Strategic Initiatives – What are they?

Strategic initiatives are projects which add value to an enterprise through the use of information technology. In order to achieve success, the project team must ensure that the project will create a significant return on investment for the organization’s stakeholders.

How the project should be evaluated:

The acceptable Return on Investment amount (dollar or percentage) should be agreed upon prior to the analysis work being initiated.

Substantial research should be undertaken to determine the specific reaons for the project’s creation. This research should include productive discussions with the project sponsor. The information collected should act as a base from which the project’s scope can be created. Based on the project’s scope, one can then estimate the approximate cost associated with the project’s implementation. The next step includes analyzing the potential value the project will create. The expected benefits associated with the strategic initiative must then be analyzed against the expected or estimated cost. A dollar value must be associated with the tangible and intangible benefits. The dollar value associated with the strategic initiatives intangible benefits should be validated with Subject Matter Experts.

Once the project costs and benefits have been analyzed, the project team along with the Project Sponsor will determine whether the project creates enough stakeholder value to warrant the strategic initiative.