Project Request

Project requests enable you to estimate, evaluate and prioritize potential projects before passing them through an approval chain. Once a project request has been approved, you can create one, or more, projects from it.

Please note that the Project Request feature is only available to customers subscribing to the Advanced or Enterprise plans of the Aidi platform.

Setup a Project Request

Project Requests List

Create a Project Request

Evaluation of Project Request

Create a Project from a Project Request

Display Project Request Evaluation

Setup a Project Request (To be performed by an administrator) 

Before you can create your first project request, you'll need to set up your first project request type.

Access Project request types from the Admin menu. The interface displays a vertical menu with the Admin option highlighted, which opens a submenu containing Project request types.

1. In the list of project request types, start by entering a title for your new request type.
2. Press the “+” to save.
3. In the same way that approval chains are set up for project/purchase orders, select the approver(s) from the drop-down list on the right of the screen. A table displays existing request types with blue indicators.

4. To define evaluation criteria, first select the Criteria tab at the top.
5. Select the project request type that you want to associate criteria and coefficients with.
6. Click on the + button to add a new criteria. The interface shows a criteria table with columns for name, coefficient, and value.

 7. Name the new criteria.

 8. Indicate the weighting coefficient. The coefficient must be a positive numerical value. It is used to weigh that specific criteria, giving them greater or lesser importance. This coefficient is taken into account when calculating the weighted score for each project request. Input fields allow entering the criteria name (e.g., "Environment integration") and its value (e.g., "10").

Project Requests List (for all users)

Access Project request from the Initialize menu. The menu shows an Initialize section with Project request option highlighted.

The list of project requests you see is restricted by default visibility, i.e. you see the project requests associated with your Administrative Unit. Please refer to this article for more details about default visibility.

You can consult the list of project requests to find out: 

1. The evaluation of project requests,
2. Creation date,
3. Status:
   • Converted: When a project request has been converted into a project or program.
   • Approved: When the approval process has been completed.
   • Waiting for approval: When the project request has been assigned to an approver, but not yet approved.
   • In preparation: When the project request has not yet been sent for approval.

4. Feel free to use the search/filter bar to find a specific project request or narrow the list down. You can search by title, type, total weighted rating, date or status. 

The interface displays a table of requests with columns for number, title, type, weighted rating, date and status, with sorting options for each column.

Create a Project Request

1. From the Project requests list, click the Create button. A create button is visible in the top right of the requests list.

1. Enter a title for your project request. A text field allows entering the project title, such as "Renovation of Building A"

2. Choose a type from the list. A dropdown menu shows available types, like "Appel d'offre".

3. Click Save and Open. A blue "Save and Open" button is visible at the bottom of the form.

A. Once you've created your request, you must now fill it in. You'll find an Identification section where you can define a responsible person, add notes, and associate a program and an administrative unit. This section can be modified for requests with a status In preparation or Approved. The interface displays several information sections: Identification, Status, Documents, Custom fields, and Estimates.

B. Once your project request is complete, you can send it for approval. The status updates automatically according to the stage of completion or approval. The request can be canceled or deleted from the Status section.

C. Documents and URL links can be added to support the request, regardless of status.

D. Custom fields can be added from the Admin menu. These custom fields are unique to your organization and can be modified, regardless of the status of the project request.

E. The Estimates section allows you to evaluate the estimated cost and effort for this project. This section can be modified for requests whose status is In preparation.

F. In the General Information section, you can describe and explain the problems involved, the objectives and potential risks of the project requested, and the desired start and delivery dates. This section can be modified for requests whose status is In preparation.

G. The Evaluation section allows you to evaluate the request according to certain criteria, when the project request status is In preparation.

Evaluation of Project Request

1. When creating a project request, before sending it for approval, you can enter a score out of 10 for each criterion defined on the admin page.  
2. Each score entered in the project request will be automatically multiplied by its respective coefficient. The results will be added together and multiplied by 10, then divided by the sum of the coefficients, giving you the total weighted score. 

Calculation for the example below:  

((5x1) + (15x9) + (5x2) + (10x10)) x 10 / (5+15+5+10) = 71.43%*.

*The result is rounded to the nearest integer.

The table shows an example with evaluated criteria: danger (5, score 1), plus values (15, score 9), costs (5, score 2), environment integration (10, score 10), giving a total weighted rating of 71%.

You will find the total weighted rating for your project request in the list of project requests.

Create a Project from a Project Request 

Once your request has been approved, you can create a project from the Status section of the request at any time (provided you have “write” privilege on project resources in your access profile). You can create as many projects as you like from within a request, but a project can only be linked to a single request.

The interface shows an "Approved" status with a "Create project" option visible.

Once the project has been created, you can access the Prioritization section in the project details page to view the project request evaluation score.

A "Prioritization" section displays the evaluation score (73%).

Display Project Request Evaluation

You can also add a Project Rating column to the project list view on the Project and Analytics pages. 

The interface shows how to add the evaluation column in project views.

You can also add a filter to the Project List and Analytics pages to display projects whose evaluation is either greater than or equal to a given percentage, or less than or equal to a given percentage. You can enter both values or just one.

A filter panel shows options to filter by project evaluation, with "Greater than or equal to" (50) and "Less than or equal to" (80) fields.