The arithmetic behind the ranking
Nothing here is a black box. Every number on the dashboard comes from the four steps below.
1. Each category scores the share of its criteria met
Every opportunity answers the same yes/no questions. A category with three questions and two answered yes scores 0.667. A category with one question scores either 0 or 1. Nothing is graded, so two people scoring the same opportunity should reach the same answer.
2. Weights turn the category scores into one number
Each category score is multiplied by its weighting and the results are added, then multiplied by 100. Weightings are normalised first, so the score always sits between 0 and 100 even if the dials no longer total 100%.
- Areas of focus5%
- Clients10%
- Expansion & global footprint25%
- Increasing revenue & profitability25%
- People & culture10%
- Innovation & service delivery10%
- Operational infrastructure15%
Strategic alignment is the same category scores averaged without weighting. It answers a different question: how broadly does this opportunity touch the firm's priorities, regardless of which ones the firm currently cares about most.
3. A worked example
Project Lumen — unified data platform, currently ranked 1.
| Category | Met | Score | Weight | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Areas of focus | 0/1 | 0.000 | 5% | 0.0 |
| Clients | 2/3 | 0.667 | 10% | 6.7 |
| Expansion & global footprint | 3/3 | 1.000 | 25% | 25.0 |
| Increasing revenue & profitability | 1/2 | 0.500 | 25% | 12.5 |
| People & culture | 0/2 | 0.000 | 10% | 0.0 |
| Innovation & service delivery | 2/2 | 1.000 | 10% | 10.0 |
| Operational infrastructure | 3/3 | 1.000 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Weighted score | 69.2 | |||
Open the full assessment to see which questions were answered yes.
4. Three bands sit alongside the score
These are not part of the weighted score. They position an opportunity on the portfolio map and tell you what the score is worth.
Benefits assessment
- High tangible benefits3
Direct, quantifiable improvements such as increased revenue, higher utilisation, reduced cost, or measurable efficiency gains.
- Medium tangible benefits2
Benefits that are measurable but indirect, such as reduced turnaround time, improved accuracy, or workload balancing.
- Non-tangible benefits1
Qualitative improvements that deliver strategic or cultural value including client satisfaction, employee experience, or reduced risk.
- None / unknown0.5
Benefits have not been articulated clearly or lack enough evidence to assess.
Cost band
Sets the bubble size on the portfolio map. The midpoint is used only for the indicative investment figure, which is an order of magnitude, not a budget.
- <£50Ksize 1£25k
- £50–£150Ksize 2£100k
- £150–£300Ksize 4£225k
- £300–£500Ksize 5£400k
- >£500Ksize 6£750k
- Unknownsize 3no midpoint
Complexity
- High3
Work that requires significant cross-team coordination, has multiple interdependencies, or involves substantial change to processes, technology, or ways of working.
- Medium2
Work that involves some cross-functional coordination or moderate process or technology change but remains largely contained and predictable.
- Low1
Work that is well-defined, largely self-contained, and requires minimal cross-team coordination.
What counts as high value
An opportunity scoring 50 or above is treated as high value and worth a business case ahead of the rest. That threshold is a convention rather than a calculation: it is the point at which an opportunity is meeting a substantial share of the categories the firm weights most heavily.
What this prototype does not do yet
- Data is entered by hand. In use it would arrive from the systems that already hold it: finance, resourcing, the project management tool.
- The timeline shows resource load, but there is no dependency model and no automatic levelling. A red month is a prompt to check, not a plan.
- Everything is stored in this browser. There is no shared record, no accounts, and no audit trail of who changed what.