We are looking to redefine the criteria that determines when a systems project should come to our executive systems governance committee for consideration. This is what I would call a pre-triage step. What types of criteria and/or thresholds ($ or time) do others use to determine whether or not a project should be in the mix of projects being considered for inclusion in the IT project portfolio?
We currently use a combination of a total project cost threshold, project duration and number of departments involved in the implementation to determine if the project should be evaluated as part of the IT project portfolio. We're finding that this combination of criteria is not as effective as we'd like when it comes to whittling down the list of projects that really should fall under another category of project (e.g. ongoing support/maintenance, upgrades, assessments, etc).
Any examples or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
Anon, I hesitate to try and offer specific solutions based on just a few lines of summary, but the one thing that I would observe is that your current criteria are very project focused, not business focused. The problem with using things like project duration, cost, etc is that it creates an artificial comparison across projects that may have very different purposes - SOX compliance is seen as equal to a new product launch which is seen as equal to a server refresh, etc, just because the duration and dollars are the same. I thing that project governance is a real opportunity for companies to more strategically manage its project portfolio, but you do have to identify the right criteria. My approach is to consider the impact that the project has (or may have) on the business. This may be a very obvious impact - the launch of a new product which has received all of the last 3 years R&D budget for example, or it may be less obvious, requiring accurate and honest risk assessments - SOX type projects are obvious examples. This means that you will likely end up with a suite of measures to choose from - financial impact, financial risk, strategic risk, etc and you almost have to apply a 'scorecard' to your projects to determine whether they require governance control. I would be happy to offer some more specific thoughts if you have more details - feel free to drop me a line. Andy Jordan, President, Roffensian Consulting Inc., www.roffensian.com. [email protected] Saving Changes...
