How do you prioritize value engineering proposals?

1 Define your criteria

Before you can prioritize VE proposals, you need to define the criteria that will guide your assessment. These criteria should reflect your project goals, requirements, and constraints, as well as the interests of your stakeholders. To evaluate the proposals effectively, consider factors such as cost savings, functionality, quality, risk, schedule and innovation. Cost savings could include initial, operating or maintenance costs. Functionality should be assessed in terms of how well it meets the needs of end-users and clients. Quality should be evaluated in terms of the project deliverables and outcomes. Risk assessment should consider any potential technical, legal, environmental or safety issues. The schedule should also be taken into account when evaluating a proposal and its impact on project milestones. Lastly, innovation should be considered to assess whether the proposal offers any competitive advantages or added value.

2 Assign weights and scores

Once you have your criteria, you need to assign weights and scores to each VE proposal based on how well they meet the criteria. Weights are the relative importance of each criterion, expressed as a percentage. Scores are the ratings of each proposal for each criterion, usually on a scale of 1 to 10. You can use a matrix or a spreadsheet to organize and calculate the weights and scores. For example:

| VE Proposal | Cost Savings (40%) | Functionality (30%) | Quality (20%) | Risk (10%) | Total Score |

|-------------|--------------------|---------------------|---------------|------------|-------------|

| A | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 7.4 |

| B | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7.6 |

| C | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7.5 |

In this example, VE proposal B has the highest total score, followed by C and A.

3 Compare and rank

The next step is to compare and rank the VE proposals based on their total scores and your professional judgment. You can use a simple ranking method, such as assigning numbers from 1 to n, where n is the number of proposals, or a more complex method, such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which involves pairwise comparisons and consistency checks. The ranking should reflect your preference and priority for each VE proposal. For example:

| VE Proposal | Total Score | Ranking |

|-------------|-------------|---------|

| A | 7.4 | 3 |

| B | 7.6 | 1 |

| C | 7.5 | 2 |

In this example, VE proposal B is the most preferred and prioritized option, followed by C and A.

4 Communicate and justify

The final step is to communicate and justify your prioritization of VE proposals to your project team, clients, and other stakeholders. You should explain the criteria, weights, scores, and ranking methods you used, and provide evidence and rationale for your choices. You should also address any feedback, questions, or concerns that may arise from your prioritization. The goal is to gain consensus and approval for implementing the VE proposals that will add the most value to your project.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?