Canadian Municipality: How Prioritization Brought Clarity to Digital Transformation
A Canadian municipality used TransparentChoice and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to replace politics and opinion with evidence and transparency. By defining clear criteria and scoring 31 digital initiatives, the city created a balanced modernization roadmap aligned with strategic goals and resident needs.
The Challenge
Too many digital projects, not enough clarity. The municipality faced dozens of competing modernization proposals and needed a transparent, data-driven way to choose where to invest.
Siloed systems, aging infrastructure, and competing departmental priorities created noise and tension. IT and financial resources were limited, yet every group wanted its own digital initiative funded. Without structure, decision-making risked being dominated by politics instead of strategy.
Leaders recognized that true transformation required focus and fairness. They turned to TransparentChoice to bring discipline, evidence, and consensus to their digital investment process—ensuring that each project advanced both operational efficiency and citizen value.
Our Approach
The municipality adopted TransparentChoice’s prioritization framework, powered by AHP, to bring structure and visibility to digital decision-making.
Working with TransparentChoice, the Corporate Leadership Team defined what “digital transformation” meant for the organization—improving resident experience, boosting efficiency, enabling better data use, and reducing risk. These objectives became measurable criteria for assessing value.
Through TransparentChoice’s collaborative scoring process, 31 initiatives were evaluated and ranked against weighted criteria such as strategic alignment, cost, risk reduction, and implementation feasibility. The result was a clear, evidence-based roadmap that balanced quick wins with long-term modernization.
The Results
Using TransparentChoice transformed how the municipality prioritized and governed technology investments.
The new framework delivered a balanced digital portfolio, combining immediate efficiency gains—like digitizing manual forms—with strategic initiatives such as enterprise data platforms. Transparency replaced lobbying, and every department could see how and why decisions were made.
Perhaps most importantly, the municipality embedded TransparentChoice into its ongoing governance cycle. The AHP-based process now underpins every round of digital planning, ensuring each new project aligns with strategy, delivers measurable outcomes, and supports sustainable modernization for residents.