Setting up Scoring and Ranking Criteria

This article explains how to define scoring and ranking criteria in the Administration area. This criteria is used when ranking projects against others in the portfolio.

Overview

Projects can be ranked and scored based on a predefined set of criteria, such as Strategic Fit, Hard ROI, Soft ROI, Risk, and more.

How-To

To set up this criteria, along with the defined choices and calculations:

Step 1: Click on the Administration icon (gears) on the blue ResourceFirst application toolbar, and then select Ranking:

The main Ranking page will display, where you can choose to work with Fields, Formulas or Lists:

Ranking Fields

Step 1: To add a scoring element field for ranking, click the  icon on the upper left.  To delete a field, click the  icon.

Step 2: Type into the columns to name the field, give it a description, and identify which “List” to use for the field (see “Ranking Lists” below), or choose to set up that field without a predefined list.

[Note: Lists can be used for multiple ranking criteria fields, and they determine what choices the user has when scoring that particular element. In the image below, HML is a list that includes a high, medium, low choice.]

Step 3: Specify the order in which the field should appear (when users are scoring projects in the Ranking tab for their project).

Step 4: Optionally, assign a min/max value, as well as thresholds for various colors.

[Note: If you add a new ranking field, be sure to adjust the formulas on the Formulas tab to accommodate the new field. Also, make sure the sequence number of the new fields match up to the numbers in the formula (see Ranking Formulas below).]

Step 5: Click the Save icon.

[Note: The KPI-prefixed scoring fields are system defaults. You can revise the color settings, but the fields themselves are used for the automatic project KPI scoring.]

The 7 ranking fields below are set up as system defaults and are defined in Admin–>Column Headings in the Project table (screenshot below).  Note that the internal field names are RANKVALUE1, RANKVALUE2, etc. These do not change. However, you can change the visible name (ECV, NPV, etc.) to be some other ranking value if you prefer.

Ranking Formulas

Formulas come preset with ResourceFirst, but you can revise and add formulas as well. As an example, RC[1] refers to the first Ranking Column (Field). The “1” refers to the order in which the field is listed..

Adding new ranking fields to the formula: The number for any new fields in the formula needs to match the Sequence number of the new fields in the Fields tab.  For instance, if you added a new ranking field on the Fields tab at Sequence 18, then the formula would add the new ranking field as RC[18] to the list.

Step 1: To add new ranking formula, go to the Formula tab and click the icon on the upper left.  To delete a formula, click the  icon.

Step 2: Specify a formula name, a  formula type (e.g., AVERAGE, SUM), and key in the formula using the syntax in the example above. For example, a formula with three ranking criteria would appear as: (RC[1], RC[2], RC[3])

Step 3: Click the Save icon.

Ranking Lists

Lists are the choices users will have when assigning a score to a certain scoring element. The list includes the list items, the value for that item when used in a formula, and color that should be assigned if that value is chosen.

Once a list is defined, it can be used when defining any of the ranking fields on the Fields tab.

Step 1: To create a list, go to the Lists tab and click the icon on the upper left.  To delete a list, click the  icon.

Step 2: Give the list a name and then add List Items on the right by clicking the icon at the top of the right pane. To delete a list item, click the icon.

Step 3: For each list item, specify the scoring value of the item, and a color if the item is chosen by the user (R/Y/G, where R=Red, Y=Yellow, G=Green).

Step 4: Click the Save icon.