PROJECTPRIORITIZATION

ASTRUCTUREDAPPROACHTOWORKINGON
WHATMATTERSMOST

OFFICEOFQUALITYIMPROVEMENT

PROJECTPRIORITIZATION
This guide describes a proven approach to setting priorities when the amount of work
that needs to be done surpasses the resources available to accomplish the work. You
will find step-by-step instructions for creating and using a simple prioritization matrix to
make tough decisions.

Written by

Carol Gosenheimer, Division of Enrollment Management

Contributors
Brian Rust, Division of Information Technology
Nancy Thayer-Hart, Office of Quality Improvement

TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Is a Prioritization Matrix? ........................................................................................... 3
Benefits of a Prioritization Matrix ........................................................................................ 3
Creating and Using a Prioritization Matrix .......................................................................... 4
Sample Completed Prioritization Matrix ............................................................................. 7
Instructions for Completing a Prioritization Matrix .............................................................. 8

Version 1.1 Created 03.2012

Copyright 2012 University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents

For additional information contact:

Office of Quality Improvement

Room 199 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1380
608-262-6843 FAX: 608-262-9330
[email protected]
http://www.quality.wisc.edu

Project Prioritization Guide

INTRODUCTION
Many departments struggle to balance a growing list of new and pending projects while
the need for core services continues, often with less funding. Deciding how to prioritize
and separate the high priority projects from lower priority projects can be daunting.
Since emotions often run high when making these kinds of decisions, a structured and
objective approach can be helpful in achieving consensus and balancing the needs of
the department and its customers and stakeholders. Using a prioritization matrix is a
proven technique for making tough decisions in an objective way.

WHATISAPRIORITIZATIONMATRIX?
A prioritization matrix is a simple tool that provides a way to sort a diverse set of items
into an order of importance. It also identifies their relative importance by deriving a
numerical value for the priority of each item.
The matrix provides a means for ranking projects (or project requests) based on criteria
that are determined to be important. This enables a department to see clearly which
projects are the most important to focus on first, and which, if any, could be put on hold
or discontinued.

BENEFITSOFAPRIORITIZATIONMATRIX

A prioritization matrix supports structured decision-making in the following ways:

Helps prioritize complex or unclear issues when there are multiple criteria for
determining importance

Provides a quick and easy, yet consistent, method for evaluating options

Takes some of the emotion out of the process

Quantifies the decision with numeric rankings

Is adaptable for many priority-setting needs (projects, services, personal, etc.)

When used with a group of people, it facilitates reaching agreement on priorities

and key issues

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Project Prioritization Guide

Establishes a platform for conversations about what is important

CREATINGANDUSINGAPRIORITIZATIONMATRIX
Each department determines its own unique criteria and weights those criteria based on
values, strategic direction, organizational goals, available resources, and so on.
Projects are then scored and prioritized based on the criteria. Once projects are
prioritized and those priorities are reviewed and discussed, the department can evaluate
the results to determine funding and resource allocation for the higher priority projects.
A final step involves assessing how and when (or if) to fund the lower priority projects in
the future if/when more resources become available.
Creating and using a prioritization matrix involves five simple steps:
1. Determine your criteria and rating scale.
There are two components involved in rating the projects on your to do list: criteria
for assessing importance, and a rating scale.
The first step is to determine the factors you will use to assess the importance of
each project. Choose factors that will clearly differentiate important from unimportant
projects these are your criteria. A group of 6-12 criteria is typical. Example criteria
might include whether or not the project is a mandate, the value it brings to the
customer, etc.
Then, for each of your criteria, establish a rating scale to use in assessing how well
a particular project satisfies that criteria. To ensure consistent use of the rating
scale, provide some details to define how the criteria should be applied. The
following table provides some examples:
Example Criteria

Description

Rating Scale (1-9)

Required Service or
Product

Is the project required to meet legal,

compliance, or regulatory
mandates?

1 = not required/mandated

Strategic Alignment

To what extent is the project aligned

with our organizations overall
strategies?

1 = does not align

5 = aligns with some strategies
9 = aligns with all strategies

Value to Customer

How much value will the outcome of

this project bring to our customers?

1 = little value
5 = some value
9 = high value/essential to customer

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9 = required or mandated

Project Prioritization Guide

2. Establish criteria weight.

Place your criteria in descending order of importance and assign a weight. Note that
when a project is scored, the numeric rating the project is given for a particular
criteria is multiplied by the criterias weight to create a priority score.
Weight examples:

Required Service or Product: Weight = 5

Strategic Alignment: Weight = 4

Value to Customer: Weight = 4

3. Create the matrix.

List your criteria down the left column and the weight and names of potential projects
across the top (see Appendix A).

4. Work in teams to score projects.

Review each project and rate the project on each of the criteria. Next, multiply the
rating for each criteria by its weight and record the weighted value. After evaluating
the project against all of the criteria, add up the weighted values to determine the
projects total score.
If participant numbers allow, it is helpful to work in teams and to arrange for each
project to be evaluated by two different teams. Benefits of this approach include:
Working in teams can produce more objective results, since differing
perspectives can be considered during the rating process.
When there are many projects to evaluate, dividing them among multiple teams
can speed up the task.
Insights into how clearly your criteria are defined and how objectively the rating
scale is applied can be gained if each project is scored by two teams.
Its always a good idea to go through the process with the whole group for a couple
projects to help establish a common understanding of the process and to ensure a
good comprehension of the criteria and their meaning. Be sure to also provide
resources and links (to your strategic plan, campus priorities, etc.) to enable team
members to make an informed evaluation.

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Project Prioritization Guide

5. Discuss results and prioritize your list.

After projects have been scored, its time to have a general discussion to compare
notes on results and develop a master list of prioritized projects that everyone
agrees upon. Note that the rating scores are an excellent way to begin discussions,
yet still allow room for adjustment as needed. Remember that the prioritization
matrix itself is just a tool, and the people scoring projects are using their best
judgment. Upon review, the whole group may decide that a project needs to move
up or down in priority, despite the score it received. These types of adjustments are
expected and help fine-tune the priority list. As a final step, a department may
decide to establish groupings of projects based on natural breaks in scoring, for
example high, medium and low priority.
Be sure to vet the results with others in the organization, as well as customers and
stakeholders.
Appendix A provides an example of a completed matrix. Instructions to give to team
members are included in Appendix B.

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Project Prioritization Guide

APPENDIXA
Sample Completed Project Prioritization Matrix

RequiredService/Product(areanyof
thesetrue?)
Mandate(campus,UWSystemor
state)provost/chancellor/CIO
and/orlegal/compliance
Impactscore/foundationalservice
Otherservices/productsdependonit
StrategicAlignment
CampusInitiatives/Strategic
Priorities
AdministrativeExcellence
EducationalInnovation
Valueto"Customer"
Customersareconsumersorusersof
theservice/productandcouldbe
students,staff,faculty,UWSystem,
othercampuses,externalpartnersand
evenotherservices;projectthatare
funded(MIU,SITIAC,grant$,etc.)
ImportancetoRiskMitigation
Wouldthecampusorcustomerbe
exposedtoariskorimpactifthe
serviceorproductisnotoffered?

LeveragePotential
Multipliereffect:service/productcan
beleveragedforother
users/customersoncampusorwithin
UWSystem;and/oraddsvaluefor
externalpartners
FullDisclosureofCostsincludes
implementationandmaintenance
costs

SignificancetoUsers/CustomerBase

ProjectB

WEIGHT

ProjectA

CRITERIA

0,3,6,9

30

45

0,3,6,9

24

24

SCORINGVALUES

0:nonearetrue
3:oneistrue
6:twoaretrue
9:allaretrue

4
0:alignswithnone
3:alignswithone
6:alignswithtwo
9:alignswithall
4

0,3,6,9
0:littlevaluetothecustomer(s)
3:somevalue
6:alotofvaluetocustomer
9:essential/criticaltocustomer(s)

36

12

0,3,6, 9
0:littlerisktocampusorcustomerifnotoffered
3:somerisktocampusorcustomerifnotoffered
6:muchrisktocampusorcustomerifnotoffered
9:highrisktothecampusorcustomerifnotoffered
0,3,6,9
0:littleleveragepotential,isolatedservice
3:someleverage
6:muchleverage
9:servicecouldbeleveragedbymany

27

18

0,3,6,9
0:lotsofunknownorhiddencosts
3:somecostsareknown
6:manycostsareknown
9:allcosts,direct&indirect,areknownandtabulated
0,3,6,9
0:lowimpact,lownumberofusers
3:lowimpact,highnumberofusers
6:highimpact,lownumberofusers
9:highimpact,highnumberofusers

12

12

18

117

156

TOTALPROJECTSCORE
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Project Prioritization Guide

APPENDIXB
How to Complete the Project Prioritization Matrix
For each project, write the PROJECT NAME in the top box of a yellow column, then
complete the following steps:
Evaluate the project against the first CRITERIA
Give the project a RATING appropriate to how well the project fits that criteria
MULTIPLY: weight x rating
WRITE the resulting number, i.e., the weighted value, into the yellow box for that
project and criteria
Move on to the next criteria, REPEAT ALL STEPS until the project has been
assigned weighted values for all criteria
Final step: ADD ALL VALUES in the yellow column for the project, and place the total
in the GREEN BOX at the bottom

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