Business Process Management Center

Use a Decision Matrix to Select a Project

Using the Requirement Feature Matrix (see above) you can narrow down the list of potential improvement projects. But how do you know which one is the most important? The Decision Matrix can help determine which of your many worthy projects is the most critical to quality.

In the left column of the Decision Matrix, list your various potential projects. Across the top, list the criteria you want to consider, such as "low cost," "easily achievable," or "customer favorite." Assign a relative weight to each criterion. Is your main goal to reduce cost? Are you looking for the quickest project? Do you want to start with the project that is the least complex?

Rate your most important criterion with a 5 and your least important criterion with a 1.

Next, rate each possible solution on a scale of 1 to 5 for each criterion. Make sure that this scale is consistent for each criterion. A rating of 1 should signify something you don't want: high cost, too complex, and too long to complete. A rating of 5 should signify something that you would want to choose such as: easy to complete, most likely to succeed, greatest importance, and lowest cost. Multiply the rating with the weight of the criterion to get a rating score, then total the ratings for each project and use the score to help decide which project deserves the most attention.