Part I

Project Initiation

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Project Management

2-2
 Chapter 2

Strategic
Management and
Project Selection

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Problems With Multiple Projects

 Delays in one project delays others

 Inefficient use of resources
 Bottlenecks in resource availability

2-4
Project Results

 30% canceled midstream

 Over half of completed projects came in
up to
– 190% over budget
– 220% late
 <50% of strategic projects successful

2-5
Challenges

 Making sure projects are closely tied to

goals and strategy.
 How to handle the growing number of
projects?
 How to make these projects successful?

2-6
Project Management Maturity

 Project management maturity refers to

the mastery of skills required to manage
projects competently
 Number of ways to measure
 Most organizations do not do well
 Maturity can be rated in levels
Initial  Repeatable  Defined  Managed  Optimizing

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Project Selection and Criteria of Choice

 Project selection…
– Evaluating
– Choosing
– Implementing
 Same process as other business
decisions

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Types of Companies

 Companies considering projects fall into two

broad categories:
– Companies whose core business is completing
projects
– Companies whose core business is something else
 They can also be broken down as:
– Companies looking at projects to do for others
– Companies looking at projects to do for themselves

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Model Criteria

 Realism
 Capability
 Flexibility
 Ease of use
 Cost
 Easy computerization

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The Nature of Project Selection Models

 Models turn inputs into outputs

 Managers decide on the values for the inputs
and evaluate the outputs
 The inputs never fully describe the situation
 The outputs never fully describe the expected
results
 Models are tools
 Managers are the decision makers

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Types of Project Selection Models

 Nonnumeric models
 Numeric models

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Nonnumeric Models

 Models that do not return a numeric value

for a project to be compared with other
projects
 These are really not “models” but rather
justifications for projects
 Just because they are not true models
does not make them all “bad”

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Types of Nonnumeric Models

 Sacred Cow
– A project, often suggested by the top management,
that has taken on a life of its own
 Operating Necessity
– A project that is required in order to protect lives or
property or to keep the company in operation
 Competitive Necessity
– A project that is required in order to maintain the
company’s position in the marketplace

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Types of Nonnumeric Models Continued

 Product Line Extension

– Often, projects to expand a product line are
evaluated on how well the new product meshes with
the existing product line rather than on overall
benefits
 Comparative Benefit
– Projects are subjectively rank ordered based on their
perceived benefit to the company
 Sustainability
– Focusing on long-term profitability rather than short-
run payoff
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Q-Sort Method

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Numeric Models

 Models that return a numeric value for a

project that can be easily compared with
other projects
 Major types
– Profit/profitability
– Real Options
– Scoring
– Window-of-opportunity analysis
– Discovery-driven planning
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Numeric Models: Profit/Profitability

 Models that look at costs and revenues

– Payback period
– Discounted cash flow (NPV)
– Internal rate of return (IRR)
– Profitability index
 NPV and IRR are the more common
methods

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Payback Period

 The length of time until the original

investment has been recouped by the
project
 A shorter payback period is better

2-19
Payback Period Example

Project Cost
Payback Period 
Annual Cash Flow

$100,000
Payback Period  4
$25,000

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Payback Period Drawbacks

 Does not consider time value of money

 More difficult to use when cash flows
change over time
 Less meaningful for longer periods of
time (due to time value of money)

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Discounted Cash Flow

 The value of a stream of cash inflows and

outflows in today’s dollars
 Also know as discounted cash flow or just
discounting
 Widely used to evaluate projects
 Includes the time value of money
 Includes all inflows and outflows, not just
the ones through payback point
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Discounted Cash Flow Continued

 Requires a percentage to use to reduce

future cash flows
– This is known as the discount rate
 The discount rate may also be known as
a hurdle rate or cutoff rate
 There will usually be one overall discount
rate for the company

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NPV Formula

n
Ft
NPV (project)  A0  
1 k 
t
t 1

2-24
NPV Formula Terms

A0 Initial cash investment

Ft Cash flow in time period t (negative for
outflows)
k The discount rate
t The number of years of life
 A higher NPV is better
 Higher the discount rate lower the NPV

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NPV Example

8
$25,000
NPV (project)  $100,000  
t 1 1  0.15  0.03
t

 $1,939

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Internal Rate of Return [IRR]

 The discount rate (k) that causes the NPV

to be equal to zero
 The higher the IRR, the better
– While it is technically possible for a series to
have multiple IRR’s, this is not a practical
issue
 Finding the IRR requires a financial
calculator or computer
 In Excel “=IRR(Series,Guess)”

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Profitability Index

 a k a Benefit cost ratio

 NPV divided by initial cash investment
 Ratios greater than 1.0 are good

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Advantages of Profitability Models

 Easy to use and understand

 Based on accounting data and forecasts
 Familiar and well understood
 Gives a go/no-go indication
 Can be modified to include risk

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Disadvantages of Profitability Models

 Ignore nonmonetary factors

 Some ignore time-value of money
 Biased toward the short-term
 Payback ignores cash flow after payback
 IRR can have multiple solutions
 All are sensitive to errors
 Nonlinear
 Dependent on determination of cash flows

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Numeric Models: Real Options

 Positions the organization to capitalize on

future opportunities
 Utilized to reduce both technological and
commercial risk

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Numeric Models: Scoring

 Unweighted 0–1 factor model

 Unweighted factor model
 Weighted factor model

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Unweighted 0-1 Factor Model

 Factors selected
– Listed on a preprinted form
 Raters score the project on each factor
 Each project gets a total score
 Main advantage is that the model uses
multiple criteria
 Major disadvantages are that it assumes
all criteria are of equal importance
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Unweighted 0-1 Factor Model Example

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Unweighted Factor Scoring Model

 Replaces X’s with factor score

– Typically a 1-5 scale
 Column of scores is summed
 Projects with high scores are selected

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Unweighted Weighted Factor Model

 Each factor is weighted the same

 Less important factors are weighted the
same as important ones
 Easy to compute
 Just total or average the scores

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Weighted Factor Scoring Model

 Each factor is weighted relative to its

importance
– Weighting allows important factors to stand out
 A good way to include nonnumeric data in the
analysis
 Factors need to sum to one
 All weights must be set up, so higher values
mean more desirable
 Small differences in totals are not meaningful

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Weighted Factor Model Example

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Advantages of Scoring Models

 Allow multiple criteria

 Structurally simple
 Direct reflection of managerial policy
 Easily altered
 Allow for more important factors
 Allow easy sensitivity analysis

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Disadvantages of Scoring Models

 Relative measure
 Linear in form
 Can have large number of criteria
 Unweighted models assume equal
importance

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Numeric Models: Window-of-
Opportunity Analysis

 A process where the cost, time, and

performance specs are defined that must
be met before any R&D work

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Numeric Models: Discovery-Driven
Planning

 Similar to W-o-O
 Funds enough of the project to determine
if the initial assumptions were accurate
 Used to learn more about the project,
rather than necessarily implement it

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Choosing a Project Selection Model

 Weighted scoring models favored:

– Allow multiple objectives to be considered
– Easily adapted
– Not biased toward short-run like the
profitability models

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Risk Considerations in Project Selection

 Both costs and benefits are uncertain

– Benefits are more uncertain
 There are many ways of dealing with risk
 Can make estimates about the probability of
outcomes
– Subjective probabilities
 Uncertainty about:
– Timing
– What will be accomplished?
– Side effects
 Pro forma documents

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The Project Portfolio Management
(PPM)

 Links projects directly to the goals and

strategy of the organization
 Means for monitoring and controlling
projects

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Symptoms of a Misaligned Portfolio
 More projects
 Inconsistent determination of benefits
 Projects that don’t contribute to the
strategy
 Competing projects
 Costs exceed benefits
 No risk analysis of projects
 Lack of tracking against the plan
 No client for project 2-46
Purpose of Project Portfolio Process

 Identify nonprojects
 Prioritize list of projects
 Limit number of projects
 Identify the real options for each project
 Identify projects with good fit
 Identify co-dependent projects

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Purpose of Project Portfolio Process Continued

 Eliminate risky projects

 Eliminate projects that skip the formal
selection process
 Keep from overloading the organization
 To balance the resources with needs
 To balance returns
 To balance short-, medium-, and long-
term returns

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Project Portfolio Process Steps

1. Establish a project council

2. Identify project categories and criteria
3. Collect project data
4. Assess resource availability
5. Reduce the project and criteria set
6. Prioritize the projects within categories
7. Select the projects to be funded and held in
reserve
8. Implement the process

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Step 1: Establish a Project Council

 Senior management
 The project managers of major projects
 The head of the Project Management
Office
 Particularly relevant general managers
 Those who can identify key opportunities
and risks facing the organization
 Anyone who can derail the PPP later on

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Step 2: Identify Project Categories and
Criteria

 Derivate projects
 Platform projects
 Breakthrough projects
 R&D projects

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Step 3: Collect Project Data

 Assemble the data

 Document assumptions
 Screen out weaker projects
 The fewer projects that need to be
compared and analyzed, the easier the
work of the council

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Step 4: Assess Resource Availability

 Assess both internal and external

resources
 Assess labor conservatively
 Timing is particularly important

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Step 5: Reduce the Project and Criteria Set

 Organization’s goals  Use strengths

 Have competence  Synergistic
 Market for offering  Dominated by
 How risky the project is another
 Potential partner  Has slipped in
desirability
 Right resources
 Good fit

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Step 6: Prioritize the Projects Within
Categories

 Apply the scores and criterion weights

 Consider in terms of benefits first and
resource costs second
 Summarize the returns from the projects

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Step 7: Select the Projects to be Funded
and Held in Reserve

 Determine the mix of projects across the

categories
 Leave some resources free for new
opportunities
 Allocate the categorized projects in rank
order

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Step 8: Implement the Process

 Communicate results
 Repeat regularly
 Improve process

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Project Bids and RFPs

 The project proposal is essentially a

project bid
 Putting together a project proposal
requires a detailed analysis of the project
 Project proposals can take weeks or
months to complete
 A more detailed analysis may result in not
bidding on the project
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Project Proposal Contents

 Cover letter
 Executive summary
 The technical approach
 The implementation plan
 The plan for logistic support and
administration
 Past experience

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