Opportunity Framing is a powerful and structured approach to defining and understanding
an opportunity. It is the starting point for a robust decision-driven process to achieve a
declared goal and, it follows, is the starting point for the team’s planning process.
The key attributes of Opportunity Framing are:
• Creating alignment and clarity amongst team members, stakeholders and decision
makers as to what the opportunity actually is.
• Identifying the value drivers and critical success factors for the opportunity
• Determining the scope of the effort required to realise the opportunity.
• Building a decision-driven team and a plan to achieve success.
Any opportunity, whatever its size or scope, benefits substantially from the framing
process which asks three fundamental questions:
In framing the project the following issues are addressed:
• Project Challenge – Establishes the maturity of the project location (an existing
area or a new venture location) and the complexity and size of the project. These
parameters will determine the size of the challenge faced by the opportunity/project
teams and establish the basis for thinking on e.g. contracting strategy,
organisationand resourcing (Figures 2.2.2 and 2.2.3)
• Opportunity Statement – Defines what the opportunity is and is not.
• Stakeholder Analysis – Identifies the patrons (parties that retain power of veto
through all phases of the opportunity), the controllers (parties that have a major
influence and power of veto at key stages) and the influencers (parties that influence
the controllers and/or patrons but rarely, if ever, have power of veto (e.g. suppliers,
project team, NGOs etc.).
When framing Non Operated Ventures (NOV), detailed consideration is needed of how
best to influence the outcomes and what role and style to adopt in the NOV.
• Value Driver and Critical Success Factor Analysis – Identifies the value creation
areas
, the value drivers in each of these areas and the issues that must be managed
successfully if the full potential value of the opportunity is to be realised.
(See 3.9, Improvement)
• Risk Analysis – Identifies the major risks to the project under the TECOP
headings. (TECOP = Technical, Economic, Commercial, Organisational, Political).
(See 3.8, Risk Management) It is at this time that Sustainable Development (see
3.3), the environment, and other society related issues need consideration.
• Decision Hierarchy – Provides the givens (facts, assumptions and decisions already
made and taken as a given for the opportunity), the focus decisions (those issues
requiring especial attention by the project team) and the secondary decisions that can be
decided later.
• Strategic Fit – Establishes a common understanding of how the opportunity fits
within the company’s current strategic direction and why the opportunity should
be addressed.
• Definition of Success – Answers the question as to how success will be measured
and provides the vision for the team.
• Opportunity/Project Roadmap – Builds a long-term decision-based plan for
addressing the opportunity. (See 2.3, Planning the Opportunity)
Opportunity Framing should be undertaken right at the outset of the opportunity and
the opportunity should be reframed at every change in Opportunity Realisation Process
phasing. Skilled facilitation and the injection of external experience is needed to obtain
the maximum value from the technique. (If facilitation is not available from the project
team or its OU, then the C2V Team may undertake this as a Peer Assist on behalf of
projects.)
The outcome of the opportunity framing is recorded in a project document and is used to
educate all members of the project team, as well as others, on what the project is about
and the initial document will generally be used as the basis for the Project Initiation Note.