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IfM Project Selection Solution

A structured approach to designing multi-factor scoring systems for evaluating and selecting early-stage innovation projects.

This solution helps you prioritize ideas based on opportunity and feasibility, ensuring you invest in the
most promising innovations with confidence.

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Who is the solution for and why?

This solution is designed for senior leaders in strategy, innovation, technology, and business - particularly those responsible for managing innovation, R&D, and product or process development within organizations of all sizes. 

Strategy and innovation require potential options ('projects’) that an organization might pursue to be identified, assessed, prioritized and implemented. Collectively these activities fall under the banner of ‘portfolio management’, which seeks to maximize the value of the new product project portfolio, achieve a balanced portfolio of new product projects, and ensure alignment with business strategy.
 
Organizations handle diverse projects, requiring different evaluation methods. While financial metrics like ROI are ideal for decision-making, early-stage projects often lack reliable data. To address this, structured scoring tools combine financial insights with other success indicators, providing a logical, adaptable approach to ranking projects. These tools serve two key purposes: estimating project attractiveness and guiding decision-making as projects evolve.
 
By combining data-driven insights with expert judgment, this solution enables organizations to prioritize the right projects, optimize resource allocation, and drive long-term innovation success.

Why our customers love this approach

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_Agile Agile and iterative
Agile and iterative

Agile and iterative approach for strategy and planning.

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_Flexible Flexible and adaptable
Flexible and adaptable

Flexible and adaptable to fit the needs of any business, organization or sector.

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_Research Research excellence and industry expertise
Research excellence and industry expertise

The latest research combined with human expertise and thinking.

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_Stakeholers Stakeholder consensus
Stakeholder consensus

Consensus-building approach to decision-making for key stakeholders to action workshop outputs.

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_VisualComms Visual communication
Visual communication

Visual outputs enable easy to understand and effective communication of strategic intent.

TOUCH
Website_IfMIcons_Alignment Alignment
Alignment

Alignment of commercial and technical strategy.

Activities and steps to get started

Exercise administrators will begin by customizing the Project Selection Tool, selecting 3 - 5 opportunity and feasibility factors from the provided options and tailoring them as needed. They will then establish scaling statements with assigned scores for each factor, and define a showstopper condition that overrides all scoring. You are then ready to enter all projects into the scoring tool on Step 1.

1
Enter Project Briefs

The first step of the process is to enter all projects into the scoring tool. Use the Smart Form in SharpCloud to provide a comprehensive brief of each project. 
2
Select Reviewers

The instructor must select up to 20 voters and assign them a number between 1 and 20. Voters names can be displayed in step 4.
3
Project Screening Check

The exercise administrator(s) will prescribe Screening Criteria corresponding to the minimum threshold for a project to satisfy each metric and be considered for voting. Compare the project brief information to the screening criteria and reject any project below any screening threshold.
4
Individual Voting

Each reviewer will navigate to their personal voting table to provide a score from 0-12 per project for each selected factor. Reviewers may add comments or assumptions to any project that they review.
5
Group Review

The group will review the aggregated and individual opportunity and feasibility scores per project. Optionally, reviewers may choose to edit their scoring based on the group discussion.
6
Project Selections

The group will review the Opportunity x Feasibility matrix to select or reject all projects. Projects are mapped by their average opportunity and feasibility scores:
7
Next Steps

The group will discuss and assign next steps and important actions to take post-workshop.

Talk to us to find out more

This solution is based on latest research and practice activities at the IfM, part of the University of Cambridge. The combination of the highest quality research, alongside expert application and delivery, sets the IfM approach apart from other roadmapping methods and practitioners. These templates have been designed and are supported by expert practitioners from IfM Engage, the knowledge transfer arm of the IfM.
Get in touch

For more information on how IfM approaches and frameworks can be applied on the SharpCloud platform, please contact John Saiz, Industrial Associate at IfM Engage.

John, former Chief Technology Officer at NASA's Johnson Space Center, leads collaborations with manufacturing and technology-intensive companies worldwide to enhance their innovation capabilities.

Contact John Saiz
IfM Engage Services

For more information on IfM Engage services, including case studies, webinars, and insights into how IfM approaches support organisations across industry, government, and academia, visit the IfM Engage website.

Find out more
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