Your project portfolio is the link between strategy and execution, so why do so few organizations invest in it. Leading IT analyst firm Gartner offers advice for organizations looking to prioritize and select their IT portfolio of projects. We have taken this advice and have turned it in to a decision template comprising sample criteria an data that show how you can use TransparentChoice to make sure you select projects that represent the best value for money.

1. Template: Prioritizing IT Projects
Inspired by Gartner
This template is designed to give an idea of
how TransparentChoice can be used to
select the most efficient IT portfolio. This
model is inspired by Gartner’s
recommendations for picking IT projects.

2. The problem we solve
The problem is one of collaboration and
structure, not of information
Confidential
50% failure rate
Most significant decisions are
made with group input and
multiple trade-offs/criteria

3. How we solve the problem
Structure the decision, eliminate bias
Gather opinion and
build consensus
Deliver results and recommendations

4. How Templates Help
• Provides a starting point to structure your
decision
• Shows you how other people think of this type of
decision
• Depending on the type of decision you’re making,
a template may even be “ready to go”
• Great starting point for “proof of concept”
• NOTE: You should take the time to tailor the
template to your specific requirements
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5. The scenario
• We are selecting the best portfolio of IT projects.
• Projects can be requested online.
• We have started with Gartner’s recommended
model for project prioritization (essentially the
top-level of the criterion hierarchy) and have then
expanded on this model as an example of how it
might be used in practice
• This model was not put together by Gartner.
Rather, it was built from publically-available
information about Gartner’s recommended
project prioritization process.

6. The Decision Team
• It’s important to have the right people
play the right role in your decision
• In this example, the executives define
corporate priorities, which are
represented as weighted criteria
(you’ll see one of the execs is way out
of step with the others – an
opportunity to build understanding
and consensus)
• And subject matter experts score each
project against those priorities (you’ll
see some experts only score those
criteria that match to their expertise)
• Then the executives review the overall
weighted scores and make their
decision based on which projects will
deliver the best value for money
Final Decision Meeting
Executives Set Priorities
(Weight Criteria)
Subject Matter Experts
Score Projects

7. Criteria
• Criteria make implicit assumptions about
priorities explicit
• They are the structure that allows us to break
down a complex decision into manageable
parts
• Criteria help build a common language and
make trade-offs visible
• Clear criteria make it difficult to “game” the
system

8. Criteria
Prioritize your
projects
Financial return
Cost reduction
Payback
Reducing
business
operating costs
Reducing IT costs
Increase sales
contribution
Project risk
Organizational
complexity
Project
complexity
Strategic impact
Brand building
Business
development
Customer
intimacy
Product
excellence
Technical
architecture fit
Alignment with
architecture
Capability

9. Weighting criteria
• Criteria map to your priorities
• Defining these priorities is one of the most
important steps in any decision
• Each person (Execs, in this example) answers “A
vs. B” questions about which criterion is more
important
• These scores are then brought together to
discover where disagreements or
misunderstandings are getting in the way of the
decision

10. Building
consensus
• Voting differences can be
due to special knowledge,
simple mistake or could even
be an attempt to
inappropriately influence the
decision
• The process of building
consensus is not a “fluffy
feel-good process”. Decisions
with more buy-in get
executed better
• By avoiding discussions
about items for which
consensus already exists, and
by having very contained
discussions where there is
disagreement, the process
can reduce the amount of
time spent on a decision

11. Making your choice
Your recommendations are made with
clear justification and transparency. Your
recommendation is based on clear criteria
with explicit weighting – in other words,
you explicitly see the priorities and trade-
offs involved in making the decision.
Decision makers understand exactly what
they are being asked to decide and why.
Sensitivity analysis gives them visibility
into the robustness of the
recommendation.

12. Download the template now!
• If you don’t have a TransparentChoice
account, head over to our website to open a
free trial account
• If you already have an account, simply click on
this link then select the workspace (folder)
into which you want to copy the template
(if you can’t open the link above, please copy and paste this link into your web browser
https://service1.transparentchoice.com/#/ticket/70e5c004-3741-4f87-9491-2eb03338f89e)
• If your trial has expired, please let us know at
contact@transparentchoice.com