Quick start guide to build a prioritization matrix and business capability model.

Strategic Quadrant Quick Start Guide

Overview


The Strategic Quadrant is an easy-to-use, flexible tool for categorizing similar data elements and assessing them against a set of criteria to provide information for use in planning, prioritization, and decision-making. This guide is designed to get you up and running with the Strategic Quadrant as quickly as possible.

If you haven’t already done so, please review our whitepaper: Driving Success with the Strategic Quadrant. This will provide the information you need to know about quadrant modeling basics, the wide variety of ways you can use the Strategic Quadrant, and guidance for defining your models.

Before you create your model, you need to know:

  1. The items or data elements you want to analyze
  2. The name and (optional) description of the model
  3. Names of the two criteria you want to use to categorize the data in the quadrant:

    • The horizontal or “x” axis
    • The vertical or “y” axis
  4. Names for the four quadrants that represent the data categorization:

    • Quadrant I (upper right)
    • Quadrant II (upper left)
    • Quadrant III (lower left)
    • Quadrant IV (lower right)
  5. (Optional) Names and percentages for the scorecard assessment – the second layer of assessment criteria

Related Link: Driving Success with the Strategic Quadrant

Step 1. Create Your Model


  1. From the Model List screen, click the “New Model” button.
  2. Enter a name and description for your model.
  3. Enter the names you defined for Quadrants I, II, III, and IV.
  4. Enter the name you defined for the horizontal or “x” axis and the vertical or “y” axis.
  5. (Optional) Enter the scorecard assessment criteria:
    1. Enter the name and weight for the first criteria.
    2. Click the “Add Criteria” button.
    3. Repeat until all criteria have been entered. The total weight must equal 100%.
  6. Click the “Save Model” button.

Strategic model creation with Strategic Quadrant software

Step 2. Add Data to Your Model


Once you have created your model, you are ready to populate it with the data you want to assess. This involves adding:

  • Data Sets: Top-level data used to organize the model, also referred to as Level 1
  • Data Cards: Lower-level, nested data elements representing the data you want to assess through the model, referred to as Level 2, Level 3, etc.

To add Data Sets:

  1. Click the “Add Data Set” button.
  2. Enter a name for your Data Set.
  3. Click the “Save” button.
  4. Repeat to create additional Data Sets. Your Data Sets will be created and automatically numbered, for example 1, 2, 3, etc.

Super easy to organize projects by drag-n-drop.

To add Level 2 Data Cards:

  1. Hover over the Data Set in which you want to add a Data Card.
  2. Click the “Add a Data Card” link.
  3. Enter a name for your Data Card.
  4. Click the “Save” button.
  5. Repeat to create additional Data Cards. Your Data Cards will be added and automatically numbered with the number of their Data Set followed by a decimal and another number, for example 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.

Add additional project attributes and/or elements in a tree format.

To add lower-level Data Cards: 1. Hover over the Data Card to which you want to add a child. 2. Click the “+” to the right of the Data Card. 3. Enter a name for your Data Card. 4. Click the “Save” button. 5. Repeat to create additional Data Cards.

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Your Data Cards will be added and automatically numbered based on their parent’s number, for example 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc.

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Step 3. Assess for Category or Type


To assess a Data Card for categorization in the Strategic Quadrant:

  1. Open the Data Card by clicking on it.
  2. Select the number of stars (1 through 5) you want to assign to the Data Card based on the criteria you defined for the horizontal or “x” axis and the vertical or “y” axis.
  3. Click the “x” in the upper right corner of the Data Card to close it.

When you assess a Data Card against the criteria you defined, it will be categorized in one of the four quadrants on the model based on it scores. The Data Card’s type is displayed on the Data Card detail screen. It is also indicated graphically on the model.

Team collaboration feature of strategy modeling tool

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Step 4. Assess for Performance


To assess a Data Card for performance against your scorecard criteria:

  1. Open the Data Card by clicking on it.
  2. Select the number of stars (1 through 5) you want to assign to the Data Card based on the criteria you defined for the scorecard assessment.
  3. Click the “x” in the upper right corner of the Data Card to close it.

When you assess a Data Card against the scorecard criteria you defined, a calculation determines its “heat score.” This score is displayed on the Data Card detail screen. It is also indicated on the model as “green,” “yellow,” or “red,” depending on its score.

Example of Kanban board with priority matrix

Example of Kanban board with priority matrix

Step 5. View your Assessment


To export to a graphic:

  1. Click the menu icon to the left of the model’s name.
  2. Click the “Image” option.
  3. Name the image and select where you want to save it.
  4. Click the “Save” button.

To export to Microsoft Excel:

  1. Click the menu icon to the left of the model’s name.
  2. Click the “Excel” option.
  3. Name the image and select where you want to save it.
  4. Click the “Save” button.

For More Information


For more information on using the Strategic Quadrant, please review the following documents: