Project Proposal Idea Template

The best projects would never have been executed without a good idea being captured and developed.
For organizations looking to implement end-to-end portfolio management, it is crucial that ideas are
captured in a consistent manner so that they can be compared, combined and evolved toward proposals.
It is also important to ensure that ideas can be captured in a simple and straightforward manner so as to
encourage participation from all employees regardless of department or position.

This template is intended to be the initial “frontline” idea capture tool that can then feed other steps in the
idea capture and development process. This form should feed the Project Proposal Idea Tracking
Template.

Guidelines:

 Name: The name of the person generating the idea. This is important to ensure that credit is
given where due and to provide a contact for additional clarification/development work. These
forms should not be completed anonymously as there may well be a need for additional research
and discussion.
 Department: This will help to provide some context to where the idea is coming from: What is the
perspective that the person has toward the idea? If possible, this should be a drop-down list to
assist in filtering and sorting ideas based on department.
 Job title: This builds on the department information to provide additional context to the thinking
behind the idea: How does the idea relate to the work that the individual does, how much insight
will the individual have into the challenge/opportunity, etc.?
 ID (PMO use only): Every idea submitted should be given an ID for further tracking. The ID
should be assigned using a logical numbering system by whichever group is tracking the
submissions (I have assumed the PMO here).
 Which goals does your idea support: I have provided two dropdown options for this selection
because I want people to think about more than just single-benefit ideas. You can add a third if
you wish, but take care not to encourage people to claim any benefit--ideas will only be approved
based on their major benefits. It is important that this be set as a dropdown to align with your
organization’s objectives. Ideas will ultimately only evolve into projects if they help the
organization to achieve its goals and objectives so when people come up with ideas, it is
important that those ideas align with the organizational needs.--that is what this field is designed
to help achieve.
 Please describe your idea: This is the core content of the form, where the idea is described.
This field is deliberately generic to avoid “scaring” people away, but contributors should be
encouraged to provide as much information as possible.
 What are the biggest advantages? This field forces people to think about the major benefits
that the project will deliver to the organization. Again, the field is generic to avoid “barriers” to
contributions, but you should be looking for the potential for significant organizational benefits to
help identify those ideas that are worth pursuing further.
  What are the biggest challenges? This field is simply the “mirror” to the field above, looking for
the major challenges to implementing the identified idea. You should be looking for legitimate
challenges rather than attempts to play down the hurdles that will need to be overcome to
implement the project.
 Additional comments: This is simply a free-format field for additional information that the person
completing the form wishes to provide.

Name
Department
Job title ID (PMO use
only)
Which goals does your idea Choose an item. Choose an item.
support?
Please describe your idea. Please provide as much information as possible: what your idea is, why it’s a
good idea, how it helps, etc.

What are the biggest advantages of your idea?

1.
2.
3.
What are the biggest challenges to your idea?
1.
2.
3.
Additional comments