Assessment matrix for

[Project Title]
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V1 Draft 17/10/16 GB Initial

Project Assessment Matrix Page 1

The Project Assessment tool
The Project Assessment Matrix is used to assess the complexity within a project, and to give it a
weighting so that it can be defined as minor, medium or major.
It is a four step process, described in full below.
Resources will also have an impact on priorities, either in terms of operating within the budget for on
incompatible demands on key staff. This is a complex process and may best be achieved through a
facilitated workshop.

1. How to use the Project Assessment tool

Step 1: Does it meet the base criteria?
First, you should decide whether the proposed piece of work fits the base criteria for a project. A
project, simply put, is a piece of work to produce a specific, one-off product of some kind that is
not part of routine work.
Assembling a car on a production line is not a project because although the output (a car) is a product
and it is specific, it is not one-off. However building a kit car in your garage is a project because it fulfils
all three criteria.

Step 2: Project Impact (page 4)

For each of the three criteria listed in column 1, decide where the project fits – for example if the
expected Financial ROI (return on investment) is between three to four years you would score 2
against this criterion.
Add up all the scores according to the column in which each selection sits – the result should fall
between the possible minimum of 0 (everything scoring 0 points) and maximum of 15 (everything
scoring 5 points).

Step 3: Decide on level of complexity (page 5)

Consider the overall complexity of the project. You follow a similar process to that outlined in
steps 1.2 – 1.3 but using the complexity grid on page 5 instead.
The grid on page 5 does not explicitly include a zero score column, but zero scores are still
possible – e.g. if delivery timescale is less than a month you would score zero against Delivery
Timescale.
Add up all the scores according to the column in which each selection sits – the result should fall
between the possible minimum of 0 (everything scoring 0 points) and maximum of 24 (everything
scoring 4 points).

Step 4: Decide on project type (page 6)

Enter the outcomes from steps 2 and 3 on the gird on page 6. Depending on which zone your
project falls into, you can now determine whether it is Not a Project, Minor, Medium or Major.
All Major projects should be linked to the relevant strategic Corporate Priorities and treated
as corporate projects, even if they are being managed within a single service plan – this is
because they will inevitably have links and impacts beyond the boundaries of a single service.
IT-related projects will be overseen by the CMT
Medium projects will often be of the “tactical” type, and if accepted by the relevant governance
body (Corporate Management Team), can be managed independently (via an appropriate project
board) within the relevant service. However, some Medium

Project Assessment Matrix Page 2

 projects will have importance or impact beyond their immediate “service”, and the
governance body should consider whether to include specific Medium projects in the relevant
Corporate Priorities (in particular, those scoring within two or three points of the upper
boundary).
Minor projects will almost always be “tactical”, and can be managed independently of corporate
governance within the relevant service via an appropriate project board.
Not a Project simply means that although it fulfils the “project” criteria in step 1, it is not complex
or impactful enough to need to be managed as a formal projecti, though of course you can still
use a light-touch project management approach.
Once you have completed the matrix you may delete the two pages of instructions (pages 2 and
3) in order to present your assessment as part of the Project Brief.

2. Guidance on use of the Assessment Matrix criteria:

• Strategic contribution – systems that have to be delivered in order to deliver agreed
Corporate Priorities. For an impact score of 3 or 4 points it must be possible to demonstrate
within the Business Case that the project has a direct impact upon the achievement of the
priorities (i.e. it isn’t simply linked to them; the corporate priorities are to some extent
dependent upon the project in order to be achieved).
• Return On Investment and timescale – at the initial stages of project planning it is usually
difficult to provide accurate estimates of ROI and timescale. Thus if a project’s estimate is
close to an upper boundary, it will be safer to score it in the higher level since projects
usually end up costing more (i.e. having a lesser ROI) and taking longer than originally
anticipated.
• Organisational effectiveness – factors to consider are the degree to which existing business
processes will improve and whether major restructuring may be required. Do not consider
cost savings here as this is built into the ROI criterion and you must avoid double counting.
• Operational change – this is closely allied to Organisational effectiveness, but whereas the
former looks at impact in terms of positive improvement, Operational change looks at the
issue of how much change is happening (the greater the degree of change, the more difficult
it will be to achieve). For example if you have scored 3 against Organisational effectiveness
(Improves work of whole service) it’s extremely unlikely that you will score less than 3 on
Operational change.

Project Assessment Matrix Page 3

Project impact assessment matrix

Criteria Score 0 Score 1 Score 2 Score 3 Score 4 Score 5

Contributes Contributes Contributes Contributes

Strategic Very significant
None indirectly to 1 indirectly to >1 directly to 1 directly to >1
contribution strategic impact
strategic theme strategic theme strategic theme strategic theme

Financial ROI >5yrs 4-5 yrs 3-4 yrs 2-3 yrs 1-2 yrs <1 yr

Some Significant
Improves work of Improves work of Improves work of
Operational improvement improvement
None a small group of a large team of whole service
effectiveness across whole across whole
staff <6 staff >5
Authority Authority

Current Corporate Priorities:-

• A Clean and Welcoming Environment
• Supporting Neighborhoods
• Promoting Inward Investment and Job Creation

Current Corporate Values:-

• Deliver Value for Money
• Supporting the Workforce
• Promoting Open Communication

Project Assessment Matrix Page 4

Project complexity assessment matrix

Criteria Score 1 Score 2 Score 3 Score 4

Delivery Timescale in
1-6 6 – 12 12 – 18 >18
months - 10%
Stakeholders Internal and within single Internal across more
Mainly external Internal and external
20% business area than one business area

Operational change Some new business Significant re-structure Major change eg large
Very minimal processes and possible of processes and work scale restructure,
15% some re-training areas outsourcing
Contract complexity No new contracts Single contract with Multiple contracts with Contract(s) with new
20% required known supplier known suppliers suppliers(s)
In-house expertise Have done this before Have done this before Have done similar Have not done anything
20% many times once or twice before, but not the same like this before

Dependencies Links with other projects

Very minimal links with Links with other projects Other projects depend
upon which this project
15% other projects but little impact upon this project
depends

Project Assessment Matrix Page 5

Project Type Matrix
24

22

20

18

16

14
Complexity

12

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Impact

Not a project
Minor project
Medium project
Major project

Project Assessment Matrix (v4) Page 6