Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Decide which IT projects to approve and when to start them.
- 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
$37,390
Average $ Saved
27
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
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
10/10
$37,675
12
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
Createch
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
Metropolitan Utilities District
Workshop
9/10
$13,700
N/A
Elvis is obviously a subject matter expert and well equipped to facilitate this type of workshop. Participants were engaged and interested in lear... Read More
Town of Andover, MA
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
18
The material was very thoughtfully organized. Elvis was extremely clear, methodical and deeply conversant in the material. This was a superior ex... Read More
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Guided Implementation
9/10
$5,000
7
Long is very knowledgeable and practical...easy to follow and respect the client's needs.
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: Refocus on Project Value to Set Realistic Goals
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
Define the criteria with which to determine project value.
- Draft project valuation criteria
Envision your target state for your optimized project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
- Examination of current process, definition of process success criteria
Module 2: Examine, Optimize, and Document the New Process
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
Conduct retrospectives of each process against Info-Tech’s best practice methodology for project intake, approval, and prioritization process.
- Documentation of new project intake, approval, and prioritization process
Pilot and customize a toolbox of deliverables that effectively captures the right amount of data developed for informing the appropriate decision makers for approval.
- Tools and templates to aid the process
Module 3: Pilot, Plan, and Communicate the New Process
The Purpose
- 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.
Key Benefits Achieved
- 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.
Activities
Outputs
Create a plan to pilot your intake, approval, and prioritization process to refine it before rollout.
- Process pilot plan
Analyze the impact of organizational change through the eyes of PPM stakeholders to gain their buy-in.
- Organizational change communication plan
Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Decide which IT projects to approve and when to start them.
ANALYST PERSPECTIVE
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
Our understanding of the problem
This Research Is Designed For:
- PMO Directors who have trouble with project throughput
- CIOs who want to improve IT’s responsive-ness to changing needs of the business
- CIOs who want to maximize the overall business value of IT’s project portfolio
This Research Will Help You:
- Align project intake and prioritization with resource capacity and strategic objectives
- Balance proactive and reactive demand
- Reduce portfolio waste on low-value projects
- Manage project delivery expectations and satisfaction of business stakeholders
- Get optimized project intake processes off the ground with low-cost, high-impact tools and templates
This Research Will Also Assist:
- C-suite executives and steering committee members who want to ensure IT’s successful delivery of projects with high business impact
- Project sponsors and product owners who seek visibility and transparency toward proposed projects
This Research Will Help Them:
- Ensure that high-impact projects are approved and delivered in a timely manner
- Gain clarity and visibility in IT’s project approval process
- Improve your understanding of IT’s capacity to set more realistic expectations on what gets done
Executive summary
Situation
- As a portfolio manager, you do not have the authority to decline or defer new projects – but you also lack the capacity to realistically say yes to more project work.
- Stakeholders have unrealistic expectations of what IT can deliver. Too many projects are approved, and it may be unclear why their project is delayed or in a state of suspended animation.
Complication
- The cycle of competition is making it increasingly difficult to follow a longer-term strategy during project intake, making it unproductive to approve projects for any horizon longer than one to two years.
- As project portfolios become more aligned to “transformative” projects, resourcing for smaller, department-level projects becomes increasingly opaque.
Resolution
- 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.
- Developing practices that incorporate the constraint of resource capacity to cap the amount of project approvals to that which is realistic will help improve the throughput of projects through the portfolio.
Info-Tech Insight
- Approve only the right projects… Counterbalance stakeholder needs with strategic objectives of the business and that of IT, in order to maintain the value of your project portfolio at a high level.
- …that you have capacity to deliver. Resource capacity-informed project approval process enables you to avoid biting off more than you can chew and, over time, build a track record of fulfilling promises to deliver on projects.
Most organizations are good at approving projects, but bad at starting them – and even worse at finishing them
Establishing project intake discipline should be a top priority from a long-term strategy and near-term tactical perspective.
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.
Info-Tech’s data shows that most IT organizations struggle with their project backlog (Source: N=397 organizations, Info-Tech Research Group PPM Current State Scorecard, 2017).
“There is a minimal list of pending projects”
“Last year we delivered the number of projects we anticipated at the start of the year”
The concept of fiduciary duty demonstrates the need for better discipline in choosing what projects to take on
Unless someone is accountable for making the right investment of resource capacity for the right projects, project intake discipline cannot be established effectively.
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.
Ad hoc project selection schemes do not work
Without active management, reconciling the imbalance between demand with available work hours is a struggle that results largely in one of these two scenarios:
“Squeaky wheel”: Projects with the most vocal stakeholders behind them are worked on first.
- IT is seen to favor certain lines of business, leading to disenfranchisement of other stakeholders.
- Everything becomes the highest priority, which reinforces IT’s image as a firefighter, rather than a business value contributor
- High-value projects without vocal support never get resourced; opportunities are missed.
“First in, first out”: Projects are approved and executed in the order they are requested.
- Urgent or important projects for the business languish in the project backlog; opportunities are missed.
- Low-value projects dominate the project portfolio.
- Stakeholders leave IT out of the loop and resort to “underground economy” for getting their needs addressed.
80% of organizations feel that their portfolios are dominated by low-value initiatives that do not deliver value to the business (Source: Cooper).
Approve the right projects that you have capacity to deliver by actively managing the intake of projects
Project intake, approval, and prioritization (collectively “project intake”) reconciles the appetite for new projects with available resource capacity and strategic goals.
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:
- Stakeholder Need
- Strategic Objectives
- Resource Capacity
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:
- Best satisfy the stakeholder needs that constantly change with the market
- Best align to the strategic objectives and contribute the most to business
- Have sufficient resource capacity available to best ensure consistent project throughput
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)
Info-Tech’s data demonstrates that optimizing project intake can also improve business leaders’ satisfaction of IT
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:
Source: Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey (N=21,367)
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.
However, establishing organizational discipline for project intake, approval, and prioritization is difficult
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.
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.
Lack of authority
Many PMOs and IT departments simply lack the ability to decline or defer new projects.
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."
Establishing intake discipline requires a great degree of cooperation and conformity among stakeholders that can be cultivated through strong processes.
Info-Tech’s intake, approval, and prioritization methodology systemically fits the project portfolio to its triple constraint
Info-Tech’s Methodology
| Info-Tech’s Methodology | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
Info-Tech’s methodology for optimizing project intake delivers extraordinary value, fast
In the first step of the blueprint, you will prototype a set of scorecard criteria for determining project value.
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:
- Evolve the discussions on project and portfolio value beyond a theoretical concept
- Enable apples-to-apples comparisons amongst many different kinds of projects
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.
This blueprint provides a clear path to maximizing your chance of success in optimizing project intake
Info-Tech’s practical, tactical research is accompanied by a suite of tools and templates to accelerate your process optimization efforts.
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.
Set Realistic Goals for Optimizing Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Tools and Templates:
- Project Value Scorecard Development Tool (.xlsx)
- PPM Assessment Report (Info-Tech Diagnostics)
- Standard Operating Procedure Template (.docx)
Build Optimized Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Processes
Tools and Templates:
- Project Request Forms (.docx)
- Project Classification Matrix (.xlsx)
- Benefits Commitment Form (.xlsx)
- Proposed Project Technology Assessment Tool (.xlsx)
- Business Case Templates (.docx)
- Intake and Prioritization Tool (.xlsx)
Integrate the Newly Optimized Processes into Practice
Tools and Templates:
- Process Pilot Plan Template (.docx)
- Impact Assessment and Communication Planning Tool (.xlsx)
Info-Tech’s approach to PPM is informed by industry best practices and rooted in practical insider research
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.
Deliver measurable project intake success for your organization with this blueprint
Measure the value of your effort to track your success quantitatively and demonstrate the proposed benefits, as you aim to do so with other projects through improved PPM.
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:
- Reduced turnaround time between project requests and initial scoping
- Number of project proposals with articulated benefits
- Reduction in “off-the-grid” projects
- Team satisfaction and workplace engagement
- PPM stakeholder satisfaction score from business stakeholders: see Info-Tech’s PPM Customer Satisfaction Diagnostics
$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.
Case Study: Financial Services PMO prepares annual planning process with Project Value Scorecard Development Tool
CASE STUDY
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.
Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs
DIY Toolkit
“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.”
Guided Implementation
“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.”
Workshop
“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.”
Consulting
“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options
Optimize Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization – project overview
| 1. Set Realistic Goals for Optimizing Process | 2. Build New Optimized Processes | 3. Integrate the New Processes into Practice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best-Practice Toolkit |
1.1 Define the criteria with which to determine project value.
|
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 |
|
|
|
| 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:
|
Phase 2 Outcome:
|
Phase 3 Outcome:
|
Workshop overview
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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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Phase 1
Set Realistic Goals for Optimizing Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Process
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 9 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Set realistic goals for optimizing project intake, approval, and prioritization process
- Call 1: Introduce Project Value Scorecard Development Tool and pilot Info-Tech’s example scorecard on your own backlog.
- Call 2: Map current project intake, approval, and prioritization process and key stakeholders.
- Call 3: Set realistic goals for process optimization.
Guided Implementation 2: Build an optimized project intake, approval, and prioritization process
- Call 1: Improve the management of stakeholder expectations with an optimized intake process.
- Call 2: Improve the alignment of the project portfolio to strategic objectives with an optimized approval process.
- Call 3: Enable resource capacity-constrained greenlighting of projects with an optimized prioritization process.
Guided Implementation 3: Integrate the new optimized processes into practice
- Call 1: Create a process pilot strategy with supportive stakeholders.
- Call 2: Conduct a change impact analysis for your PPM stakeholders to create an effective communication strategy.
- Call 3: Roll out the new process and measure success.
Contributors
- Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI - RMP, Senior Project Portfolio & Change Management Professional
- Scot Ganshert, Portfolio Group Manager, Larimer County, CO
- Joanne Pandya, IT Project Manager, NYPIUA
- Jim Tom, CIO, Public Health Ontario
- Garrett McDaniel, Business Analyst II – Information Technology, City of Boulder, CO
- 6 anonymous company contributors
Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
Measure IT Project Value
Maintain an Organized Portfolio
Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations
Establish Realistic IT Resource Management Practices
Grow Your Own PPM Solution
Prepare to Successfully Deploy PPM Software
Tame the Project Backlog
Select and Implement an IT PPM Solution
Audit the Project Portfolio
Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management
Responsibly Resume IT Operations in the Office
Bring Visibility to Your Day-to-Day Projects
Drive Business Value With a Right-Sized Project Gating Process
Demystify the New PMBOK Guide and PMI Certifications
Make Sense of Strategic Portfolio Management
Maximize the Value of IT Across Enterprise Portfolios
Deliver Engaging Portfolio Reports With Power BI
