Exhibit 1 – Stage Gate Decision Workflow

2. Set criteria and key deliverables: Establish criteria and key deliverables to evaluate the business case at each decision-gate. Determine whether it aligns with expectations and assess associated risks and mitigation plans. Project leaders review criteria related to scope, cost, time, and quality, and identify deviations from targets.

2. Review at Each Phase Gate: At each phase gate, review key deliverables and criteria. Decisions are made by the appropriate delegation of authority to fund the next gate. 

3. Setting Clear Expectations: Set clear expectations for project deliverables at major milestones. It ensures that the project team understands the status of each deliverable, as these are often interrelated across functions. By understanding deliverables, issues, and risks early in the project lifecycle, critical decisions can be made to allow for recovery, scope adjustment, schedule changes, and work prioritization.

4. Senior Management Involvement: During the conclusion of each phase gate decision, the PMO team, in conjunction with all functional stakeholders, present a project status assessment and make recommendations to leadership on how to proceed. Senior management reviews and decides the next steps, determining whether to release or block funding for the next gate.

5. Ensure Adaptability and Scalability: The stage gate decision process should be adaptable and scalable, considering the project’s timeline and resource requirements. Identifying project archetypes, ranging from the simplest to the most complex, can help facilitate this customization.

6. Maintain Rigor and Transparency: A well-developed stage gate decision process ensures rigor and transparency throughout the project life cycle, enabling successful project execution within budget and on time. It encourages thorough preparation for gate review meetings and necessitates concrete decision-making from project leaders, demonstrating the organization’s commitment to high standards.

Key Benefits of the Project Decision Gate Process:

1. Improved Project Consistency and Predictability: The stage gate decision process provides a structured framework for project management team, ensuring that each phase is thoroughly planned, reviewed, and executed. This leads to more consistent and predictable project outcome and boosts the confidence level of the leadership team.

2. Better Scope Definition and Control: The stage gate process helps in defining and maintaining the project scope, reducing the risk of scope creep. By confirming deliverables at each gate, it ensures that the project stays on track and aligned with its original objectives.

3. Enhanced Stakeholder Engagement and Accountability: By involving key functional stakeholders at each gate, the process fosters better communication, engagement, and accountability. Functional stakeholders review and approve deliverables, ensuring alignment and commitment throughout the project lifecycle.

4. Early Identification of Issues and Risks: The process enables early identification of potential issues and risks by requiring thorough reviews at each stage. This allows for proactive problem-solving and mitigation strategies to be implemented before issues escalates.

5. Effective Decision-Making: The structured approach of the stage gate process ensures that critical decisions are made at the right time, based on comprehensive reviews and assessments at each gate. This reduces uncertainties and enhances capital investment decision-making quality.

6. Improved Cost Visibility and Control: The stage gate process provides better visibility into project costs and enables more effective cost control. This helps in avoiding cost overruns and ensuring that the project stays within budget.

7. Timely Project Delivery: The process promotes the development of realistic schedules and ensures that timelines are adhered to. This reduces the likelihood of schedule delays and ensures timely project delivery.

 Conclusion 

In conclusion, the implementation of the Project Decision Gate process is a transformative practice for utility construction projects. By bringing rigor, transparency, and accountability to the project delivery process, utility companies can significantly reduce the risks of cost overruns, schedule delays, and scope misalignment.

The structured approach of decision gates ensures that projects are thoroughly evaluated at each critical phase, with senior management making informed decisions based on robust business cases.

Through the consistent application of this process, utility companies can achieve more predictable and successful project outcomes. By committing to major investment decisions at each gate, organizations can align their projects with strategic goals and drive long-term value for the shareholders.

Ultimately, the Project Decision Gate process fosters a culture of excellence and continuous improvement within the utility sector, ensuring that capital construction projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to the highest quality standards.

At Clarisight Consulting, we are focused on transforming the future of construction with technology-driven capital project delivery services that comprehend throughout the project life cycle.

Our integrated capital delivery project controls framework empowers our clients to optimize operational effectiveness and enhance profitability in project delivery.

Please reach out to us at info@clarisight.com to explore how can we collaborate and transform challenges into opportunities and take your business to new heights.