How Project Prioritization Scoring Models Help Organizations

Organizations that manage multiple projects need to understand the project prioritization scoring model. Without a project scoring matrix to help them select the projects that align with their business goals and when to implement them, they’re not managing but leaving everything to fate.

That’s not a good place for a business to be. Therefore, we’ll define a scoring model in project management and when to use project scoring. Then we’ll explain the project intake process, why it’s important to establish a weighted scoring model in project management and list the different types.

What Is a Project Prioritization Scoring Model?

A scoring model in project management is a structured method organizations use to evaluate and rank potential projects based on criteria. The goal is to help decision-makers prioritize projects that will bring the most value to the organization, considering resources, time, risks and other factors.

The project prioritization scoring model assigns scores to projects based on their alignment with strategic goals, expected benefits and feasibility. Key elements include a set of factors or dimensions that the project will be assessed against, such as strategic alignment, expected return on investment (ROI), resource availability, risk, impact on stakeholders and urgency.

Each criterion is assigned a weight based on its relative importance to the organization. Projects are scored against each criterion, the score reflecting how well the project performs concerning each criterion. Then projects are ranked based on their total score, with the highest-scoring projects typically being the highest priority.

The project prioritization scoring model can help in selecting projects, but once that’s done the real work begins. That’s when project management software is needed. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has robust portfolio roadmaps that collect all the projects in a portfolio and shows them on a Gantt chart that can manage resources, track time and manage tasks in real time. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

ProjectManager's roadmap — ProjectManager’s roadmaps can manage, filter data and highlight key metrics for stakeholders. Learn more

When to Use a Project Prioritization Scoring Model

A project scoring matrix is particularly useful when an organization needs to evaluate and rank multiple potential projects to make decisions about resource allocation, investment and strategic focus. This can be when there are limited resources, multiple competing projects, the need for strategic alignment, changing market or business conditions, project portfolio management, decision-making under pressure, stakeholder engagement, performance evaluation and introducing new initiatives. Let’s take a closer look at a couple of examples.

The Project Prioritization Scoring Model & the Project Intake Process

During the project intake process, various stakeholders submit project requests. These submissions typically include a brief project description, objectives, expected outcomes, resource requirements and timeline estimates. A scoring model in project management is used to evaluate each project against predefined criteria, such as alignment with strategic goals, expected ROI or value, resource availability, risk and complexity, urgency or timing and feasibility.

The projects are then ranked based on the total weighted scores. This helps create a prioritized list of projects, with the highest-scoring projects considered the most valuable or aligned with business objectives. Senior leadership or a project steering committee reviews the ranked projects and may make final decisions based on the scoring model results, as well as other practical considerations. The projects with a high score that fit the criteria are approved and others are rejected.

Product Development & the Project Prioritization Scoring Model

Product ideas or features typically come from various sources, such as customers, internal stakeholders, market research or emerging technologies. A project scoring matrix can assess these ideas based on a series of criteria that reflect the company’s goals and the product’s objectives. Criteria can include customer impact, revenue potential, market demand, strategic alignment, competitive advantage, technical feasibility, resource availability, risk or complexity and time to market.

Each criterion is weighted according to its importance to the organization and the product. Each product idea or feature is then evaluated and scored according to the defined criteria. Once each product idea or feature is scored, the scores for each criterion are multiplied by the weight assigned to that criterion. The results are summed to produce a total score for each idea or feature. Now, the product development team can rank the ideas or features based on priority. This is reviewed and adjusted as new information becomes available.

Why Is It Important to Establish a Scoring Model for Project Prioritization?

Establishing a project prioritization scoring model is essential for organizations to effectively manage their portfolios and make informed, objective decisions about which projects to pursue. Here are more reasons why a project scoring matrix is important.

Ensures strategic alignment across projects, programs and project portfolios
Helps prioritize the allocation of limited organizational resources to the most valuable projects for the organization
Facilitates controlling risk in project portfolios by assessing the potential risks and benefits of project proposals
Allows project stakeholders to easily understand why project proposals are accepted or rejected
Speeds up the project intake process by standardizing the project selection and prioritization process
Helps decision-makers make objective, unbiased decisions and provides transparency for the project intake process

Types of Project Scoring Models

Organizations use several types of project scoring models to prioritize projects based on specific criteria. Each model provides a structured, objective way to assess and compare projects. Below are some common types.

Weighted Project Prioritization Scoring Model

This is one of the most widely used project prioritization models. It involves evaluating projects against a set of criteria, in which each criterion is assigned a weight based on its relative importance. Each project is then scored on a scale for each criterion, and the scores are multiplied by the weight of each criterion. The total score is calculated by summing the weighted scores for all criteria and projects are prioritized based on their total scores. Examples of criteria are as follows.

Return on investment
Payback period
Net present value
Strategic alignment
Expected effort
Potential benefits
Resource availability
Potential risks
Customer impact

Eisenhower Matrix or Project Prioritization Matrix

This simple but effective tool was popularized by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Eisenhower matrix helps individuals or teams categorize tasks or projects into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance. The goal is to ensure that time and resources are allocated to tasks that align with long-term objectives while avoiding distractions and unnecessary stress from tasks that don’t add value.

RICE Scoring Model

RICE is an acronym for the four factors used to score and prioritize initiatives. Reach, which is how many people will be impacted by the project or feature within a certain timeframe; impact, the potential benefit or value the project will deliver if it’s successful; confidence, how certain the project will achieve the desired impact; and effort, the amount of time and resources required to complete the project. The RICE score is calculated by multiplying reach, impact and confidence and dividing that by effort.

MoSCoW Method

MoSCoW stands for must have, should have, could have and won’t have. “Must-have” is critical for success and can’t be omitted. “Should have” is important but not essential for the project’s immediate success. “Could have” are nice-to-have features, not critical for the project but beneficial. “Won’t have” are features or projects that will not be considered at the moment. Evaluate each project or feature and categorize it into one of the four groups. Prioritize the must-have projects first, followed by the should have and so on.

Impact vs. Effort Matrix

The impact versus effort matrix is divided into four quadrants, which categorize tasks based on their level of impact (high or low) and effort (high or low). This helps teams decide where to allocate their time and resources most effectively.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

This model involves comparing the total expected costs of a project against its total expected benefits. The goal with a cost-benefit analysis is to ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs. A simple approach is to assign monetary values to costs and benefits and calculate the ratio of benefits to costs.

Risk vs. Reward Matrix

This evaluated projects based on their potential return and the associated risks. The goal is to balance high rewards with acceptable levels of risk. This often involves scoring projects based on the estimated reward, such as revenue potential, impact, etc., and risk, such as technical challenges, market uncertainty, etc

ICE Scoring Model

This model is based on three key factors: impact, confidence and effort, and is often used in product management, but can be applied to any context where prioritization is necessary. ICE stands for impact, how much the project will affect the target audience or business goals; confidence, how certain it is that the project will achieve the desired impact; and effort, the amount of time, resources or energy required to complete the project. The ICE formula is impact multiplied by confidence divided by effort equals the ICE score.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix

Also known as the growth-share matrix, the BCG matrix is a strategic tool businesses use to evaluate the relative performance of their product portfolio. It does this by categorizing products or business units based on their market growth rate and market share. The matrix divides products into four categories: stars, high market share in a fast-growing industry; cash cows, high market share in a slow-growing industry; question marks or problem child, low market share in a fast-growing industry; and dogs, low market share in a slow-growing industry.

These are mapped on a matrix with an X-axis representing the market share from low to high and a Y-axis representing market growth from low to high.

How ProjectManager Helps With Project Portfolio Management

Project prioritization scoring models are great when making decisions. They’re not going to help implement those decisions, schedule work, allocate resources and track progress. For that, one must have project management software. However, not every project management software can handle multiple projects. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with robust roadmaps to monitor portfolio performance with resource management, time tracking and task management features. But that’s not all.

Real-Time Project Portfolio Management Dashboards

Roadmaps offer an overview of all the projects in a portfolio or program on a Gantt chart. But when a portfolio manager or PMO wants an instant status report to get an overview of all those projects, they need a dashboard. Our portfolio dashboards capture live data and display key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time, cost, workload and more on easy-to-read graphs and charts. That data is available whenever one toggles over to the dashboard and it’s delivered in real time to make more insightful decisions.

Project Portfolio Management Reports

For more details and to keep stakeholders informed, use our customizable project portfolio reports. These reports can be filtered to get into the weeds for portfolio managers and PMOs to show status, tasks, timelines, highlight customers, priority and more. They can also be filtered for a more general overview to keep stakeholders updated on progress. There are also reports on variance, timesheets, workload and more.