Project Portfolio Management
Project portfolio management within a company aims to select the right projects in order to maximize the strategic value of the portfolio for the organization.
It also involves balancing this selection based on criteria such as business coverage (ensuring that selected projects come from all relevant business areas, not just a few) and diversification—incorporating both projects with quick returns on investment and longer-term initiatives, as well as high-risk, high-stakes projects alongside safer ones.
Optimizing the value of a project portfolio involves:
- Analyzing requests and ongoing projects according to organizational criteria
– Prioritizing initiatives to decide whether to launch a new project, allocate resources, or stop a project
– Gaining an overview of overall performance, including budget, costs and expenditures, resources, and strategic value
Project portfolio management complements other approaches used to optimize organizational performance. It places the organization’s strategy at the heart of project-based management.
Our Approach to Project Portfolio Management
– We work with the company and project teams to identify strategic priorities that will help assess the value of each project, using workshops with project owners, audits, or dedicated diagnostics.
– We then collaborate with project managers and project request owners to estimate project value, budgets, resources, and to analyze risks and other project-related constraints.
– At the same time, we help the portfolio manager develop the project portfolio. This involves designing, building, maintaining, and updating the portfolio repository. For each request and project, the repository captures key characteristics: value, budgetary and resource constraints, risks, as well as decision-making information such as progress, regulatory priority, and relevant business area.
– While the repository is essential, it is not sufficient on its own. We also provide guidance on defining:
– Common objectives and rules across different business units
– Operating procedures that integrate the organization, processes, and tools associated with portfolio management (software, etc.)
– Roles and governance structures properly scheduled over time
– Decisions made in alignment with organizational objectives and effectively communicated
– Actions implemented following these decisions
– A continuous approach to evolving project portfolio management practices
The Benefits of Project Portfolio Management
– A clearly identified project portfolio aligned with organizational priorities
– Well-informed investment decisions
– Projects that generate value for the organization
Tools for Effective Management
Project portfolio management can be designed independently from project management itself, but it can also be integrated into a comprehensive solution.
The functionalities involved range from the creation of new project requests to the operational oversight of active projects. Depending on the organization’s needs, the appropriate tool may range from a simple spreadsheet to a specialized software solution that integrates all activities and requests within a broader decision-making process. <br><br>The first step is to analyze the current situation and understand the objectives.
Then, propose solutions tailored to the company’s needs.
Examples of implementation with Microsoft Project:
– The contribution of each project or request to strategic priorities
– Visualization of the project portfolio, including the simulation of project selections and their impact on overall value
– Identification of resource constraints over time
