Continuous Improvement Toolkit

PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Many real-life decision-making situations have several
conflicting criteria that need to be considered at the
same time.

Traditionally, this is often

carried out by applying
trial-and-error methods,
or by relying on the
experience of people.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
In such situations, decision makers are required to use
prioritization in order to make effective decisions.

Prioritization is an essential
skill that needs to be mastered
by professionals to make the
best use of their own and their
team’s time and effort.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Prioritization allows to select the most appropriate
alternative after evaluating multiple conflicting criteria
as part of the decision-making process.

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Prioritization allows to determine the best feasible
option according to predefined criteria.

OPTIONS
1 Helps selecting
items to be
2 actioned from
a list of possible
3 alternatives
4

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
A prioritization matrix provides a way to prioritize a
list of items into an order of importance for decision
making.

This provides a foundation

for sorting and selecting
the items and helps in the
overall evaluation.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Applications of Prioritization Matrix

Can be used when you need to prioritize customer

needs based on what customers say is important.

Often used in project management

to select the potential projects that
need to be initiated

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Applications of Prioritization Matrix

Equipment and machine System and software

selection selection

Personnel
selection

Material and service Vendor and supplier

selection selection

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Used in problems solving and process improvement to:

Select the problem that needs to be resolved
before initiation.
Then, select the solution that needs to be
implemented after analysis.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

BENEFITS

Helps making more Helps reducing options

informed and to the most effective
justifiable decisions and least costly

Helps making use of Allows the team to

time and resources to agree on priorities
focus on the things and move toward
that really matter the action collectively

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Prioritization Matrix Components

1 Problem / objective

2 Decision makers and their preferences

3 Alternatives / options

4 Evaluation criteria

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria

Represent defined standards by

which the different alternatives
can be measured and compared.

Provide an objective and

consistent basis for comparison.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation criteria for selecting projects . . .

What
Risks else
?

Costs
Benefits

Time

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation criteria when hiring a new employee . . .

What
Experience else
?

Skills
Availability

Attitude

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation criteria when buying a new car . . .

What
Cost else
?

Safety
Performance

Comfort

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria
How to Develop Evaluation Criteria?

Generate ideas Organize criteria Reduce Criteria

(Brainstorming) (Affinity diagrams) (Voting)

Evaluation criteria development session

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Evaluation Criteria

Should be easily Should be relevant Should be useful

measured to the situation for the evaluation

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria
Questions that may help develop your evaluation criteria . .

Will the solution solve the problem permanently?

Will it improve customer satisfaction?
What are the cost for implementing the solution?
How easy is it to implement?
How much time it will take?
Are there any potential problems or risks that can arise in future?
Are there any potential regulatory issues that need to be considered?

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

Simple Prioritization Matrix Template

CRITERIA

OPTIONS Scores Rank

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Prioritization Matrix Template – Rotated Version

OPTIONS

CRITERIA

Scores

Rank

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Prioritization Matrix Template – 2 Version

Criteria Options

Options Scores Rank Criteria

Scores

Rank

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Example – Selecting New Equipment

CRITERIA
Cost Decreased Increased User
effective defects productivity friendly
OPTIONS Scores Rank

New equipment 1 3 2 2 3 10 2

New equipment 2 2 3 3 4 12 1

New equipment 3 1 2 4 2 9 3

New equipment 4 4 1 1 1 7 4

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Weighting Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria can be weighed according to their

relative importance based on the preferences of the team.

For example, when hiring a new employee,

skills may weigh less than the experience,
because it considered by the recruitment
team to be less important.

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Weighting Evaluation Criteria
How to Weight Evaluation Criteria?
Allowing the team to distribute a certain number of points
(for example 100) between the selected criteria
Totaling the scores collected during the evaluation criteria
development session

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Weighting Evaluation Criteria – Selecting new Equipment
Ask each team member to distribute 100 points between the selected criteria

Criteria Adam Emir Sara Zekaria Total

Cost effective 40 10 20 15 85

Decreased defects 15 20 30 15 80

Increased productivity 40 55 50 30 175

User friendly 5 15 0 40 60

100 100 100 100

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Prioritization Matrix Template (Including Weighting)

Criteria

Weighted
 Options / Weight →
scores Rank

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Prioritization Matrix Template (Including Weighting)

Options

Criteria Weight
Rotated
Version

Weighted scores

Rank

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

Prioritization Matrix Template (Including Weighting)

Criteria Options

Weight → Criteria Weight

 Options Scores Rank

Weighted scores

Rank

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

Example – Selecting New Equipment

Cost Decreased Increased User
Criteria
effective defects productivity friendly
Weighted
 Options / Weight → 1 1 1 1
scores Rank

New equipment 1 3 2 2 3 10 2

New equipment 2 2 3 3 4 12 1

New equipment 3 1 2 4 2 9 3

New equipment 4 4 1 1 1 7 4

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Selecting New Equipment
Criteria Adam Emir Sara Zekaria Total
Cost effective 40 10 20 15 85
Decreased defects 15 20 30 15 80
Increased productivity 40 55 50 30 175
User friendly 5 15 40 60
100 100 100 100

Cost Decreased Increased User

Criteria
effective defects productivity friendly Weighted
 Options / Weight → 0.85 0.8 1.75 0.6 scores Rank
New equipment 1 3 2 2 3 9.45 3
New equipment 2 2 3 3 4 11.75 1
New equipment 3 1 2 4 2 10.65 2
New equipment 4 4 1 1 1 6.55 4

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Selecting New Equipment
Criteria Adam Emir Sara Zekaria Total
Cost effective 40 10 20 15 85
You may express
weights as a
Decreased defects 15 20 30 15 80
whole number,
Increased productivity 40 55 50 30 175
decimal or
User friendly 5 15 0 40 60
percentage
100 100 100 100

Cost Decreased Increased User

Criteria effective defects productivity friendly
Weighted
0.85 0.8 1.75 0.6 scores Rank Scores for each
New equipment 1 3 2 2 3 9.45 3 criterion are
New equipment 2 2 3 3 4 11.75 1 multiplied with
New equipment 3 1 2 4 2 10.65 2 their weights
New equipment 4 4 1 1 1 6.55 4

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
How to Conduct a Prioritization Exercise?

Explain the purpose for constructing the prioritization matrix

Identify and agree on the alternatives that need to be prioritized

Note: All alternatives are subject to being changed during the prioritization session

1
Alternatives 2
3

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How to Conduct a Prioritization Exercise?

Select the evaluation criteria and their weights

Ensure that the evaluation criteria and their weights are agreed by all

Criteria
1 2 3
1
2
3

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How to Conduct a Prioritization Exercise?

Facilitate the prioritization session by allowing each team member to

rank the alternatives against each criteria from best to worst

The best will have the highest rank score

(e.g., 5 out of 5 alternatives)

1 2 3
1
2
3
1 2 3
1 2 3 1
1 2
2 3
3

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
How to Conduct a Prioritization Exercise?

Collect the team’s rank scores and add them up on one worksheet

The general preference score is the weighted average of all criteria

1 2 3
1 .. .. ..
2 .. .. ..

3 .. .. ..

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How to Conduct a Prioritization Exercise?

Calculate the final weighted scores for each alternative

Sort the items by their ranks to make them clearer for communication and decision making

1 2 3 Scores Rank
1 .. .. .. .. ..
2 .. .. .. .. ..
3 .. .. .. .. ..

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Select the Most Efficient Data Collection
Method

Response
Criteria Cost Quantity
time
Weighted
 Option / Weight → 0.4 0.2 0.3 scores Rank
Questionnaire 4 1 4 4.8 1

Interview 2 4 1 4.3 2

Observation 3 2 3 3.7 3

Focus group 1 3 2 2.2 4

Note: High score of cost doesn’t mean that the cost is high, but low (or cost-effective)

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The outcome of the analysis can be presented using a

bar chart to see which alternative is the most suitable
based on the scores of the team.
Scores

Alternatives

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Select the Most Efficient Data Collection
Method
Criteria Cost Response time Quantity
Weighted
 Option / Weight → 0.4 0.2 0.3 scores Rank
Questionnaire 4 1 4 4.8 1
Interview 2 4 1 4.3 2
Observation 3 2 3 3.7 3
Focus group 1 3 2 2.2 4

An ordered bar chart that

represents the results

Questionnaire Interview Observation Focus group

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Project Selection
A manufacturing company needs to select two projects to be
implemented this year. Consider the following project
alternatives and criteria . . .

Savings $ 1st Months to

Cost $
year (X3) complete
Energy reduction $36,000 $43,000 10

Spoilage reduction $30,000 $120,000 12

Reduce strap width $5,500 $11,000 3

Reduce stretch wrap usage $7,000 $4,000 5

Reduce over varnish usage $20,000 $66,000 8

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 PRIORITIZATION MATRIX
Example – Project Selection

It was agreed that savings should be given a weight of 3 as it

is relatively more important than the other two criteria.
Savings $ Months to
Criteria Cost $
(1st year) complete
Weighted
 Option / Weight → 1 3 1 scores Rank
Energy reduction 1 3X3= 9 2 12 4th
Spoilage reduction 2 5X3 = 15 1 18 1st
Reduce strap width 5 2X3 = 6 5 16 3rd
Reduce stretch wrap usage 4 1X3 = 3 4 11 5th
Reduce over varnish usage 3 4X3 = 12 3 18 1st

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Four Field Prioritization Matrix

If you have only two evaluation criteria, you can

present the alternatives in a four-field matrix.

A four-field
matrix

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Four Field Prioritization Matrix – Example

Consider Later Do First

+ COMPLETION TIME –

Reduce strap width

Reduce stretch
Reduce over wrap usage
varnish usage

Reduce spoilage

Reduce
energy
usage
Never Do Consider Later
+ COST –

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Further Information

It is important to include people with enough

knowledge of the situation to avoid missing any critical
point.

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