Project Excellence Awards - Criteria Information

Presented to organisations and to project teams who have achieved exceptional results through their outstanding project implementation and their high levels of professionalism in IT.

We are looking for examples of end-user projects that highlight the importance of new technology initiatives and demonstrate the benefits of well-managed IT implementations for changing and improving business and public life. Projects should have a significant UK-based element. IT suppliers may enter these categories for a nominated customer project, but should be aware that the award is given to the organisation within which the project has been implemented. Hardware vendors and software authors may submit an internal project to develop new products (i.e. where they are themselves the end-user) but it is emphasized that the assessment will be made solely on the characteristics of the build project and not on the product developed.

More than one project may be submitted by an applicant as separate entries, and a given project may be submitted into more than one category.

The awards in this section will be judged against four key criteria:

• Innovation: Has the project introduced new or leading-edge technologies, supported a new way of working or pioneered an original change in business processes? Has the project stimulated new thinking, or laid the foundations for further innovation?

• Return on Investment: Has the project measurably and substantially improved the organisation's ability to achieve its core goals? Has it bestowed a significant competitive advantage, or dramatically enhanced the services offered to customers, staff or partners? Have there been spin-off benefits of the project?

• Quality of management: Was the project completed on time and within budget? Did the project deliverables match or exceed the initial objectives? Were obstacles overcome with a combination of ingenuity and adherence to the principal aims of the project? What lessons were learned to improve the management of future projects?

• Impact: What measures have been used to assess or quantify the success of the project? How has the project demonstrated technology's role as a vital enabler in improving organisational excellence, competitiveness or quality of service? How will the project's deliverables be developed, or how will they support future growth or change in the organisation?

The judges will consider each these criteria, and each submitted project should be able to clearly demonstrate affirmative responses to them, and in particular underlying characteristics of distinctive excellence, creativity and benefit to the organisation and/or its clients.

Entrants should provide:

A maximum 500-word explanation for how the submitted project meets each of the four criteria, plus a maximum 250-word summary of why they believe they should win this award.

Each entry, therefore, requires:

• Project overview (80 words), which can be used for PR purposes
• Four sections detailing achievements against each of the four criteria above (up to 500 words each)
• A summary statement (up to 250 words)

Entrants are urged to ensure that their submissions follow the above format so that the judges are able to give the entry their fullest consideration.

Within the bounds of commercial confidence, entrants should seek to provide quantitative evidence wherever appropriate to support the submission.

All sections of the form must be completed

Categories:

• Big Data Project of the Year

Awarded to a public or private sector entrant for the most outstanding IT project related to the management or use of 'Big Data' (using the broader based Forrester definition which embraces both structured and unstructured data on an extreme scale) completed during the past 12 months.

• Network / Infrastructure Project of the Year

Awarded to a public or private sector entrant for the most outstanding project completed during the past 12 months implementing or extending the infrastructure or network of an organisation. Projects concerned only with implementing or upgrading of data centres should entered into the parallel 'Data Centre Project of the Year' category

• Data Centre Project of the year

Awarded to a public or private sector entrant for the most outstanding IT project completed during the past 12 months in implementing or significantly upgrading a data centre. For clarity, projects focussed on 'greening' are eligible.

• Best business project dependent on mobile technology

Awarded to a public or private sector entrant for the most outstanding IT project completed during the past 12 months utilising mobile technology.

• Best not for profit IT project

Awarded to a 'not for profit' sector organisation (including NGO's) for the most outstanding project completed during the past 12 months. The award is not limited to any specific type of project, as long as it uses IT to benefit the organisation or its clients. The judges may take into account, where relevant, the size of the organisation when making their determination.

• IT project demonstrating most effective use of collaborative technology

Awarded to a public or private sector entrant for the most outstanding IT project completed during the past 12 months in implementing collaborative technology.