Forward thinking

Structured Prioritization Approach for Maximizing the Benefits of Programmatic Investments

13 October 2011

Virtually all large organizations must prioritize their projects based on potential limitations, including available funds.

A paper on the prioritization of the D&D Program for the US Department of Energy has been published in the journal TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION . This is a forum for presentation of information encompassing essentially the entire field of applied sciences with a focus on transformative technology and academic innovation.

Structured Prioritization Approach for Maximizing the Benefits of Programmatic Investments

Paula G. Kirk,* Yvette T. Collazo,* Andrew P. Szilagyi,* and Ian Seed†

*U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Washington, DC, USA
†Cogentus Consulting Limited, Reading, Berkshire, UK

Executive Summary

Virtually all large organizations must prioritize their projects based on potential limitations, including available funds. These prioritization requirements are particularly valid for the US Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management in funding technologies that are to be used in the decommissioning of a large number of excess facilities built to support World War II and Cold War efforts. This article describes a structured process for prioritizing projects constrained by limited budgets used by the US Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning and Facility Engineering to deliver a ranking of available technology projects aligned with organizational objectives. The process was initiated with workshops involving all key stakeholders that determined the group’s technology needs, developed weighted criteria to rank needs, and scored the technology projects against those criteria. Using Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, a prioritized list of projects that maximizes benefits and is defendable and traceable, was selected based on various anticipated funding levels. The process is robust to changes in the project list and offers a framework for tracking process implementation. By engaging stakeholders throughout the process, communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among the participants is increased.

You can download the paper (fee applies) from https://www.cognizantcommunication.com/journal-titles/technology-a-innovation