Program/Project Management Consultant
Introduction
Choosing what projects
to undertake for acquisition or divestiture programs is one of the
least understood and commonly mishandled activities within many
Organizations. However, defining and bringing awareness to the
selection process can save organizations millions of dollars. When
creating projects for these programs, the process can take many steps and
forms; they can involve execution of
strategic initiatives, creation of new assets, termination of old
processes and assets, implementation or development of technology, or
general process improvement, Sharing resources but it all starts with creating
Service Agreements. They can be named as Transaction, Transition, Purchase, or
an Enterprise Service Agreement. Name doesn't matter but the purpose is the same - to create small
programs for a large corporate transaction.
Service Agreements and
Project Mapping
Service Agreements are
Legal Agreements between Acquiring and Acquired Company. <More to
Come>
Project Selection
What do you know about
the process you use to select your organization’s projects? Do you select
the right projects and produce the best results? How do you
know? Selecting and initiating projects turn strategy into action.
Done thoughtfully, the
process project selection can significantly improve the organization’s
ability to execute its strategy and thereby enhance its results. The
Project Selection process closely relates to the key organizational
systems such as leadership, strategic planning, and
process management.
There are many
difficulties involved with committing the organization to adapting an
objective and visible selection process. Inconsistencies in project
information are one of the common reasons that organizations struggle with
project selection and decision-making. Lack of information
combined with a lack of objective decision-making criteria makes
it impossible to prioritize projects, resulting in large
unresolved project portfolios. When the organization finds the keys
to project selection, the doors to performance excellence are opened.
Finding these keys require tenacity because they are hidden at the end of a
long road. An organization must become skilled in leadership and strategy,
and employ a structured systems approach to make headway on this journey.
Weighted Scoring Method
Weighted
Scoring is a technique for putting a semblance of objectivity into a subjective
process. Using a consistent list of criteria, weighted according to the
importance or priority of the criteria to the organization, a comparison of
similar “products” can be completed. If numerical values are assigned to the
criteria priorities and the ability of the product to meet a specific
criterion, a "weighted” value can be derived by summing the weighted
values, the product most closely meeting the criteria can be determined. This Weighted Scoring Method can be
use when selecting projects or anything where we must compare one item to
another.
For
example, when purchasing a new car, how do you pick the one you want? You might
make a list of items the car must definitely have to be considered. Then you
write down additional options you’d like to have. And you leave a few spaces to
note features one car has the others don’t. After trips to the various
dealers, you tally up the list of matches and buy the one which meets the list
the best. While you might not be this formal, you do it mentally. You are
simply weighting some features and functions of the car of higher importance
than others and if a car does not meet one of those important criteria, it is
thrown out of the running.
Weighted Scoring Method
for Acquisition Programs
I
personally find weighted Scoring Method of project selection very useful with
few exceptions (Will discuss the later in this paper) however it can be even
more useful for the projects supporting Acquisition and Divestiture Programs.
For the past decade I have spend much time doing Acquisition Programs and
almost all the cases I had more success with the scoring models.
<>
