Reuse prioritization and measurement

You start with a scoring system, to create a priority score for each item in your backlog of possible reusable assets.

Here is an example of a basic scoring system, composed of three parts: Return on Investment, Demand, and Level of Effort. Modeling your scoring system may take a few attempts to find something that best suits your organization, but it is important to take the first step by creating a rough draft that you can use to generate feedback and gather alignment across stakeholders.

Most enterprises struggle to calculate ROI, but you can get a good idea by thinking about the following:

• Will you be able to automate or simplify your current manual processes?
• How long does it take on average to process one work item?
• Based on the new process you intend to build, how much time do you think you can cut from the processing time for one work item?

If you can’t calculate an exact ROI because of lack of data, you can discuss with others and agree on an estimated ‘T-shirt size’ ROI: Large, Medium or Small.

The following is an example ROI scoring model: 

Calculated ROI Score:

• >$3M = 34 points
• $2M-$2,999,999 = 28 points
• $1M-$1,999,999 = 22 points
• $500,000-$999,999 = 16 points
• $250,000-$399,999 = 10 points
• <$250,000 = 4 points

Estimated "T-Shirt Size" ROI Score

• XL = 34 points
• L = 28 points
• ML = 22 points
• M = 16 points
• MS = 10 points
• S = 4 points

You should take the time to understand the applications that you have already developed, and determine commonality across those apps.  What re-usable components can either be derived from those applications, or should have been available when building the app? Then, create a list of components that repeat across the applications. This is Demand scoring.

Then, review your roadmap of new applications and list the potential candidates for reuse.

The following is an example Demand scoring model:

Demand Score

List all candidates for reusable Modules, then apply a score based on how many applications could be built with each reusable Module:

• Large Number (High) = 18 points
• Medium Number (Medium) = 10 points
• Small Number (Low) = 5 points

To score based on Level of effort it is only necessary to to use high-level ‘T-Shirt sizing’ as the guide. Break down the sizing using as many levels as you see fit, and then apply a score to each size. 

The following is an example Level of Effort scoring model:

Estimated Level of Effort Score

• XL = 0 points
• L = 7 points
• M = 15 points
• S = 24 points
• XS = 33 points

Reuse should be managed and tracked both from the point of view of the reuse asset itself, and the consuming applications. Metrics should reflect one of the five return-on-investment categories, or whatever additional KPIs or OKRs your organization deems important.

• Accelerate time to market
• Reduce effort and costs
• Ensure quality
• Increase control and agility
• Improve alignment

Metrics for reused assets

Examples of metrics that can be applied to reused assets include:

• Time and Cost to Build
• Times Reused
• Time and Cost to Consume
• Asset count by type, owner, consuming application

Metrics for project/business impact

Examples of metrics that can be applied to business impact include:

• Time to market with reuse vs baseline
• Cost to build with reuse vs baseline
• Quality assurance (# defects) vs baseline
• Time and cost to upgrade with reuse vs baseline

Having these types of metrics in place is critical to justifying the Pega COE and the careful planning that goes into a scaled enterprise reuse program.

Having these metrics available for each reusable asset also provides a charge-back mechanism for teams that are building, sharing and managing reusable assets for other parts of the organization.

Check your knowledge with the following interaction: