COEPD – Center of Excellence for Professional Development Happy Learning
Project prioritization is the process of determining which new and existing projects are very much important for the organization. Project prioritization allows the company to understand the feasibility, risk factors, potential value, impact, and business value of a particular project.
Prioritizing projects is generally done by program managers, portfolio managers, and the project management office. This is done by a detailed analysis of the project. In which they understand the pros and cons of the new and existing projects. Based on the analysis they make decisions about various projects.
The project manager and portfolio managers trace multiple projects in real time with the help of gantt charts, roadmaps, dashboards, and other tools.
Project prioritization is very much crucial for all types of companies whether it is small scale companies, medium scale companies, or large scale companies.
Companies biggest challenge is more focused on project planning and business goals with the projects. Project prioritization is not always a crucial thing for small scale companies but plays a very crucial thing for medium scale companies and large scale companies.
For any type of organization, there are multiple techniques used for prioritizing projects. These techniques ensure that it achieves project goals, enhances business profit, reduces cost, achieves project objectives, increases productivity, and reduces unnecessary workload.
Project prioritization is very much important for medium and large firms because they have various projects and programs in their portfolio. This type of organization runs simultaneously multiple projects at a time and they have limited resources.
There are multiple techniques for project prioritization. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages which depend upon portfolio management. Some of the priority management techniques are as follows:
- Scoring Model:
This type of prioritization technique totally depends upon the views, feedback, and opinions of the subject matter expert. The scoring method is done by evaluating different parameters of the project by giving a numeric value to each parameter. Parameters include project risks, project duration, project budget, project business value, project goals, project vision, project objective, project resources, project benefits, project feasibility, etc. The scoring model is executed by program managers, portfolio managers, and project management offices.
- Project Prioritization Matrix:
In this type of prioritization technique, the program managers and portfolio managers compare various project variables on a single comparison matrix. This technique is very similar to Eisenhower matrix that is used to compare task importance and urgency. The difference between the project prioritization matrix and the eisenhower matrix is that the project prioritization matrix uses more variables as compared to the eisenhower matrix.
- Payback Period:
This type of prioritization technique is mainly concentrated on the payback period. The payback period is the time required by any organization to recover the investment done on a particular project. By using a payback period company can prioritize projects based on return on investment.
The following are the steps for the project prioritization process:
- Assess the existing and new projects.
- Define the criteria for project prioritization.
- Prioritize the existing and upcoming projects.
- Manage the projects aggressively.
