This document summarizes a survey conducted by Mustafa Dülgerler at the PMI© EMEA Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. The survey looked at project evaluation practices across different industries. 52 people participated and responded to questions about their industry, number of annual projects, evaluation methods used, and challenges. The main findings were that financial impact is the most common evaluation criteria, and change management is a key challenge. Respondents recommended improving strategic alignment, prioritization, and demand management processes.

1. Mustafa Dülgerler
International Project
Evaluation Practices Report
Is every business request a project?
June 2016
Mustafa Dulgerler

2. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
Copyright© 2016 Mustafa Dulgerler. All rights reserved. This report may not be reproduced or
redistributed, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Mustafa Dulgerler. Mustafa
Dulgerler will not accept any liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in respect of this report
or any actions taken or decisions made as a consequence of the results, advice or
recommendations set forth herein.
“PMI” is a registered trade and service mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
This report is not a substitute for tailored professional advice on how a organizations should implement
project evaluation frameworks. This report is not implementation advice and should not be relied on for
such advice or as a substitute for consultation with professional project managers. Mustafa Dulgerler has
made every effort to use reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive information and analysis, but all
information is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Some of the information used
in preparing these materials was obtained from third party and or public sources. Mustafa Dulgerler
assume no responsibility for independent verification of such information and Mustafa Dulgerler have
relied on such information being complete and accurate in all material respects. Mustafa Dulgerler
disclaim any responsibility to update the information or conclusions in this report. Mustafa Dulgerler
accepts no liability to you or any third party for any loss arising from any action taken or refrained from,
or any reliance placed on, or use of, the information herein, or for any consequential, special or similar
damages even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
This report may not be sold without the written consent of Mustafa Dulgerler.

3. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
3
The project evaluation is more important today
The business landscape is going through a continuous change as a result
of a volatile economic environment, advances in technology, and the need
for connectivity everywhere. The impact on organizations is significant as it
requires changes in organizational agility, culture, infrastructure, technology, and
offerings. The current pace of commerce makes it difficult for organizations to adopt this rapid
change.
Many companies face the challenge of having to deal with high volumes of projects, either in
progress or on hold, making it difficult to manage priorities. It is imperative to tackle each
problem at the root and to sort and define priorities right from the project request stage. Many
researchers and academics are working on this area to find different methods for evaluating
projects. However, there is no single recipe.
Once a proposal has been received, there are numerous factors that need to be considered
before an organization decides to take this project up or shelve it. In order to choose the most
viable option, there are a number of questions to be answered: How is the project is aligned with
our enterprise-wide strategy and with the goals and objectives of the organization? How
profitable is the project? Do we have the required capabilities, and so on.? The answers to these
questions will identify whether a project is viable or not. Hence, project evaluation frameworks
come into use.
The project evaluation should become an integral part of project management where companies
intent to avoid setting unrealistic goals and spending money on unachievable projects.
In order to better understand how other organizations are approaching to project evaluation,
what are the main pain points, I conducted a survey during my session “Is every business request
a project” in the PMI©
EMEA Congress 2016 in beautiful Barcelona, Spain and share my
experience with the Demand Management Process. This report presents my findings from this
survey.
I hope you will benefit from this report.
Mustafa Dulgerler
introduction

4. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
4
The Survey Questions
I have asked the following questions to the
audience to find out main focus areas in their
project evaluation practices. The question was
asked to group of 80 people and in total 52
responses were received. During the survey, I
followed the Delphi technique to remove bias in
the answers.
the survey
Slide from my
presentation
1. Which Industry do you work for?
2. How many projects approximately are managed in a year?
3. What are the main project selection/evaluation methods do you use?
4. How efficient are those methods (score 1 to 10)(1-not efficient, 10 is very efficient)?
5. What are the main considerations in project selection in your case? (If you want you can score
them too)
a) Project Scope
b) Timeline
c) Budget
d) Quality
e) Capability to deliver
f) New product/capability in the organization to be gained
g) Reputation
6. What are the main challenges you face?
7. What would you do differently in the project selection?

5. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
2 2
5
4
11
9
4
3
2
10
Automotive
Construction
Consultancy
Energy
Financial Services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Information Technology
Telecomunications
5
About Audience
There were total 52
participants to the survey and
most of the participants were
from Financial Services,
Government and
Telecommunication industries,
while others were from various
industries. The diversity of the
industries provided good
insights why each
organizations project
evaluation needs are different.
audience
85% of the
participants were from Europe,
13% from the Middle East and
remaining 2% was from
Americas. In the diagram:
circle represents more than 5
participants,
circle is for 4 participants,
circle is for 3 participants,
circle is for 2 participants, and
circle is for 1 participant only.
0
50
100
150
200
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
# of project managed in a year
# of projects
participants
The average number of projects
managed was around 45*.
*There were few responses mentioning
more than 200 projects managed which
are omitted in the average calculation.

6. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
The cost of the project, available budget, expected revenue are the most common criteria to look at in
the project evaluation. Financial evaluation factors are followed by Operational Capability and
Enterprise Strategy Alignment analysis. Some of these factors are externally imposed on the
organizations such as customer, supplier demand, regulations in the region. Although only few projects
are initiated due to regulatory requirements (except the financial industry), the projects always get
higher priority. Reputational projects should not be ignored in the project evaluation. Although their
short term returns may be unremarkable but they definitely have a direct impact in
the success of other projects. Operational projects may touch 3 different
areas People, Process and Technology. This survey showed us they
are equally important in the project evaluation.
6
What are the main methods used?
main method
Project evaluation is vital for every
organization and selecting the right
method for evaluation is crucial. Our
survey revealed that in spite of low
number of tools used in financial project
evaluation, they are the major factors in
making project decisions. 29% of the
organizations uses these methods to in
project selection.
7
tools
18
tools
27%
73%
Business ModelsFinancial Models
Business
Finance Strategy Operations Innovativeness
Demand
Reputation
1
%
24
%
30
%
11
%
15
%
1
%
Regulation
7
%
11
%
“Financial impact is the most common criteria in the project evaluation”

7. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
7
Slicing further
main method
Main Methods
This research evidenced
that different industries
use different project
evaluation methods.
Telecommunications,
Energy, Construction
industries more depend
on Business models, while
healthcare, government,
financial services found
the great balance between
these models.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Automotive
Construction
Consultancy
Energy
Financial Services
Government
Healthcare
Information Technology
Manufacturing
Telecommunications
Business Models
Financial Models
0% 50% 100%
Automotive
Construction
Consultancy
Energy
Financial Services
Government
Healthcare
Information Technology
Manufacturing
Telecommunications
Business Case
Customer Demand
Innovation
Operations
Regulation
Reputation
Strategic Alignment
Financial Factors
Main project
evaluation factors
The graph on the right
shows the breakdown of 8
factors considered in the
project evaluation per
sector. It is obvious that
customer demand is one
of the main factors which
gets the projects higher
priority.
Consultancy
Information
Technology
Financial Services
Healthcare
Average
Telecommunications
Energy
Construction
Automotive
Manufacturing
How efficiently are those project evaluation models used in the different industries?
0 10
NoData
Government

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Mustafa Dülgerler
8
What are we focusing?
what to measure
Project Scope (20%)
Timeline
(16%)
Budget
(16%)
Quality (9%)
New Quality
(15%)
Capability to deliver
(12%)
Reputation (10%)
Sector
How
efficient
A.Project
Scope
B.Timeline C.Budget D.Quality
E.Capability to
deliver
F.new
capability
G.Reputation Total
Automotive 8 1% 1% 1% 1% 4%
Construction 7 1% 1% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% 9%
Consultancy 0 0%
Energy 7 2% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1% 8%
Financial Services 5 1% 1% 3% 1% 2% 2% 1% 11%
Government 4 3% 3% 2% 1% 3% 1% 2% 15%
Healthcare 9 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 6%
IT 6 4% 3% 3% 2% 2% 3% 3% 20%
Manufacturing 8 1% 1% 1% 3%
Telecommunications 7 6% 4% 2% 2% 3% 4% 3% 24%
Total 20% 16% 16% 9% 14% 13% 12%
ConsultancyIT Financial Services Healthcare TelecommunicationsEnergy Construction AutomotiveManufacturingGovernment
Many project manager equally focus on
Project Timeline, Budget and Quality
requirements in the project evaluation.
However, the project scope -rightly- has
higher weightage in our project decisions
compare to other criteria.
This is the breakdown of criteria per industry

9. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
9
What are the main challenges?
challenges
It is impossible to think a project without
challenges. During the project management,
different challenges emerge and they become
priority. In our survey, many project managers
complained about the unstructured Change
Management practices in place at organizations
and the lack of project and business strategy
alignment.
Main project challenges faced during the
project management
Communication Management 7%
Management Support 7%
Project Evaluation 7%
Regulations 7%
Quality Management 7%
Cost Management 3%
Project Dependency 3%
Project Scope 3%
Project Selection 3%
Change
Management
20%
Strategic
Alignment
13%
Resource
Management
10%
Time
Management
10%
Top 5 reasons why change management is an
emerging challenge in the project are:
1. Strategic directional change in the
organization;
2. Market demand changes n and need for
Innovation;
3. Unhandled dependencies;
4. Frequent changes on the scope and project
priorities; and
5. Lack of required resources.
This shows that the early alignment of the projects and business strategy may prevent many of issues
causing change management. Therefore it is worth to consider establishing business focused enterprise
architecture function in the organizations.

10. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
10
The participants provided brilliant recommendations on how to
deliver successful projects.
When we review the below list, we can see that Demand Management Process can help
organizations to address their concerns in a more structured, formalized way.
 Improve team work
 Improve demand process
 Reduce and learn the documents
 More formalized approach
 Value should be part of the evolution criteria for building collaboration and relationships with
clients.
 Evaluate projects according to resources. Our projects are resource scarcity
 Better communication
 Enforce discipline in business in making project go-no-go decisions responsibilities cater for the
results
 Automates with GATES
 Business strategic analysis
 More time to spend in pre project phase
 Prioritizing based on company strategy
 Define better strategy and focus on realistic opportunities
 Better biz case analysis, better look for real value
 Zero based planning, stricter on biz case benefits, clear strategic fit/scope
 Time-2-market, branding
 More diversity in the project portfolio
 ROI, consolidated retention, reputation, add customer effect, not only direct money come from the
project)
 Create a PMO office, standardize tools, establish a decision management program.
 Stop accepting continuous revision of requirements and consequent prioritization of [projects
 Spend more time in project development
 Pre project analysis
 Outcome management, priority
 Improve prioritization and capability for project rejection
 Strategy alignment
 Prioritization
 Need to spend more time in evaluation
 Higher level of PMO involvement
they recommend

11. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
11
Contact me for a copy of whitepaper
whitepaper
Contact me on
mdulgerler@gmail.com to receive
a copy of Case Study: Is Every
Business Request a Project
whitepaper explaining the benefits
of Demand Management.
ABSTRACT
In today’s rapidly changing market
environment, customer needs do
not remain the same. This makes
difficult for companies in deciding
what project is more beneficial in
comparison to other, which one
should take the priority. This paper
looks at the successful
implementation of the demand
process in National Bank of Abu
Dhabi, which is used in evaluation
of business requests.
Keywords: Demand Management,
Project Evaluation
INTRODUCTION
The business landscape is going through a continues change as a result of volatile economic
environment, advances in the technology and the need of connectivity everywhere. The impact
on the organizations is significant as it requires changes in the organizational agility, culture,
infrastructure, technology, offering. The current pace of commerce makes difficult for
organizations to adopt the this rapid change.
Many companies face the challenge of having to deal with high volumes of projects either in
progress or on hold, making it difficult to manage priorities. It is imperative to tackle each
problem at the root and to sort and define priorities right from the Project Request stage. Many
researchers, academics worked on this area to find different methods in evaluating projects.
However there is no single recipe.

12. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
All rights are reserved.
Mustafa Dülgerler
12
About the author
Mustafa Dulgerler is an experienced project manager and a seasoned Enterprise Architect with
deep expertise in digital transformation in banking, transportation, and hi-tech. Over the past 14
years, Mustafa has defined technology strategy, architected mission-critical projects, and led
architecture and development teams across geographic locations to build large scale enterprise
solutions to deliver innovative omni-channel customer experience. He specializes in traditional
and agile project management.
He is also a widely recognized Project Management Trainer in the Middle East, providing
corporate trainings in project management theories and organizational agility subjects. He has
prepared more than 200 project management professionals for PMP, PgMp exams.
Mustafa has been invited to various international events as a speaker including:
+ Public Speaker - Big 5 Dubai 2016 - November 2015 - Dubai, UAE
* Is every business request a project?
+ Public Speaker - PMI Global EMEA Congress 2016 - May 2016 - Barcelona, Spain
*1 Is every business request a project? More analytical approach to project candidate
evaluation
*2 Knowledge Management Practices
+ Public Speaker - IRM UK Master Data Management Conference 2016 - May 2016 - London, UK
* Case Study: Global Agility via MDM, NBAD's MDM Journey
+ Public Speaker - IRM UK Enterprise Architecture Conference 2016 - June 2016 - London, UK
* Case Study: Why we moved Enterprise Architecture from IT to Business
+ Public Speaker - Big 5 Dubai 2015 - November 2015 - Dubai, UAE
* Knowledge Management in the construction industry
+ Panelist - M.I.C.E Middle East Forum 2015 - October 2015 - Dubai, UAE
* How to select rights events to join/speak
+ Public Speaker - IRM UK Enterprise Architecture Conference 2015 - June 2015 - London, UK
* What is the breaking-point of standardization
+ Public Speaker - PMI Global EMEA Congress 2015 - May 2015 - London, UK
* Making Better, More Responsive -Agile- Organizations
author

13. by Mustafa Dulgerler © 2016
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Mustafa Dülgerler
My Resume
Connect me on LinkedIn
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We should connect
connect
Mustafa.dulgerler
mdulgerler@gmail.com
+971 (56) 501 2383
fornetworking
for networking,
discussions,
workshops,
speaking invitations,
further questions…
Ask for my resume
mdulgerler@gmail.com

14. Mustafa Dülgerler
Mustafa Dulgerler is a project manager and senior enterprise architect who has managed IT projects across
industries ranging from intelligent transportation and healthcare to manufacturing and banking. Mustafa
specializes in leading teams of highly skilled engineers to solve some of the most pressing challenges in
business and enterprise IT and ensure the alignment of these projects with the organization’s strategy. He is
also a widely recognized Project Management Trainer in the Middle East.
Mustafa Dulgerler | mdulgerler@gmail.com | +971 (56) 501 2383| www.mustafadulgerler.com