels.
The current state explored and documented in this step will serve as a starting point for each step of the next phase of the blueprint. The next phase will take a deeper dive into each of the three components of Info-Tech’s project intake methodology, so that they can achieve the success criteria you’ve defined in the previous activity.
Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template is intended to capture the outcome of your process optimization efforts. This blueprint guides you through numerous activities designed for your core project portfolio management team to customize each section.
To maximize the chances of success, it is important that the team makes a concerted effort to participate. Schedule a series of working sessions over the course of several weeks for your team to work through it – or get through it in one week, with onsite Info-Tech analyst-facilitated workshops.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP.
Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.
Industry: Not-for-Profit
Source: Info-Tech Interview
Prioritization was a challenge. Initially, the organization had ad hoc prioritization practices, but they had developed a scoring criteria to give more formality and direction to the portfolio. However, the activity of formally prioritizing proved to be too time consuming.
Off-the-grid projects were a common problem, with initiatives consuming resources with no portfolio oversight.
After trying “heavy” prioritization, the PMO loosened up the process. PMO staff now go through and quickly rank projects, with two senior managers making the final decisions. They re-prioritize quarterly to have discussions around resource availability and to make sure stakeholders are in tune to what IT is doing on a daily basis. IT has a monthly meeting to go over projects consuming resources and to catch anything that has fallen between the cracks.
"Everything isn't a number one, which is what we were dealing with initially. We went through a formal prioritization period, where we painstakingly scored everything. Now we have evolved: a couple of senior managers have stepped up to make decisions, which was a natural evolution from us being able to assign a formal ranking. Now we are able to prioritize more easily and effectively without having to painstakingly score everything."
– PMO Director, Benefits Provider
1.1.1-2
Pilot Info-Tech’s Project Value Scorecard-driven prioritization method
Use Info-Tech’s example to prioritize your current project backlog to pilot a project value-driven prioritization, which will be used to guide the entire optimization process.
1.2.1-3
Map out and document current project intake, approval, and prioritization process, and the involved key stakeholders
A table-top planning exercise helps you visualize the current process in place and identify opportunities for optimization.
Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 2: Build an Optimized Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Process Proposed Time to Completion: 3-6 weeks | ||
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Step 2.1: Streamline Intake Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
| Step 2.2: Right-Size Approval Start with an analyst call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
| Step 3.3: Prioritize Realistically Start with an analyst call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
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Phase 2 Results & Insights:
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PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
Off-the-grid projects, i.e. projects that circumvent formal intake processes, lead to underground economies that can deplete resource capacity and hijack your portfolio.
These underground economies are typically the result of too much intake red tape. When the request process is made too complex or cumbersome, project sponsors may unsurprisingly seek alternative means to get their projects done.
While the most obvious line of defence against the appearance of underground economies is an easy-to-use and access request form, one must be cautious. Too little intake formality could lead to a Wild West of project intake where everyone gets their initiatives approved regardless of their business merit and feasibility.
Benefits of optimized intake | Risks of poor intake |
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Alignment of portfolio with business goals | Portfolio overrun by off-the-grid projects |
Resources assigned to high-value projects | Resources assigned to low-value projects |
Better throughput of projects in the portfolio | Ever-growing project backlog |
Strong stakeholder relations | Stakeholders lose faith in value of PMO |
Intake is intimately bound to stakeholder management. Finding the right balance of friction for your team is the key to successfully walking the line between asking for too much and not asking for enough. If your intake process is strong, stakeholders will no longer have any reason to circumvent formal process.
If you relate to the graphic below in any way, your first priority needs to be limiting the means by which projects get requested. A single, centralized channel with review and approval done in batches is the goal. Otherwise, with IT’s limited capacity, most requests will simply get added to the backlog.
The PMO needs to have the authority – and needs to exercise the authority – to enforce discipline on stakeholders. Organizations that solicit in verbal requests (by phone, in person, or during scrum) lack the orderliness required for PPM success. In these cases, it needs to be the mission of the PMO to demand proper documentation and accountability from stakeholders before proceeding with requests.
"The golden rule for the project documentation is that if anything during the project life cycle is not documented, it is the same as if it does not exist or never happened…since management or clients will never remember their undocumented requests or their consent to do something."
– Dan Epstein, “Project Initiation Process: Part Two”
1. Requestor fills out form and submits the request.
Project Request Form Templates
2. Requests are triaged into the proper queue.
Project Intake Classification Matrix
3. BA or PM prepares to develop requests into a project proposal.
Benefits Commitment Form Template
4. Requestor is given realistic expectations for approval process.
Optimizing project intake may not require a complete overhaul of your existing processes. You may only need to tweak certain templates or policies. Perhaps you started out with a strong process and simply lost resolve over time – in which case you will need to focus on establishing motivation and discipline, rather than rework your entire process.
Perform a start-stop-continue exercise with your team to help determine what should be salvaged, what should be abandoned, and what should be introduced:
1. On a whiteboard or equivalent, write “Start,” “Stop,” and “Continue” in three separate columns. | 3. As a group, discuss the responses and come to an agreement as to which are most valid. |
2. Equip your team with sticky notes or markers and have them populate the columns with ideas and suggestions surrounding your current processes. | 4. Document the responses to help structure your game plan for intake optimization. |
Start | Stop | Continue |
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It is important to identify all of the ways through which projects currently get requested and initiated, especially if you have various streams of intake competing with each other for resources and a place in the portfolio. Directing multiple channels into a single, centralized funnel is step number one in optimizing intake.
To help you identify project sources within your organization, we’ve broken project requests into three archetypes: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
1. The Good – Proper Requests: written formal requests that come in through one appropriate channel.
The Bad – Walk-Ups: requests that do not follow the appropriate intake channel(s), but nevertheless make an effort to get into the proper queue. The most common instance of this is a portfolio manager or CIO filling out the proper project request form on behalf of, and under direction from, a senior executive.
The Ugly – Guerilla Tactics: initiatives that make their way into the portfolio through informal methods or that consume portfolio resources without formal approval, authority, or oversight. This typically involves a key resource getting ambushed to work on a stakeholder’s “side project” without any formal approval from, or knowledge of, the PMO.
Decide how you would funnel project requests on a single portal for submitting project requests. Determining the right portal for your organization will depend on your current infrastructure options, as well as your current and target state capability levels.
Below are examples of a platform for your project request portal.
Platform | Template document, saved in a repository or shared drive | Email-based form (Outlook forms) | Intranet form (SharePoint, internal CMS) | Dedicated intake solution (PPM tool, idea/innovation tool) |
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Pros | Can be deployed very easily | Consolidates requests into a single receiver | Users have one place to go from any device | All-in-one solution that includes scoring and prioritization |
Cons | Manual submission and intake process consumes extra effort | Can pose problems in managing requests across multiple people and platforms | Requires existing intranet infrastructure and some development effort | Solution is costly; requires adoption across all lines of business |
Increasing intake capability and infrastructure availability
The key to an effective intake process is determining the right amount of friction to include for your organization. In this context, friction comes from the level of granularity within your project request form and the demands or level of accountability your intake processes place on requestors. You will want to have more or less friction on your intake form, depending on your current intake pain points.
If you are inundated with a high volume of requests:
If you want to encourage the use of a formal channel:
Download Info-Tech’s Detailed Project Request Form.
Download Info-Tech’s Light Project Request Form.
Optimizing a process should not automatically mean reducing friction. Blindly reducing friction could generate a tidal wave of poorly thought-out requests, which only drives up unrealistic expectations. Mitigate the risk of unrealistic stakeholder expectations by carefully managing the message: optimize friction.
Review and customize section 2.2, “Receive project requests” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of optimizing this process is to consolidate multiple intake channels into a single funnel with the right amount of friction to improve visibility and manageability of incoming project requests.
The important decisions to document for this step include:
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Whatever method of request collection you choose, ensure there is no doubt about how requesters can access the intake form.
Once a request has been submitted, it will need to be triaged. Triage begins as soon as the request is received. The end goal of the triage process is to set appropriate expectations for stakeholders and to ensure that all requests going forward for approval are valid requests.
PPM Triage Process
The PMO Triage Team
“Request Liaison” Role
The BAs and PMs who follow up on requests play an especially important role in the triage process. They serve as the main point of contact to the requestor as the request evolves into a business case. In this capacity they perform a valuable stakeholder management function, helping to increase confidence and enhance trust in IT.
What constitutes a project?
Another way of asking this question that gets more to the point for this blueprint – for what types of initiatives is project intake, approval, and prioritization rigor required?
This is especially true in IT where, for some smaller initiatives, there can be uncertainty in many organizations during the intake and initiation phase about what should be included on the formal project list and what should go to help desk’s queue.
As the definitions in the table below show, formal project management frameworks each have similar definitions of “a project.”
Source | Definition |
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PMI | A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” (553) |
COBIT | A structured set of activities concerned with delivering a defined capability (that is necessary but not sufficient to achieve a required business outcome) to the enterprise based on an agreed‐on schedule and budget.” (74) |
PRINCE2 | A temporary organization that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case. |
For each, a project is a temporary endeavor planned around producing a specific organizational/business outcome. The challenge of those small initiatives in IT is knowing when those endeavors require a business case, formal resource tracking, and project management rigor, and when they don’t.
In the next step, we will define a suggested minimum threshold for a small “level 1” project. While these level thresholds are good and necessary for a number of reasons – including triaging your project requests – you may still often need to exercise some critical judgment in separating the tickets from the projects. In addition to the level criteria that we will develop in this step, use the checklist below to help with your differentiating.
Service Desk Ticket | Small Project |
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Guard the value of the portfolio. Because tickets carry with them an implicit approval, you need to be wary at the portfolio level of those that might possess a larger scope than their status of ticket implies. Sponsors that, for whatever reason, resist the formal intake process may use the ticketing process to sneak projects in through the backdoor. When assessing tickets and small projects at the portfolio level, you need to ask: is it possible that someone at an executive level might want to get updates on this because of its duration, scope, risk, cost, etc.? Could someone at the management level get upset that the initiative came in as a ticket and is burning up time and driving costs without any visibility?
Non-Project | Small Project | |
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e.g. Time required | e.g. < 40 hours | e.g. 40 > hours |
e.g. Complexity | e.g. Very low | e.g. Moderate – Low Difficulty: Does not require highly developed or specialized skill sets |
e.g. Collaboration | e.g. None required | e.g. Limited coordination and collaboration between resources and departments |
e.g. Repeatability of work | e.g. Fully repeatable | e.g. Less predictable |
e.g. Frequency of request type | e.g. Hourly to daily | e.g. Weekly to monthly |
"If you worked for the help desk, over time you would begin to master your job since there is a certain rhythm and pattern to the work…On the other hand, projects are unique. This characteristic makes them hard to estimate and hard to manage. Even if the project is similar to one you have done before, new events and circumstances will occur. Each project typically holds its own challenges and opportunities"
– Jeffrey and Thomas Mochal
Follow the steps below to define the specifics of a “level 1” project for your organization.
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During triaging, requestors should be notified as quickly as possible (a) that their request has been received and (b) what to expect next for the request. Make this forum as productive and informative as possible, providing clear direction and structure for the future of the request. Be sure to include the following:
The logistic of this follow-up will depend on a number of different factors.
Assign an official request number or project ID to all requests during this initial response. An official request number anchors the request to a specific and traceable dataset that will accompany the project throughout its lifecycle.
If you receive a high volume of requests or need a quick win for improving stakeholder relations:
Sample #1: Less detailed, automatic response
Hello Emma,
Thank you. Your project request has been received. Requests are reviewed and assigned every Monday. A business analyst will follow up with you in the next 5-10 business days. Should you have any questions in the meantime, please reply to this email.
Best regards,
Information Technology Services
If stakeholder management is a priority, and you want to emphasize the customer-facing focus:
Sample #2: More detailed, tailored response
Hi Darren,
Your project request has been received and reviewed. Your project ID number is #556. Business analyst Alpertti Attar has been assigned to follow up on your request. You can expect to hear from him in the next 5-10 business days to set up a meeting for preliminary requirements gathering.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Alpertti at aattar@projectco.com. Please include the Project ID provided in this email in all future correspondences regarding this request.
Thank you for your request. We look forward to helping you bring this initiative to fruition.
Sincerely,
Jim Fraser
PMO Director, Information Technology Services
A simple request response will go a long way in terms of stakeholder management. It will not only help assure stakeholders that their requests are in progress but the request confirmation will also help to set expectations and take some of the mystery out of IT’s processes.
Review and customize section 2.3, “Triage project requests” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of optimizing this process is to divert non-project requests and set an appropriate initial set of stakeholder expectations for next steps. The important decisions to document for this step include:
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Whatever method of request collection you choose, ensure there is no doubt about how requesters can access the intake form.
The purpose of this follow-up is to foster communication among the requestor, IT, and the sponsor to scope the project at a high level. The follow-up should:
Once a Request Liaison (RL) has been assigned to a request, it is their responsibility to schedule time (if necessary) with the requestor to perform a scoping exercise that will help define preliminary requirements. Ideally, this follow-up should occur no later than a week of the initial request.
Structure the follow-up for each request based on your preliminary estimates of project size (next slide). Use the “Key Pieces of Scope” to the left as a guide.
It may also be helpful for RLs and stakeholders to work together to produce a rough diagram or mock-up of the final deliverable. This will ensure that the stakeholder’s idea has been properly communicated, and it could also help refine or broaden this idea based on IT’s capabilities.
After the scoping exercise, it is the RL’s responsibility to inform the requestor of next steps.
More time spent with stakeholders defining high-level requirements during the ideation phase is key to project success. It will not only improve the throughput of projects, but it will enhance the transparency of IT’s capacity and enable IT to more effectively support business processes.
Project estimation is a common pain point felt by many organizations. At this stage, a range-of-magnitude (ROM) estimate is sufficient for the purposes of sizing the effort required for developing project proposals with appropriate detail.
A way to structure ROM estimates is to define a set of standard project levels. It will help you estimate 80% of projects with sufficient accuracy over time with little effort. The remaining 20% of projects that don’t meet their standard target dates can be managed as exceptions.
The increased consistency of most projects will enable you to focus more on managing the exceptions.
Example of standard project sizes:
Level | Primary unit of estimation | Target completion date* |
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1 | Weeks | 3 weeks – 3 months |
2 | Months | 3 months – 6 months |
3 | Quarters | 2 – 4 quarters |
3+ | Years | 1 year or more |
* Target completion date is simply that – a target, not a service level agreement (SLA). Some exceptions will far exceed the target date, e.g. projects that depend heavily on external or uncontrollable factors.
Project levelling is useful for right-sizing many downstream processes; it sets appropriate levels of detail and scrutiny expected for project approval and prioritization steps, as well as the appropriate extent of requirements gathering, project management, and reporting requirements afterwards.
Now that the minimum threshold for your smallest projects has been identified, it’s time to identify the maximum threshold in order to better apply project intake, approval, and prioritization rigor where it’s needed.
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Project Level | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
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Work Effort | 40-100 hours | 100-500 hours | 500+ hours |
Budget | $100,000 and under | $100,000 to $500,000 | $500,000 and over |
Technology | In-house expertise | Familiar | New or requires system-wide change/training |
Complexity | Well-defined solution; no problems expected | Solution is known; some problems expected | Solution is unknown or not clearly defined |
Cross-Functional Workgroups/Teams | 1-2 | 3-5 | > 6 |
Capture the project levels in Info-Tech’s Project Intake Classification Matrix Tool to benchmark your levelling criteria and to determine project levels for proposed projects.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Intake Classification Matrix tool.
In most organizations a project requires sponsorship from the executive layer, especially for strategic initiatives. The executive sponsor provides several vital factors for projects:
Sometimes a project request may be made directly by a sponsor; in other times, the Request Liaison may need to connect the project request to a project sponsor.
In either case, project request has a tentative buy-in and support of an executive sponsor before a project request is developed into a proposal and examined for approval – the subject of this blueprint’s next step.
PMs and Sponsors: The Disconnect
A study in project sponsorship revealed a large gap between the perception of the project managers and the perception of sponsors relative to the sponsor capability. The widest gaps appear in the areas of:
Source: Boston Consulting Group/PMI, 2014
Actively engaged executive sponsors continue to be the top driver of whether projects meet their original goals and business intent.
– PMI Pulse of the Profession, 2017
76% of respondents [organizations] agree that the role of the executive sponsor has grown in importance over the past five years.
– Boston Consulting Group/PMI, 2014
Review and customize section 2.4, “Follow up on project requests” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of optimizing this process is to initiate communication among the requestor, IT, and the sponsor to scope the project requests at a high level. The important decisions to document for this step include:
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Review and customize section 2.1, “Project Intake Workflow” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
In Step 1.2 of the blueprint, you mapped out the current project intake, approval, and prioritization workflow and documented it in a flow chart. In this step, take the time to examine the new project intake process as a whole, and document the new workflow in the form of a flow chart.
Consider the following points:
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Industry: Municipal Government
Source: Info-Tech Client
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
Challenges | Info-Tech’s Advice |
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Project sponsors receive funding from their business unit or other source (possibly external, such as a grant), and assume this means their project is “approved” without any regard to IT costs or resource constraints. | Clearly define a series of approval steps, and communicate requirements for passing them. |
Business case documentation is rarely updated to reflect unforeseen costs, emerging opportunities, and changing priorities. As a result, time and money is spent finishing diminished priority projects while the value of more recent projects erodes in the backlog. | Approve projects in smaller pieces, with early test/pilot phases focused on demonstrating the value of later phases. |
Project business cases often focus on implementation and overlook ongoing operating costs imposed on IT after the project is finished. These costs further diminish IT’s capacity for new projects, unless investment in more capacity (such as hiring) is included in business cases. | Make ongoing support and maintenance costs a key element in business case templates and evaluations. |
Organizations approve new projects without regard to the availability of resource capacity (or lack thereof). Project lead times grow and stakeholders become more dissatisfied because IT is unable to show how the business is competing with itself for IT’s time. | Increase visibility into what IT is already working on and committed to, and for whom. |
Clearly define a series of approval steps, and communicate requirements for passing them. “Approval” can be a dangerous word in project and portfolio management, so it is important to clarify what is required to pass each step, and how long the process will take.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
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Approval step | Concept Approval | Feasibility Approval | Business Case Approval | Resource Allocation (Prioritization) |
Alignment Focus | Business need / Project sponsorship | Technology | Organization-wide business need | Resource capacity |
Possible dispositions at each gate |
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Accountability | e.g. Project Sponsor | e.g. CIO | e.g. Steering Committee | e.g. CIO |
Deliverable | Benefits Commitment Form Template | Proposed Project Technology Assessment Tool | Business Case (Fast Track, Comprehensive) | Intake and Prioritization Tool |
In general, there are three different, mutually exclusive decision-making paradigms for approving projects:
Paradigm | Description | Benefits | Challenges | Recommendation |
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Unilateral authority | One individual makes decisions. | Decisions tend to be made efficiently and unambiguously. Consistency of agenda is easier to preserve. | Decisions are subject to one person’s biases and unseen areas. | Decision maker should solicit and consider input from others and seek objective rigor. |
Ad hoc deliberation | Stakeholders informally negotiate and communicate decisions between themselves. | Deliberation helps ensure different perspectives are considered to counterbalance individual biases and unseen areas. | Ad hoc decisions tend to lack documentation and objective rationale, which can perpetuate disagreement. | Use where unilateral decisions are unfeasible (due to complexity, speed of change, culture, etc.), and stakeholders are very well aligned or highly skilled negotiators and communicators. |
Formal steering committee | A select group that represent various parts of the organization is formally empowered to make decisions for the organization. | Formal committees can ensure oversight into decisions, with levers available to help resolve uncertainty or disagreement. | Formal committees introduce administrative overhead and effort that might not be warranted by the risks involved. | Formal steering committees are best where formality is warranted by the risks and costs involved, and the organizational culture has an appetite for administrative oversight. |
The individual or party who has the authority to make choices, and who is ultimately answerable for those decisions, is said to be accountable. Understanding the needs of the accountable party is critical to the success of the project approval process optimization efforts.
Optimizing project approval may not require a complete overhaul of your existing processes. You may only need to tweak certain templates or policies. Perhaps you started out with a strong process and simply lost resolve over time – in which case you will need to focus on establishing motivation and discipline, rather than rework your entire process.
Perform a start-stop-continue exercise with your team to help determine what should be salvaged, what should be abandoned, and what should be introduced:
1.On a whiteboard or equivalent, write “Start,” “Stop,” and “Continue” in three separate columns. | 3.As a group, discuss the responses and come to an agreement as to which are most valid. |
2.Equip your team with sticky notes or markers and have them populate the columns with ideas and suggestions surrounding your current processes. | 4.;Document the responses to help structure your game plan for intake optimization. |
Start | Stop | Continue |
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Review and customize section 3.2, “Project Approval Steps” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of this activity is to customize the definition of the approval steps for your organization, so that it makes sense for the existing organizational governance structure, culture, and need. Use the results of the start-stop-continue to inform what to customize. Consider the following factors:
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Review and customize section 3.2, “Project Approval Steps” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
In the old reality, projects were approved and never heard back from again, which effectively gave your stakeholders a blanket default expectation of “declined.” With the new approval process, manage your stakeholder expectations more explicitly by refining your vocabulary around approval.
Within this, decision makers should view their role in approval as approving that which can and should be done. When a project is approved and slated to backlog, the intention should be to allocate resources to it within the current intake cycle.
Customize the table to the right with organizationally appropriate definitions, and update your SOP.
“No” | Declined. |
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“Not Now” | “It’s a good idea, but the time isn’t right. Try resubmitting next intake cycle.” |
“Concept Approval” | Approval to add the item to the backlog with the intention of starting it this intake cycle. |
“Preliminary Approval” | Approval for consumption of PMO resources to develop a business case. |
“Full Approval” | Project is greenlighted and project resources are being allocated to it. |
Refine the nomenclature. Add context to “approved” and “declined.” Speak in terms of “not now” or “you can have it when these conditions are met.” With clear expectations of the resources required to support each request, you can place accountability for keeping the request alive back on the sponsors.
Estimates that form the basis of business cases are often based on flawed assumptions. Use early project phases or sprints to build working prototypes to test the assumptions on which business cases are built, rather than investing time improving precision of estimates without improving accuracy.
The next several slides will take you through a series of tools and templates that help guide the production of deliverables. Each deliverable wireframes the required analysis of the proposed project for one step of the approval process, and captures that information in a document. This breaks down the overall work for proposal development into digestible chunks.
As previously discussed, aim to right-size the approval process rigor for project levels. Not all project levels may call for all steps of approval, or the extent of required analysis within an approval step may differ. This section will conclude by customizing the requirement for deliverables for each project level.
Tools and Templates for the Project Approval Toolbox
Project sponsors are accountable for the realization of project benefits. Therefore, for a project to be approved by a project sponsor, they must buy-in and commit to the proposed benefits.
Defining project benefits and obtaining project sponsor commitment has been demonstrated to improve the project outcome by providing the focal point of the project up-front. This will help reduce wasted efforts to develop parts of the proposals that are not ultimately needed.
Download Info-Tech’s Benefits Commitment Form Template.
Contents of a Benefits Commitment Form
For further discussion on benefits realization, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Establish the Benefits Realization Process.
In some projects, there needs to be an initial idea of what the project might look like. Develop a high-level solution for projects that:
IT should advise and provide subject matter expertise on the technology requirements to those that ultimately approve the proposed projects, so that they can take into account additional costs or risks that may be borne from it.
Info-Tech’s Proposed Project Technology Assessment Tool has a series of questions to address eight categories of considerations to determine the project’s technological readiness for adoption. Use this tool to ensure that you cover all the bases, and help you devise alternate solutions if necessary – which will factor into the overall business case development.
Download Info-Tech’s Proposed Project Technology Assessment Tool.
Traditionally, a business case is centered around financial metrics. While monetary benefits and costs are matters of bottom line and important, financial metrics are only part of a project’s value. As the project approval decisions must be based on the holistic comparison of project value, the business case document must capture all the necessary – and only those that are necessary – information to enable it.
However, completeness of information does not always require comprehensiveness. Allow for flexibility to speed up the process of developing business plan by making a “fast-track” business case template available. This enables the application of the project valuation criteria with all other projects, with right-sized effort.
Alarming business case statistics
(Source: Wrike)
Download Info-Tech’s Comprehensive Business Case Template.
Download Info-Tech’s Fast Track Business Case Template.
Pass on that which is known. Valuable information about projects is lost due to a disconnect between project intake and project initiation, as project managers are typically not brought on board until project is actually approved. This will be discussed more in Phase 3 of this blueprint.
Review and customize section 3.3, “Project Proposal Deliverables” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of this activity is to customize the requirements for project proposal deliverables, so that it properly informs each of the approval steps discussed in the previous activity. The deliverables will also shape the work effort required for projects of various levels. Consider the following factors:
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Review and customize section 3.1, “Project Approval Workflow” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
In Step 1.2 of the blueprint, you mapped out the current project intake, approval, and prioritization workflow and documented it in a flow chart. In this step, take the time to examine the new project intake process as a whole, and document the new workflow in the form of a flow chart.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
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Approval Step | Concept Approval | Feasibility Approval | Business Case Approval | Resource Allocation (Prioritization) |
Alignment Focus | Business need/ Project Sponsorship | Technology |
Organization-wide Business need |
Resource capacity |
Consider the following points:
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PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
Organizations tend to bite off more than they can chew when it comes to project and service delivery commitments involving IT resources.
While the need for businesses to make an excess of IT commitments is understandable, the impacts of systemically over-allocating IT are clearly negative:
76%: 76% of organizations say they have too many projects on the go and an unmanageable and ever-growing backlog of things to get to.
– Cooper, 2014
70%: Almost 70% of workers feel as though they have too much work on their plates and not enough time to do it.
– Reynolds, 2016
Today, many IT departments use matrix organization. In this system, demands on a resource’s time come from many directions. While resources are expected to prioritize their work, they lack the authority to formally reject any demand. As a result, unconstrained, unmanaged demand frequently outstrips the supply of work-hours the resource can deliver.
When this happens, the resource has three options:
The result is an unsustainable system for all those involved:
Project Prioritization |
Capacity awareness Many IT departments struggle to realistically estimate available project capacity in a credible way. Stakeholders question the validity of your endeavor to install capacity-constrained intake process, and mistake it for unwillingness to cooperate instead. |
Lack of authority Many PMOs and IT departments simply lack the ability to decline or defer new projects. |
Many moving parts Project intake, approval, and prioritization involve the coordination of various departments. Therefore, they require a great deal of buy-in and compliance from multiple stakeholders and senior executives. |
Project Approval |
Unclear definition of value Defining the project value is difficult, because there are so many different and conflicting ways that are all valid in their own right. However, without it, it's impossible to fairly compare among projects to select what's "best." |
Unclear definition of value
In Step 1.1 of the blueprint, we took the first step toward resolving this challenge by prototyping a project valuation scorecard.
"Prioritization is a huge issue for us. We face the simultaneous challenges of not having enough resources but also not having a good way to say no. "
– CIO, governmental health agency
Intake and Prioritization Tool
Optimizing project prioritization may not require a complete overhaul of your existing processes. You may only need to tweak certain templates or policies. Perhaps you started out with a strong process and simply lost resolve over time – in which case you will need to focus on establishing motivation and discipline, rather than rework your entire process.
Perform a start-stop-continue exercise with your team to help determine what should be salvaged, what should be abandoned, and what should be introduced:
1. On a whiteboard or equivalent, write “Start,” “Stop,” and “Continue” in three separate columns. | 3. As a group, discuss the responses and come to an agreement as to which are most valid. |
2. Equip your team with sticky notes or markers and have them populate the columns with ideas and suggestions surrounding your current processes. | 4. Document the responses to help structure your game plan for intake optimization. |
Start | Stop | Continue |
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This tool builds on the Project Valuation Scorecard Tool to address the challenges in project prioritization:
Using standard project sizing, quickly estimate the size of the demand for proposed and ongoing projects and produce a report that recommends the list of projects to greenlight – and highlight the projects within that list that are at risk of being short-charged of resources – that will aim to help you tackle:
The next several slides will walk you through the tool and present activities to facilitate its use for your organization.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Intake and Prioritization Tool.
Estimate how many work-hours are at your disposal for projects using Info-Tech’s resource calculator.
1. Compile a list of each role within your department, the number of staff, and the hours in a typical work week.
2. Enter the foreseeable out-of-office time (vacation, sick time, etc.). Typically, this value is 12-16% depending on the region.
3. Enter how much working time is spent on non-projects for each role: administrative duties and “keep the lights on” work.
4. Select a period of time for breaking down available resource capacity in hours.
Project Work (%): Percentage of your working time that goes toward project work is calculated as what’s left after your non-project working time allocations have been subtracted.
Project (h) Total Percentage: Take a note of this percentage as your project capacity. This number will put the estimated project demand in context for the rest of the tool.
Example for a five-day work week:
Result: 7.4/52 weeks’ absence = 14%
Discover how many work-hours are at your disposal for project work.
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Info-Tech’s PPM Current State Scorecard diagnostic provides a comprehensive view of your portfolio management strengths and weaknesses, including project portfolio management, project management, customer management, and resource utilization.
Use the wisdom of the crowd to estimate resource waste in:
Analyzing, fixing, and redeploying
50% of PPM resource is wasted on average, effectively halving your available project capacity.
Source: Info-Tech PPM Current State Scorecard
The resource capacity calculator in the previous tab yields a likely optimistic estimate for how much project capacity is available. Based on this estimate as a guide, enter your optimistic (maximum) and pessimistic (minimum) estimates of project capacity as a percentage of total capacity:
Info-Tech’s data shows that only about 50% of time spent on project work is wasted: cancelled projects, inefficiency, rework, etc. As a general rule, enter half of your maximum estimate of your project capacity.
Capacity in work hours is shown here from the previous tab, to put the percentages in context. This example shows a quarterly breakdown (Step 4 from the previous slide; cell N5 in Tab 2.).
Next, estimate the percentage of your maximum estimated project capacity that a single project would typically consume in the given period for prioritization.
These project sizes might not line up with the standard project levels from Step 2.1 of the blueprint: for example, an urgent mid-sized project that requires all hands on deck may need to consume almost 100% of maximum available project capacity.
Refine your estimates of project capacity supply and demand as it applies to a prioritization period.
Dedicated work needs dedicated break time
In a study conducted by the Draugiem Group, the ideal work-to-break ratio for maximizing focus and productivity was 52 minutes of work, followed by 17 minutes of rest (Evans). This translates to 75% of resource capacity yielding productive work, which could inform your optimistic estimate of project capacity.
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Enter the scoring criteria, which was worked out from Step 1.1 of the blueprint. This workbook supports up to ten scoring criteria; use of more than ten may make the prioritization step unwieldy.
Leave unused criteria rows blank.
Choose “value” or “execution” from a drop-down.
Score does not need to add up to 100.
Finally, set up the rest of the drop-downs used in the next tab, Project Data. These can be customized to fit your unique project portfolio needs.
Ensure that each project has a unique name.
Completed (or cancelled) projects will not be included in prioritization.
Choose the standard project size defined in the previous tab.
Change the heading when you customize the workbook.
Days in Backlog is calculated from the Date Added column.
Overall weighted project prioritization score is calculated as a sum of value and execution scores.
Weighted value and execution scores are calculated according to the scoring criteria table in the 2. Settings tab.
Enter the raw scores. Weights will be taken into calculation behind the scenes.
Spaces for unused intake scores will be greyed out. You can enter data, but they will not affect the calculated scores.
Review and customize section 4.2, “Maintain Supply and Demand Data” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of this activity is to document the process with which the supply and demand information will be updated for projects. Consider the following factors:
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The output of the Project Intake and Prioritization Tool is a prioritized list of projects with indicators to show that their demand on project capacity will fit within the estimated available project capacity for the prioritization period.
Status indicates whether the project is proposed or ongoing; completed projects are excluded.
Disposition indicates the course of recommended action based on prioritization.
Proposed projects display how long they have been sitting in the backlog.
Projects highlighted yellow are marked as “deliberate” for their dispositions. These projects pose risks of not getting properly resourced. One must proceed with caution if they are to be initiated or continued.
The prioritized list of proposed and ongoing projects, and an approximate indication for how they fill out the estimated available resource capacity, provide a meaningful starting ground for discussion on which projects to continue or initiate, to hold, or to proceed with caution.
However, it is important to recognize the limitation of the prioritization methodology. There may be legitimate reasons why some projects should be prioritized over another that the project valuation method does not successfully capture. At the end of the day, it’s the prerogative of the portfolio owners who carry on the accountabilities to steer the portfolio.
The portfolio manager has a responsibility to be prepared for reconciling the said steering with the unchanged available resource capacity for project work. What comes off the list of projects to continue or initiate? Or, will we outsource capacity if we must meet irreconcilable demand? The next slide will show how Info-Tech’s tool helps you with this process.
Strive to become the best co-pilot. Constantly iterate on the scoring criteria to better adapt to the portfolio owners’ preference in steering the project portfolio.
The Force Disposition list enables you to inject subjective judgment in project prioritization. Force include and outsource override project prioritization scores and include the projects for approval:
Choose a project name and a disposition using a drop-down.
Use this list to test out various scenarios, useful for what-if analysis.
Review and customize section 4.3, “Approve projects for initiation or continuation” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
The goal of this activity is to formalize the process of presenting the prioritized list of projects for review, modify the list based on steering decisions, and obtain the portfolio owners’ approval for projects to initiate or continue, hold, or terminate. Consider the following factors:
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Once the proposed project is given a green light, the project enters an initiation phase.
No matter what project management methodology is employed, it is absolutely vital to pass on the knowledge gained and insights developed through the intake, approval, and prioritization processes. This ensures that the project managers and team are informed of the project’s purpose, business benefits, rationale for the project approval, etc. and be able to focus their efforts in realizing the project’s business goals.
Recognize that this does not aim to create any new artifacts. It is simply a procedural safeguard against the loss of important and costly information assets for your organization.
Information from the intake process directly feeds into, for example, developing a project charter.
Source: PMBOK, 6th edition
"If the project manager can connect strategy to the project they are leading (and therefore the value that the organization desires by sanctioning the project), they can ensure that the project is appropriately planned and managed to realize those benefits."
– Randall T. Black, P.Eng., PMP; source: PMI Today
Review and customize section 4.1, “Project Prioritization Workflow” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template.
In Step 1.2 of the blueprint, you mapped out the current project intake, approval, and prioritization workflow and documented it in a flow chart. In this step, take the time to examine the new project intake process as a whole, and document the new workflow in the form of a flow chart.
Consider the following points:
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The project capacity estimates overlook a critical piece of the resourcing puzzle for the sake of simplicity: skills. You need the right skills at the right time for the right project. Use Info-Tech’s Balance Supply and Demand with Realistic Resource Management Practices blueprint to enhance the quality of information on your project supply. |
There is more to organizing your project portfolio than a strict prioritization by project value. For example, as with a financial investment portfolio, project portfolio must achieve the right investment mix to balance your risks and leverage opportunities. Use Info-Tech’s Maintain an Organized Portfolio blueprint to refine the makeup of your project portfolio. |
Continuous prioritization of projects allow organizations to achieve portfolio responsiveness. Use Info-Tech’s Manage an Agile Portfolio blueprint to take prioritization of your project portfolio to the next level. |
46% of organizations use a homegrown PPM solution. Info-Tech’s Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint debuts a spreadsheet-based Portfolio Manager tool that provides key functionalities that integrates those of the Intake and Prioritization Tool with resource management, allocation and portfolio reporting capabilities. |
2.1.2-6
Optimize your process to receive, triage, and follow up on project requests
Discussion on decision points and topics of consideration will be facilitated to leverage the diverse viewpoints amongst the workshop participants.
2.3.2-5
Set up a capacity-informed project prioritization process using Info-Tech’s Project Intake and Prioritization Tool
A table-top planning exercise helps you visualize the current process in place and identify opportunities for optimization.
Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.
Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.
Guided Implementation 3: Integrate the New Optimized Processes into Practice Proposed Time to Completion: 6-12 weeks | |
Step 3.1: Pilot your process to refine it prior to rollout Start with an analyst kick-off call:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
| Step 3.2: Analyze the impact of organizational change Review findings with analyst:
Then complete these activities…
With these tools & templates:
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Phase 3 Results & Insights:
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PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, benefits of optimized project intake, approval, and prioritization process will not be realized overnight.
Resist the urge to deploy a big-bang roll out of your new intake practices. The approach is ill advised for two main reasons:
Start with a pilot phase. Identify receptive lines of business and IT resources to work with, and leverage their insights to help iron out the kinks in your process before unveiling your practices to IT and all business users at large.
This step will help you to:
Engagement paves the way for smoother adoption. An “engagement” approach (rather than simply “communication”) turns stakeholders into advocates who can help boost your message, sustain the change, and realize benefits without constant intervention or process command-and-control.
A process pilot is a limited scope of an implementation (constrained by time and resources involved) in order to test the viability and effectiveness of the process as it has been designed.
Download Info-Tech’s Process Pilot Plan Template
"The advantages to a pilot are several. First, risk is constrained. Pilots are closely monitored so if a problem does occur, it can be fixed immediately. Second, the people working in the pilot can become trainers as you roll the process out to the rest of the organization. Third, the pilot is another opportunity for skeptics to visit the pilot process and learn from those working in it. There’s nothing like seeing a new process working for people to change their minds."
Info-Tech recommends selecting PPM stakeholders who are aware of your role and some of the challenges in project intake, approval, and prioritization to assist in the implementation process.
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Document the PPM stakeholders involved in your pilot in Section 3 of Info-Tech’s Process Pilot Plan Template.
Use Info-Tech’s Process Pilot Plan Template to design the details of your pilot.
Investing time into planning your pilot phase strategically will ensure a clear scope, better communications for those piloting the processes, and – overall – better, more actionable results for the pilot phase. The Pilot Plan Template is broken into five sections to assist in these goals:
The duration of your pilot should go at least one prioritization period, e.g. one to two quarters.
Estimates of time commitments should be captured for each stakeholder. During the retrospective at the end of the pilot you should capture actuals to help determine the time-cost of the process itself and measure its sustainability.
Once the Plan Template is completed, schedule time to share and communicate it with the pilot team and executive sponsors of the process.
While you should invest time in this planning document, continue to lean on the Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP throughout the pilot phase.
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Some things to keep in mind during the pilot include:
Pilot projects allow you to validate your assumptions and leverage lessons learned. During the planning of the pilot, you should have scheduled a retrospective meeting with the pilot team to formally assess strengths and weaknesses in the process you have drafted.
An example of how to structure a Stop/Start/Continue activity on a whiteboard using sticky notes.
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See the following slide for additional instructions.
As a group, discuss everyone’s responses and organize according to top priority (mark with a 1) and lower priority/next steps (mark with a 2). At this point, you can also remove any sticky notes that are repetitive or no longer relevant.
Once you have organized based on priority, be sure to come to a consensus with the group regarding which actions to take. For example, if the group agrees that they should “stop holding meetings weekly,” come to a consensus regarding how often meetings will be held, i.e. monthly.
Priority | Action Required | Who is Responsible | Implementation Date |
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Stop: Holding meetings weekly | Hold meetings monthly | Jane Doe, PMO | Next Meeting: August 1, 2017 |
Start: Discussing backlog during meetings | Ensure that backlog data is up to date for discussion on date of next meeting. | John Doe, Portfolio Manager | August 1, 2017 |
Create an action plan for the top priority items that require changes (the Stops and Starts). Record in this slide, or your preferred medium. Be sure to include who is responsible for the action and the date that it will be implemented.
Document the outcomes of the start/stop/continue and your action plan in Section 6 of Info-Tech’s Process Pilot Plan Template.
You will need to determine responsibilities and accountabilities for portfolio management functions within your team.
If you do not have a clearly identifiable portfolio manager at this time, you will need to clarify who will wear which hats in terms of facilitating intake and prioritization, high-level capacity awareness, and portfolio reporting.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Backlog Manager job description template.
Update section 1.2, “Overall Process Workflow” in Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP Template with the new process flow.
Revisit your SOP from Phase 2 and ensure it has been updated to reflect the process changes that were identified in activity 3.1.4.
Download Info-Tech’s Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization SOP template.
Make your SOP high impact. SOPs are often at risk of being left unmaintained and languishing in disuse. Improve the SOP’s succinctness and usability by making it visual; consult Info-Tech’s blueprint, Create Visual SOP Documents that Drive Process Optimization, Not Just Peace of Mind.
PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | ||||
1.1 Define project valuation criteria | 1.2 Envision process target state | 2.1 Streamline intake | 2.2 Right-size approval steps | 2.3 Prioritize projects to fit resource capacity | 3.1 Pilot your optimized process | 3.2 Communicate organizational change |
As you assess change impacts, keep in mind that no impact will be felt the same across the organization. Depth of impact can vary depending on the frequency (will the impact be felt daily, weekly, monthly?), the actions necessitated by it (e.g. will it change the way the job is done or is it simply a minor process tweak?), and the anticipated response of the stakeholder (support, resistance, indifference?).
Use the Organizational Change Depth Scale below to help visualize various depths of impact. The deeper the impact, the tougher the job of managing change will be.
Procedural | Behavioral | Interpersonal | Vocational | Cultural |
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Procedural change involves changes to explicit procedures, rules, policies, processes, etc. | Behavioral change is similar to procedural change, but goes deeper to involve the changing tacit or unconscious habits. | Interpersonal change goes beyond behavioral change to involve changing relationships, teams, locations, reporting structures, and other social interactions. | Vocational change requires acquiring new knowledge and skills, and accepting the loss or decline in the value or relevance of previously acquired knowledge and skills. | Cultural change goes beyond interpersonal and vocational change to involve changing personal values, social norms, and assumptions about the meaning of good vs. bad or right vs. wrong. |
Example: providing sales reps with mobile access to the CRM application to let them update records from the field. | Example: requiring sales reps to use tablets equipped with a custom mobile application for placing orders from the field. | Example: migrating sales reps to work 100% remotely. | Example: migrating technical support staff to field service and sales support roles. | Example: changing the operating model to a more service-based value proposition or focus. |
Info-Tech’s Drive Organizational Change from the PMO blueprint offers the OCM Impact Analysis Tool to helps document the change impact across multiple dimensions, enabling the project team to review the analysis with others to ensure that the most important impacts are captured.
This tool has been customized for optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process to deliver the same result in a more streamlined way. The next several slides will take you through the activities to ultimately create an OCM message canvas and a communication plan for your key stakeholders.
Download Info-Tech’s Intake and Prioritization Impact Analysis Tool.
"As a general principle, project teams should always treat every stakeholder initially as a recipient of change. Every stakeholder management plan should have, as an end goal, to change recipients’ habits or behaviors."
-PMI, 2015
In Tab 2, enter your stakeholders’ names. Represent stakeholders as a group if you expect the impact of change on them to be reasonably uniform, as well as their anticipated responses. Otherwise, consider adding them as individuals or subgroups.
In Tab 3, enter whether you agree or disagree with each statement that represents an element of organizational change that be introduced as the newly optimized intake process is implemented.
As a result of the change initiative in question:
Each change statement that you agreed with in Tab 3 are listed here in Tab 4 of the Intake and Prioritization Impact Analysis Tool. For each stakeholder, estimate and enter the following data:
Divide and conquer. Leverage the group to get through the seemingly daunting amount of work involved with impact analysis.
Suggested ways to divide up the impact analysis include:
Tip: use a spreadsheet tool that supports multi-user editing (e.g. Google Sheets, Excel Online).
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Beware of bias. Groups are just as susceptible to producing overly optimistic or pessimistic analysis as individuals, just in different ways. Unrealistic change impact analysis will compromise your chances of arriving at a reasonable, tactful stakeholder communication plan.
These outputs are based on the impacts you analyzed in Tab 4 of the tool (Activity 3.2.1). They are organized in seven sections:
Use Info-Tech’s Message Canvas on this tab to help rationalize and elaborate the change vision for each group.
Elements of a Message Canvas
Change thy language, change thyself.
Jargon, acronyms, and technical terms represent deeply entrenched cultural habits and assumptions.
Continuing to use jargon or acronyms after a transition tends to drag people back to old ways of thinking and working.
You don’t need to invent a new batch of buzzwords for every change (nor should you), but every change is an opportunity to listen for words and phrases that have lost their meaning through overuse and abuse.
Remember these guidelines to help your messages resonate:
– Info-Tech Blueprint, Drive Organizational Change from the PMO
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The communication plan creates an action plan around the message canvases to coordinate the responsibilities of delivering them, so the risks of “dropping the ball” on your stakeholders are minimized.
1. Choose a change impact from a drop-down menu.
2. Choose an intended audience...
… and the message canvas to reference.
3. Choose the method of delivery. It will influence how to craft the message for the stakeholder.
4. Indicate who is responsible for creating and communicating the message.
5. Briefly indicate goal of the communication and the likelihood of success.
6. Record the dates to plan and track the communications that take place.
Identify critical points in the change curve:
Based on Don Kelley and Daryl Conner’s Emotional Cycle of Change.
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There will be challenges to watch for in evaluating the effectiveness of your intake processes. These may include circumvention of process by key stakeholders, re-emergence of off-the-grid projects and low-value initiatives.
As a quick and easy way to periodically assess your processes, consider the following questions:
If you answer “no” to any of these questions after a sufficient post-implementation period (approximately six to nine months, depending on the scope of your optimizing), you may need to tweak certain aspects of your processes or seek to align your optimization with a lower capability level in the short term.
Industry: Government
Source: Info-Tech Client
Challenge
There is an IT department for a large municipal government. Possessing a relatively low level of PPM maturity, IT is in the process of establishing more formal intake practices in order to better track, and respond to, project requests. New processes include a minimalist request form (sent via email) coupled with more thorough follow-up from BAs and PMs to determine business value, ROI, and timeframes.
Solution
Even with new user-friendly processes in place, IT struggles to get stakeholders to adopt, especially with smaller initiatives. These smaller requests frequently continue to come in outside of the formal process and, because of this, are often executed outside of portfolio oversight. Without good, reliable data around where staff time is spent, IT lacks the authority to decline new requests.
Results
IT is seeking further optimization through better communication. They are enforcing discipline on stakeholders and reiterating that all initiatives, regardless of size, need to be directed through the process. IT is also training its staff to be more critical. “Don’t just start working on an initiative because a stakeholder asks.” With staff being more critical and directing requests through the proper queues, IT is getting better at tracking and prioritizing requests.
"The biggest challenge when implementing the intake process was change management. We needed to shift our focus from responding to requests to strategically thinking about how requests should be managed. The intake process allows the IT Department to be transparent to customers and enables decision makers."
3.1.1
Select receptive stakeholders to work with during your pilot
Identify the right team of supportive PPM stakeholders to carry out the process pilot. Strategies to recruit the right people outside the workshop will be discussed if appropriate.
3.2.1
Analyze the stakeholder impact and responses to impending organizational change
Carry out a thorough analysis of change impact in order to maximize the effectiveness of the communication strategy in support of the implementation of the optimized process.
Kiron D. Bondale, PMP, PMI - RMP
Senior Project Portfolio & Change Management Professional
Scot Ganshert, Portfolio Group Manager
Larimer County, CO
Garrett McDaniel, Business Analyst II – Information Technology
City of Boulder, CO
Joanne Pandya, IT Project Manager
New York Property Insurance Underwriters
Jim Tom, CIO
Public Health Ontario
Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy blueprint"
Balance Supply and Demand with Realistic Resource Management Practices
Maintain an Organized Portfolio
Establish the Benefits Realization Process
Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects
Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program
The Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program is a low-effort, high-impact program designed to help project owners assess and improve their PPM practices. Gather and report on all aspects of your PPM environment to understand where you stand and how you can improve.
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