What is a weighted scoring model? How is it created?

Answer 1

A weighted scoring model is a tool that provides a systematic process for selecting projects based on many criteria. These criteria can include factors such as meeting broad organizational needs; addressing problems, opportunities, or directives; the amount of time it will take to complete the project; the overall priority of the project; and projected financial performance of the project.

The first step in creating a weighted scoring model is to identify criteria important to the project selection process. It often takes time to develop and reach agreement on these criteria. Holding facilitated brainstorming sessions or using groupware to exchange ideas can aid in developing these criteria. Some possible criteria for information technology projects include:

• Supports key business objectives
• Has strong internal sponsor
• Has strong customer support
• Uses realistic level of technology
• Can be implemented in one year or less
• Provides positive NPV
• Has low risk in meeting scope, time, and cost goals

Next, you assign a weight to each criterion. Once again, determining weights requires consultation and final agreement. These weights indicate how much you value each criterion or how important each criterion is. You can assign weights based on percentages, and the sum of all of the criteria's weights must total 100 percent. You then assign numerical scores to each criterion (for example, 0 to 100) for each project. The scores indicate how much each project meets each criterion. At this point, you can use a spreadsheet application to create a matrix of projects, criteria, weights, and scores. After assigning weights for the criteria and scores for each project, you calculate a weighted score for each project by multiplying the weight for each criterion by its score and adding the resulting values.