BIZOMAT Tools · Decide
Work Priority Score
What should go first?
Ranks a work item by impact, urgency, risk of delay and effort so competing work can be compared on one scale.
Open the calculatorRuns in your browser. No account needed.
How this tool works
Inputs, units and where to find them
| Input | Unit | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| Business impact | 1–5 score | Agreed rating of business benefit (1 minor, 5 major) |
| Urgency | 1–5 score | Rating of time pressure (1 can wait, 5 now) |
| Risk if delayed | 1–5 score | Rating of harm if delayed (1 negligible, 5 severe) |
| Effort required | 1–5 score | Estimated effort (1 small, 5 very large) |
What each input means
Open an input to see what it is, its units, the worked example and the common mistakes, with a small diagram.
What this means: Business impact
- What it is
- How much the work matters to the business when done: benefit to customers, revenue, cost or capability, rated 1 (minor) to 5 (major).
- Units and format
- Move the slider to a score from 1 (low) to 5 (high).
- Example
- The form opens with 4 as a worked example. It is an illustration, not a recommended value: replace it with your own figure.
- Effect on the result
- Carries the largest weight, 35 % of the priority score.
- Get it right
- Rate every item in the list against the same description of what a 1 and a 5 mean.
What this means: Urgency
- What it is
- How soon the work needs to happen, rated 1 (it can wait) to 5 (needed now), for example because of a customer date or an expiring opportunity.
- Units and format
- Move the slider to a score from 1 (low) to 5 (high).
- Example
- The form opens with 3 as a worked example. It is an illustration, not a recommended value: replace it with your own figure.
- Effect on the result
- Carries 30 % of the priority score.
- Get it right
- Keep urgency separate from harm if delayed; they are scored on their own scales.
What this means: Risk if delayed
- What it is
- How much harm builds up if the work is put off: safety, compliance, customer or financial exposure, rated 1 (negligible) to 5 (severe).
- Units and format
- Move the slider to a score from 1 (low) to 5 (high).
- Example
- The form opens with 3 as a worked example. It is an illustration, not a recommended value: replace it with your own figure.
- Effect on the result
- Carries 20 % of the priority score.
- Get it right
- A 5 may point to mandatory safety, legal or compliance work, which should be scheduled outside this scoring.
What this means: Effort required
- What it is
- How big the job is in people, time and money, rated 1 (small) to 5 (very large). Larger effort lowers the priority.
- Units and format
- Move the slider to a score from 1 (low) to 5 (high).
- Example
- The form opens with 3 as a worked example. It is an illustration, not a recommended value: replace it with your own figure.
- Effect on the result
- Scored as 6 minus effort with a 15 % weight, so easier work ranks higher.
- Get it right
- The scale is reversed from the others: a 5 here means a lot of work, which counts against the item.
Method and formulas
- Score = (0.35 × impact + 0.30 × urgency + 0.20 × risk + 0.15 × (6 − effort)) ÷ 5 × 100
- HIGH at 70 or more, MEDIUM at 45–69, LOW below 45
Limitations
- Fixed weights
- Ratings are judgement
- Not suitable for safety, legal or compliance work, which is mandatory
Typical uses
- Backlog and improvement-list triage
- Maintenance and engineering request queues
- Weekly team planning
Who it is for
- Team leaders
- Engineering and maintenance planners
- Continuous-improvement facilitators
What you get
- HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW priority
- Priority score out of 100
- A flag where delay risk may indicate a mandatory item
Interpreting the result
- Compare scores only between items rated by the same people with the same scale
- Low-impact, high-effort items are candidates to drop
BIZOMAT tools are screening and decision-support utilities. Verify important financial, engineering, safety, legal or operational decisions using appropriate professional standards and your organisation’s approved data.