Activities before the project prioritization meetings at the SSG Level

Before the SSG meetings the organization prepares proposals for new business projects to be included in the prioritization process. Typically, the preparation of a project proposal involves three sets of activities:

1) Generation of project proposals. The process of suggesting and developing project ideas is a bottom-up process. It typically begins at a lower level in the organization and unfolds in a dialogue between development managers, business representatives, project managers and IT developers. Some project ideas are initiated in the business units and others are initiated in the IT-organization. Subsequently they evolve in dialogues between development managers, business representatives, project managers and IT-developers.

It starts with the business. They have an idea and before we get involved they tend to have a couple of months to make up their own minds before we get involved together. Also, we start with very high-level business objectives then we break down those business objectives into what we call initiatives when we have broken down those initiatives or maybe I could say that under each initiative we will identify a number of project initiatives that we would like to see executed. [In addition], we work and make plans for what we see as interdependences between our projects and if one project is a predecessor of another one and so forth. So we make a rough picture of what we see coming [to the development plan]. (Development Manager 1)

When an idea begins to mature, the department manager of the department in which the project idea will be implemented assigns the ‘idea owner’, an IT-project manager, business developer, or business representative, to develop a memo for a potential project. Memos are one to two pages long. A typical memo includes a description of the problem or opportunity that the new project addresses, a rough cost-benefit calculation for the project, or a qualitative description of the expected benefits, and finally, a preliminary technological solution and a potential schedule for the project.

The amount and quality of the information in the memo varies from memo to memo depending on the maturity of the idea: the more mature the idea, the more specific the information and the more accurate the cost-benefit calculations provided for the project.

2) Consulting About and Reviewing of New Projects. In the process of developing the memo into a full project proposal, a development manager takes over responsibility for the process. They ask their groups to produce more detailed cost-related information and calculations for each new project, and they make contact with IT-developers and IT-project managers in order to investigate the technical feasibility of the project idea:

We call the ones that we really know can make it and ask them if I need a product in a week can you do it or not [because] it doesn't work to go into the real prioritization part because, then I will never get something, I will not get it in 100 years. (Senior Business Representative 1)

When a preliminary project proposal is available it goes through an internal review process by a business analyst from the Group IT. This quality check may lead to revisions of the project proposal. This review process takes place, internally, in each area, with each memo being revised by management and approved by the SSG.

Then we have a formal review process … every project memo [is] reviewed by management. (Development Manager 1).

This is a case-by-case review with an acceptance or rejection decision. Once the review is conducted, the development manager brings the project proposal to the chairman of the SSG, who is the CIO, the COO or a business representative. At this point the development manager also begins to look for sponsors in his or her network, in order to secure the inclusion of the project proposal on the prioritization list.

If you have some [projects] that you think are absolutely important then you try and get some friends to back you up in the SSG, I think that’s a fairly natural process. (Head of Digital Banking Program)

In an attempt to better understand the projects and their importance (i.e., to form an opinion) the business representatives whose projects are far more diverse and come from different business units and brands, go through each business unit and ask questions about their current needs and priorities in terms of products and demand, and also ask the IT department if there are resources available on the supply side to carry out these projects.

You don’t stand a chance [of understanding the new projects] unless you are talking to a lot of people discussing all the things, also discussing from the business side is this really important? And those discussions, I have them all the time of course, so you can’t do that [understanding the new projects]

without [talking to a lot of people]. (Senior Business Representative 1)

3) Informal Discussions of Project Proposals. Once the cost calculations have been provided for each project proposal and the development manager together with the business representatives in the SSG have come to an opinion about them, the development manager and the business representatives meet informally to discuss the project proposals. In these meeting they discuss the projects and express their beliefs about them, especially their importance and priorities. They also exchange information about the resources that are available to the SSG in the coming year, as these place a limit on the number of new projects the SSG can initiate.

Many of the things are already cleared before we come to the meetings in order to find out how many resources do we actually have for new development parts. (Interview with Senior Business Director)

When it comes to the project choice per se, a senior business representative reported:

… at the end of the day [we] look at [the projects] and say what is my feeling

… about this … project. (Interview with Senior Business Director)

Based on these informal meetings the secretaries of the SSGs compose preliminary project lists, which they bring to and present at the SSG meetings. Prior to this, the SSG secretary typically communicates with the development directors in order to briefly discuss the agenda, as well as to identify potential issues that might emerge during the meeting. Finally, before the prioritization meeting, the chairman of the SSG investigates the opinions of the different stakeholders (e.g., the Financial Director, COO, and business representatives from different units), in order to be better prepared.

The outcome of these activities prior to the meetings is twofold. Not only do participants form an opinion and make an initial attempt to understand the content of the projects but they also become aware of other’s opinions, preferences and dislikes.

Figure 18 presents the sequence of the activities that take place before the meetings as described above.

Figure 18: Activities before the SSG meetings

After having described the activities that occur in the organization before the SSG meetings and the actions the decision makers take in order to prepare for the meeting, I next present how a typical SSG prioritization meeting unfolds.