- Companies are approving more projects than they can deliver. Most organizations say they have too many projects on the go and an unmanageable and ever-growing backlog of things to get to.
- While organizations want to achieve a high throughput of approved projects, many are unable or unwilling to allocate an appropriate level of IT resourcing to adequately match the number of approved initiatives.
- Portfolio management practices must find a way to accommodate stakeholder needs without sacrificing the portfolio to low-value initiatives that do not align with business goals.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Approve only the right projects that you have capacity to deliver. Failure to align projects with strategic goals and resource capacity are the most common causes of portfolio waste across organizations.
- More time spent with stakeholders during the ideation phase to help set realistic expectations for stakeholders and enhance visibility into IT’s capacity and processes is key to both project and organizational success.
- Too much intake red tape will lead to an underground economy of projects that escape portfolio oversight, while too little intake formality will lead to a wild west of approvals that could overwhelm the PMO. Finding the right balance of intake formality for your organization is the key to establishing a PMO that has the ability to focus on the right things.
Impact and Result
- Establish an effective scorecard to create transparency into IT’s capacity and processes. This will help set realistic expectations for stakeholders, eliminate “squeaky wheel” prioritization, and give primacy to the highest value requests.
- Build a centralized process that funnels requests into a single intake channel to eliminate confusion and doubt for stakeholders and staff while also reducing off-the-grid initiatives.
- Clearly define a series of project approval steps, and communicate requirements for passing them.
- Develop practices that incorporate the constraint of resource capacity to cap the amount of project approvals to that which is realistic to help improve the throughput of projects through the portfolio.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.5/10
Overall Impact
$40,586
Average $ Saved
29
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Torrance Memorial Medical Center
Guided Implementation
10/10
$32,195
20
Best – Working with Elvis was a pleasure. He is extremely knowledgeable, and we appreciate his insight and patience throughout the engagement. ... Read More
CAF - Corporacion Andina de Fomento
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
95
Clear, precise recommendations that are closely related to what I need.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Workshop
10/10
$137K
20
State of South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
115
I think over the lifetime of using this matrix and new intake/estimate process, we will save countless days - our current process averages at least... Read More
Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$10,960
2
Feedback for Consultant: Long D. "I appreciated that Long D. was flexible in his thinking and acknowledged that 'not every organization has the sa... Read More
Allegheny County, PA
Workshop
9/10
N/A
20
Best Part: The workshop as a complete experience was outstanding. Elvis arrived ready to work, his preparation sessions for the workshop were so he... Read More
Government of the United States Virgin Islands
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
10
LSU AgCenter
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
32
Long has a great grasp of the knowledge and tools surrounding the topic of project management. The pace of the session was perfect as a lot of info... Read More
City Of Kawartha Lakes
Workshop
10/10
$80,000
20
Best parts of the experience were having a knowledgeable person like Doug facilitate building awareness for the new group I have joined. It is som... Read More
Waimakariri District Council
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
5
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority
Guided Implementation
10/10
$6,000
5
Elvis was exceptional at providing the right amount of advice and guidance to develop our project intake and prioritization process. He supported ... Read More
Town Of Newmarket
Guided Implementation
10/10
$50,000
20
There were several great parts to the experience. Being able to work with Long to have him share his knowledge and experience was a considerable ... Read More
WA Department of Finance
Guided Implementation
9/10
$5,460
5
Analyst (Annabel) has excellent understanding and knowledge of the topic and able to provide guidance and the usage of relevant materials (Portfoli... Read More
PRAYON S.A.
Guided Implementation
8/10
$68,500
20
City of Arlington
Workshop
10/10
$75,350
120
Bill Holliday is a skilled practitioner and knowledgeable consultant. His ability to navigate between best practice frameworks, and real world/prac... Read More
Investissement Quebec
Workshop
10/10
$35,000
120
Great support from Elvis, very knowledgeable,
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
10
I enjoy brainstorming and talking through ideas with Matt!
State of South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
20
Matt is a good listener and able to recognize the issues being described and provide materials and guidance to help mitigate the issues at hand. It... Read More
City Of Fort Collins
Guided Implementation
8/10
$23,975
50
Matt provides practical guidance and tools, allowing me to make rapid progress on the initiatives I'm expected to deliver.
Sundale
Guided Implementation
10/10
$9,100
20
Elvis is the quintessential trainer: his pace, timing and delivery as he took me through the PMO journey was perfect. He took the time to check tha... Read More
City Of Fort Collins
Guided Implementation
8/10
$13,700
20
Long understood what we are trying to accomplish and provided recommendations for how to streamline intake and structure a project steering committ... Read More
6362222 Canada Inc.
Guided Implementation
9/10
$10,000
5
Servicios Aeroportuarios Del Centro Norte S.A. DE C.V.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$34,250
20
Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare
Workshop
10/10
$65,075
90
The workshop was insightful and we walked away how to implement the agreed upon plan. I cannot give enough praises for Bill, he was awesome! I ... Read More
Chief Industries, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Elvis did a great job explaining and working with us.
SRP Federal Credit Union
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
20
Best - Long was extremely thorough and quick to follow-up. The resources discussed were very well-matched to my current needs. Willingness to meet ... Read More
Xpress Global Systems, LLC
Guided Implementation
10/10
$1,918
5
Entergy Services, LLC
Workshop
10/10
$68,500
10
Worst: N/A Best: Bill was a great facilitator and quickly became part of the Entergy team. He kept us focused and driving towards our goal of str... Read More
University Of North Dakota
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
10
Long has been very helpful in providing guidance and advice. Will definitely continue working with him
City of Lynnwood
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,603
5
We knew we needed to change our processes but didn't have direction. Elvis was very helpful in clarifying our needs regarding project management. T... Read More
Workshop: Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
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.
Module 1: Assess the PPM Capability
The Purpose
- 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.
Key Benefits Achieved
- 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.
Activities
Outputs
Complete the PPM current-state scorecard.
- PPM current-state scorecard
Evaluate your intake process current state.
- Project intake current state and maturity level
Determine your project intake maturity and discuss target state.
- Project intake maturity level
Conduct SWOT analysis.
- SWOT analysis
Design project value scorecard.
- Project value scorecard
Module 2: Develop Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Processes (Part 1)
The Purpose
- Drill down into, and optimize, each of the project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
Key Benefits Achieved
- 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.
Activities
Outputs
Define “project.”
- Project definition
Define project levels.
- Project levels matrix
Define project request process and create tool and template.
- Request process and associated templates and tools
Define project approval process and create tool and template.
- Approval process and associated templates and tools
Module 3: Develop Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Processes (Part 2)
The Purpose
- Drill down into, and optimize, each of the project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
Key Benefits Achieved
- 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.
Activities
Outputs
Estimate resource capacity.
Define project capacity and project t-shirt sizes.
Test the Info-Tech Intake and Prioritization Tool.
Optimize overall intake, approval and prioritization workflow.
- Target-state intake, approval, and prioritization process and workflow
Module 4: Implement & Maintain the Process
The Purpose
- Analyze the stakeholder impact and responses to impending organizational change.
- Create message canvases for at-risk change impacts and stakeholders.
- Set the course of action for communicating changes to your stakeholders.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A thorough organizational change impact analysis, based on Info-Tech’s expertise in organizational change management
Activities
Outputs
Review target-state intake, approval, and prioritization process and workflow.
Complete stakeholder impact analysis.
- Stakeholder impact analysis
Develop communication approaches.
- Communication plan
Define implementation action items.