I'm looking to create a project intake form for project requests/new project ideas. What are some evaluation criteria or key pieces of information that I should collect to include in this form? Saving Changes...
I'd recommend speaking with the decision makers in your portfolio governance leadership team. What is important to them? How have they decided in the past to prioritize one initiative over another?
Prioritization and selection criteria will vary by industry and type of company - context counts.
Project request title
Executive Sponsor
Requestor
A section where they can put bullet points for the following:
Opportunity - Strategic change needed description
Benefits or Efficiency Improvements
Impact of Doing Nothing
Costs -
Could give a few selections to choose from too
(like Project Spend a) 250K b) 50K c) 50K)
Revenue Generation
Cost Saving / Loss Mitigation
Assumptions
Constraints
The following should be altered to your organization:
Maybe list business areas impacted or involved that can be checked
If you are in different markets / states / countries - list these to be selected
If being regulatory driven matters, list this and they include the regulation
If the company has never had an intake form, then make it easy to update - like in a WORD document that business is familiar with using. Saving Changes...
Before you get too crazy with a form, you should understand your audience and culture. Is project management part of the culture? Is there a top down directive telling everyone that they must fill out a form to get a project? If you make the form too difficult, you risk it not being used. (Also, watch out for the assumption that filling out a form guarantees project approval.)
I've implemented a simple form whereby the requestor provides a description of the project and then we meet to discuss it further. From there, I'm able to tell the person what additional information will be needed, and what I can help with, in order to submit the project for approval.
Bear in mind that I am the first and only project manager at my company, and I am basically training others in project management processes. In time, I will change the form to require more information. Saving Changes...
This dovetails into portfolio management. Two main types of data come to mind:
1) The metadata such as requestor, program/product(s) affected, and other items that support configuration management.
2) The business value such as cost, error reduction, employee growth, etc. with the goal of a balanced portfolio of projects. If you have defined organizational priorities, align the projects accordingly.
Another item I didn't see mentioned is whether the project is mandatory or discretionary. That's often a first filter. If for example you must comply with some law or fix a safety issue, choices could be whether we implement a change or whether we shut the doors and go out of business. Saving Changes...
arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
I agree with everyone’s thoughts above. Great suggestions. Another thing that maybe of value is… quick scan of organization for any existing intake forms (or similar forms) so the intake form can be standardized. If your organization is new to project management, perhaps quick/short definition of the intake request form fields to prevent any confusion. Thanks. Saving Changes...
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