The problem was "which of a large number of possible projects should be selected".

It was necessary, not only to choose wisely, but also to get management buy-in to the selection. The alternative was the "he who shouts loudest" process which does not often lead to good selections and certainly does not encourage the support of other managers.

The other constraint was that it had to be done quickly and without taking up much time of the many managers involved.

The approach was to involve the managers in half-day workshops to place each project on a map with business importance on one-axis and chance of success on the other. An ASSISTUM knowledge base "Project Selector" was used to explore the first few potential projects and get agreement on where they fitted on the map.

In a short time the managers had transferred the conceptual framework into the own brains and were able to reach agreement quickly on the remaining projects without using the software. 

The process was seen to be rational, reasonably comprehensive, fair and open. The objective of quickly making a good selection with management buy-in was achieved