Optimal IT Project Selection – Quantification of Critical Scoring Criteria

Abstract

The management of IT project portfolios is challenging because of IT projects’ complexity, dynamics, unknowns, and uncertainties. IT projects account for a large IT budget proportion and significantly influence value contribution, strategic development, goal achievements, and competitive advantages. Many IT projects still fail, exceed time and resources, and do not reach their planned goals because of wrong decisions, unsatisfactory evaluation, and missing selection criteria. Thus, a continuous IT project scoring and selection is crucial to enable an optimal portfolio composition. We conduct a systematic literature review and 14 semi-structured qualitative expert interviews to develop a uniform and holistic scoring approach. Our findings show that IT projects’ urgency, strategy, efficiency, risk, and complexity are critical IT project scoring criteria. Our scoring approach increases objectivity and quality in evaluating planned and running IT projects and allows more convincing and transparent decisions.