1.2 Reviewing Project Ideas

All project ideas should be submitted and reviewed periodically. Ideas for new applications can come from anywhere within an organization. It is best not to stifle the flow of ideas, since this process may be used to spot trends or issues within the organization.

Some organizations find market advantages by pushing the information technology envelope. For example, Federal Express was one of the first companies to embrace tablet computers. Tablet computers provided Federal Express with the technological infrastructure to receive accurate information on packages in the field as they were picked up and delivered.

Reviewing ideas that come from within the organization can provide insights into efficiencies and help the organization create best-use practices. Many times employees who are using the applications on a day-to-day basis have insight and recommendations on how to better streamline processes. Employees may request that screens be simplified, that additional information be savable, or that records be easily sorted by specific fields. Customers may call salespeople asking for information in the corporate database that can be made directly accessible to customers, thus streamlining the sales job. Many times departments within a company become frustrated with an existing process and go around the system, purchasing new equipment and software to better perform their job. The PC is the most visible example of this. In the 1980s, PCs entered most companies through the backdoor. When employees had problems and needed help with PC technologies, they turned to IT. Reluctantly IT took ownership of corporate PCs. More recently the Internet crept into companies. Most IT organizations were quick to take control so they could provide employees with fast Internet connections, corporate security, and intranet sites. Many times new employees , those who have worked at other companies, have had different experiences using tools that make their job easier or provide better services to customers. Companies can leverage these experiences to create more efficient applications.

Ideas that come from these experiences should be written down and submitted to the company. The company should develop a method to capture and vet these ideas. For example, the billing department may put in a request that customer statements be made available online, saving the company money on statement printing and mailing costs.

Keep this process simple. To start with, create an idea proposal process. An easy way to gather ideas is to create a simple form on the company s intranet Web site whereby employees can provide requests and propose solutions. This form can include a space for the proposed idea, the estimated savings to the company, and the projected benefits to the company and the employees. Periodically, requests created by this form should be reviewed for their viability. Requests that are popular and provide a high rate of return or cost savings can then be vetted to see if they are feasible and should be funded .

Some companies receive hundreds of suggestions a month, a quantity too numerous to vet by a management team. In a situation like this, a lead person should be appointed with the responsibility to review all submitted suggestions and provide a summary of suggestions based on similar suggestions, possible cost savings, or overall company interest. The goal of the lead person is to identify the ideas to be reviewed in more detail. The lead person presents his initial findings to management so they can decide if the project should be funded.

1.2 in a Nutshell

Periodically management should have meetings to review all submitted ideas and see which ideas look promising . This will either be a direct list of submitted ideas or the summary list provided by the lead person.

• The frequency of these meetings should be based on the size of your organization, the need for change, and the number of ideas requested .

• Keep the idea proposals simple. The focus of these meetings is not to fund the project, it is to review proposed ideas and identify the ones to be investigated further.

• Many companies leave this step out since they think it adds too much bureaucracy. It is worthwhile to look at all ideas that are submitted. There may be a theme to the ideas that will highlight small user trends before they become big issues.

• Once the ideas have been reviewed, the top ideas need to be investigated further by the appointed Phase 1 lead person.

It s true: After an idea has been developed, the first step in realizing a Project Concept Plan is to have a clear understanding of the request.