IT Governance – Portfolio Qualification and Prioritization
During these economically challenging times, with declining revenues and constrained technology budgets, an objective, quantitative approach to scoring and selecting
programs is very important. Without a standard approach to pick the right investments, precious technology dollars can be squandered on the wrong projects.
The approach highlighted here considers overall company strategy and then applies criteria that can be scored quantitatively to provide a prioritized portfolio for qualification
and execution. Several criteria may be used to ensure alignment with strategic goals, including: business benefit, compliance/risk mitigation, technology risk, core support needs
and architectural alignment. Each criterion should be defined clearly so that scoring can be applied consistently by individual business functions. For example, the business benefit calculation should follow the standards set by your enterprise (e.g., ROI, NPV, etc.)
These criteria can be changed to suit the needs of any enterprise or portfolio in collaboration with the technology investment committee. As the process matures, weights
can be applied to the key strategic criteria in successive fiscal year planning sessions.
Ultimately, this process produces a prioritized list of projects for review and execution that can be vetted prior to initiation. The goal is to select projects with the highest value to the overall enterprise as opposed to the allocating dollars to the squeakiest wheel. This approach, when applied by a cross-functional investment steering committee, will provide consistency in managing demand and reduce acrimony.
