In many segments that rely on a culture of project management, the project officially begins with the official approval of the project, which is not so in the development sector, where the project life more commonly begins with a Project Identification and Screening Phase.
The seed of a project arises merely as an idea – a need or opportunity that is weighed, scrutinized, and eventually developed into a project which is managed through the project life cycle.
The most critical question one has to ask would be ‘Are we doing the right project?’ Because a problem well understood is half done.
Search for New Ideas
*Brainstorm to generate alternative solutions.
-Emerging market trends.
–SWOT analysis.
-Other constraints
*Shortlist candidate ideas for detailed scrutiny.
-Individual or family objectives
-Organizational objectives
-National or global objectives
Download this project planner template to effectively conduct your projects 👇
A tool that detects the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. In particular, SWOT is a basic, straightforward model that measures what an organization can and cannot do as well as its probable opportunities and threats.
The method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and distinguish it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats).
Once this is over, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desired results.
• Objectives
• Experience
• Environment pressures
-Keeping these factors in mind an analysis of strengths, weaknesses , opportunities and threats is made to identify and select suitable projects.
STRENGTHS
• Experience and expertise
• Financial position
• Capital raising capability
• Industrial contacts
• Foreign collaborations
WEAKNESSES
• Newer unfamiliar technologies
• Inability to raise huge investments
• Lack of experience
• Lack of trained personnel
• Inability to forecast market trends
OPPORTUNITIES
• Emerging technologies
• New products with new markets
• New processes with better features
• Special financing schemes
• Government and other incentives
THREATS
• Competitors
• Poor state of the economy
• Outdated technology
• Unprofessional management skills
• New products and services
BRAINSTORMING
• A good means to generate new project ideas
• Focus on uninhibited participation by a group
• Listing of ideas without suppressing creativity at source
• List of ideas subjected to screening and evaluation subsequently
Download this meeting notes planner template to effectively conduct your project meetings 👇
SCREENING OF IDEAS
Poor Fair Good Vgood Excellent
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Weight
•Cost * 20%
•Risk * 30%
•Return * 40%
•Hazard * 10%
•(score = 2×0.2+3×0.3+4×0.4+2×0.1= 3.1)
CRITERIA IN SCREENING PROJECTS
• Investment
• Rate of return
• Risk
• Likely profit
• Payback
• Similarity to existing business
• Expected life
• Flexibility
• Environment impact
• Competition
Ideas Generated in Brain Storming
These and more ideas could be generated through a Brainstorming exercise
Screening of Ideas
• Criteria chosen for screening:
-Effectiveness to achieve objective
-Cost of the proposal
-Ease of implementation
-Time needed
This is an illustrative list. Other criteria could be added, if needed.
• Project identification is generally done by brainstorming
• Broad objectives guide the brainstorming
• Introspection is necessary to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system
• Looking outside towards the environment provides new opportunities and threats
• Evaluation of ideas is suspended during brainstorming to encourage creativity
• A subsequent screening on relevant criteria produces a candidate set of projects for detailed scrutiny
• An exercise to illustrate the procedure was undertaken