AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool – Excel XLSX

BENEFITS OF THIS DOWNLOADABLE EXCEL DOCUMENT

1. Evidence over convenience. Replaces steering-committee debate with a repeatable, weighted score across six dimensions, producing a defensible pilot shortlist in a single scoring session.
2. A built-in safety gate. Business Criticality is scored on an inverted scale and hard-gated, so no composite score can put a mission-critical, no-rollback system into Wave 1 without documented executive sign-off.
3. A sequencing plan, not just a single pick. The portfolio segmentation quadrant and readiness gaps panel turn the pilot decision into a defensible plan for Wave 2 and beyond, not a one-off choice.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EXCEL DESCRIPTION

AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool is an Excel template (XLSX) with a supplemental PDF document available for immediate download upon purchase.

Selecting a first AI-DLC pilot is usually decided by executive preference rather than evidence, and the choice carries more weight than most steering committees realise. A pilot run on the wrong project either fails for reasons unconnected to the methodology, or succeeds on an unrepresentative case whose lessons never transfer to the rest of the portfolio.

This Excel workbook applies a structured, evidence-based filter to up to 12 candidate projects, teams, or applications, scoring each on a 1–5 scale across six weighted dimensions: Codebase Suitability (25%), Team Readiness (20%), Business Criticality (15%), Requirements Clarity (15%), Stakeholder Availability (15%), and Expected Learning Value (10%). Business Criticality is scored on an inverted safety scale and hard-gated: any candidate flagged Tier 1 – Mission Critical, No Rollback is automatically excluded from Wave 1, independent of its composite score, unless the Mission-Critical Exclusion Toggle is switched off with documented executive sign-off.

The workbook is organised across five working tabs. Instructions sets out the six dimensions, the inverted criticality scale, and how the hard gate operates. Settings holds the organisation, assessor, Wave 1 capacity, and the Mission-Critical Exclusion Toggle. Candidate Inputs captures up to 12 candidates with system description, criticality tier, sponsor, and delivery lead. Scoring Matrix takes the six dimension scores per candidate and calculates the composite score and Pilot Wave automatically. Dashboard consolidates the results into a ranked shortlist, a Wave summary, a portfolio segmentation quadrant plotting Codebase Suitability against Team Readiness, and a readiness gaps panel listing pre-pilot action items for otherwise-ready Wave 1 candidates.

It is built for programme and portfolio managers who need a repeatable, defensible shortlist rather than a committee debate, for VPs of engineering and enterprise architects confirming the hard gate before a mission-critical system reaches a steering committee, and for CIOs reviewing a ranked shortlist and Wave assignment that already accounts for blast radius and team readiness rather than headline score alone.

Format: Excel (.xlsx), no macros or VBA. Works in Excel 2016+ and Google Sheets. Instructions included; no external dependencies.

Published by Viksya. Seller licence terms are included within the document and take precedence over platform defaults

Source: Best Practices in Artificial Intelligence Excel: AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool Excel (XLSX) Spreadsheet, Viksya