Primary Factors

Project Team Size, Duration and Cost

Other Factors to Consider

< 5 people
< 3 months
< $50k

~ 5-10 people
~ 3-12 months
~ $50K-$500K

> 10 people
> 12 months
> $500K

Low Impact

• Minor strategic value
• Impacts a single business unit
• Impacts fewer than 25 end users
• Strong stakeholder/management support
• Problem and solution are defined and easy to achieve (e.g., consider project size, interrelationship to existing systems, location of the implementation sites)
• No dependencies on other projects
• Minor impact on financial revenue, expenses
• Project Team very familiar with project’s objective and solution (e.g., consider whether project team has ever used a required, new technology)
• Project Team very familiar with customer and their business
• Project Manager very familiar with project management practices (e.g., consider familiarity with containing scope creep, meeting firm deadlines)

small

small

medium

Moderate Impact

• Moderate strategic value
• Impacts two to four business units
• Impacts 25 to 250 end users
• Moderate stakeholder/management support
• Problem and solution may be somewhat difficult to achieve (e.g., consider project size, interrelationship to existing systems, location of the implementation sites)
• Minor links to other projects (low impact)
• Moderate impact on financial revenue, expenses
• Project Team somewhat familiar with project’s objective and solution (e.g., consider whether project team has ever used a required, new technology)
• Project Team somewhat familiar with customer and their business
• Project Manager somewhat familiar with project management practices (e.g., consider familiarity with containing scope creep, meeting firm deadlines)

small

medium

large

High Impact

• High Strategic value
• Impacts five or more business units
• Impacts more than 250 end users
• Limited stakeholder/management support
• Problem and solution will be difficult to define and achieve (e.g., consider project size, interrelationship to existing systems, location of the implementation sites)
• Significant links to other projects
• Significant impact on financial revenue, expenses
• Project Team limited or no experience with project’s objective and solution (e.g., consider whether project team has ever used a required, new technology)
• Project Team limited or no experience with customer and their business
• Project Manager limited or no experience with project management practices (e.g., consider familiarity with containing scope creep, meeting firm deadlines)

medium

large

large