8.3. PROJECT PROPOSAL APPROVAL

The project proposal then undergoes scrutiny in Gate 1 of the process, where the project proposal is approved or rejected (Step 2). (Note: approving the project proposal is not the same as approving the project, which doesn't happen until Step 6.) This approval process is undertaken by a decision board. Inputs to the approval process include project decision criteria, project guidelines, strategic plans, and budget information.

We recommend the use of standard presentation templates for each gate in the process, which produces the best opportunity for the decision board members to view each deliverable on equal footing. It also prevents great "sales jobs" from being presented as proposals or business cases.

The decision board members view the proposal through the filter of the decision criteria they maintain. The decision criteria might include such items as the availability of people required to conduct the project or the financial costs and benefits (at a rough-order-of-magnitude level). Other possible criteria include the strategic alignment and the risk, or probability of success, of the project (see Figure 8.3). The project proposal approval process also includes determining the project's dependency on, and relation to, other projects in the portfolio.

Figure 8.3. Various decision criteria are used to evaluate the value of a project and in determining whether to add the project to the organization's active portfolio.

If the project proposal ...

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