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Project
Portfolio Management
Project
Portfolio Management is the process for effectively identifying,
assessing, selecting, and managing the collection of projects.
Project Portfolio Management teaches you how to judge which IT
projects you should pursue, and which you should not. As a rule, you
want to go after only those projects that will give you a solid ROI,
return on investment. While that seems obvious, it can be difficult
to deduce whether any given project will have a sound
ROI.
Benefits of
Effective Project Portfolio Management:
- Improved
strategic goal attainment through effective project prioritization
- Improved
visibility of progress results through project portfolio oversight
- Optimization
of available resources based on organization's true capacity
- Minimization
of risk
- Increases in
the "bottom line" through disapproval or cancellation of
inappropriate projects
Project
Portfolio Management Software: Project Portfolio Management software
can help you make sure you get a solid return on investment from
your IT spending. A large reason IT value measurement is so helpful
is that it allows you to truly seeing what you're getting from your
IT dollars. Once you know this, you can make adjustments in your IT
spending and planning accordingly.
You will
constantly be faced with many IT projects, from which you will have
to choose. In order to make those choices wisely, you need a way to
analyze which projects will do the most for your company. Project
Portfolio Management software can handle this analysis for you. Many
IT projects are quite expensive. This doesn't mean they shouldn't be
tackled, since the benefits of some IT projects far outweigh these
costs. You simply need a way to know in advance which projects will
give you the greatest return on investment, so you can concentrate
on those specific projects. If you choose the right software
program, it will analyze not only your project portfolio, but also
your application portfolio. It is likely that you are not using the
most efficient application package on your employees' computers. By
using software to analyze that package, you can adapt it so it
becomes far more cost effective.
Project
Portfolio Management is about more than running multiple projects.
Each portfolio of projects needs to be assessed in terms of its
business value and adherence to strategy. The portfolio should be
designed to achieve a defined business objective or benefit. Within
almost all Project Portfolio Management systems there is a project
evaluation process. This process is used to evaluate the projects at
various points during their lifecycle. At the beginning of each
stage, often called a 'gate,' the responsible party evaluates the
business case, asking whether it is still relevant and able to
deliver the defined organizational objectives. If the answer is no,
then the project should be stopped. This way the organization can
ensure that they stay focused on delivering a strategy, goal or
other defined benefit and that resources are deployed where they
will offer the best return.
When selecting
a Project Portfolio Management, organizations should use criteria
based on identified needs and organizational objectives. It is
advisable to start small, introducing aspects of Project Portfolio
Management one element at a time. Many commercial tools can seem
overwhelming at first, simply because of the amount of functionality
they offer.
These are the
key features of a Project Portfolio Management
system:
- Project
evaluation process or methodology
- Cost and
benefits measurement
- Progress
reporting
- Communication
of key project data e.g. executive
dashboard
- Resource
planning
- Cost and
benefits tracking
Project
Portfolio Management is about ensuring you have a group of projects
focused on taking the business somewhere they want to go. It is
about being able to respond quickly to changes in the environment.
It is about short projects that give quick wins. It is about the
business setting direction and then creating a series of steps to
get there. The benefits Project Portfolio Management brings to the
business are:
- Faster
response to changing conditions
- More quick
wins
- Not having
minor projects escalate into major undertakings
- Focus on what
will achieve the initiative rather than on the project itself
- IT
responsibilities centered on one business area rather than trying
to compromise across several
- Blending
business and IT projects and treating both as contributors to the
same goal
- Portfolios
can be constantly reviewed and altered if necessary to produce the
highest returns based on changing situations
- Management
see the projects as groups of activities contributing to an
initiative. They are not a series of unrelated
work.
Project
Portfolio Management is not a completely new concept. It is more an
evolution of the efforts of IT management to align with the
business. It is a way of helping business prioritizes within a
pragmatic framework. It links neatly with a Project Office where the
Project Office is focused on identifying and managing dependencies
between portfolios. Of major benefit however that Project Portfolio
Management is allows flexibility to meet changing circumstances. It
is focused on quick deliverables, and solutions that are totally
targeted to achieve a particular
outcome.
Project
Portfolio Management is the art and science of applying a set of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a collection of projects
in order to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of an
organization’s [investment] strategy. Project Portfolio Management
is a process that includes decision-making, prioritization, review,
realignment, and reprioritization. The emphasis is in management of
strategic content of projects at the aggregate level (= at the level
of collection of projects).
When
you, as a project manager, accept responsibility for a project, you
accept the schedule, timeline, deadlines, resources, and
expectations set out at the start. Now you can make sure you're
asking the right questions for each project by utilizing the tools,
checklists, and information from projectmanagementsurvival.
Now
you can manage your risk project according to best practice
standards. You'll have the details and plans in place to handle
whatever arises during a project's duration—setting appropriate
expectations for timelines, milestones, and deliverables. And,
ensure success for each and every project with resources on:
- Ensuring you
have the necessary equipment and resources available
- Properly
documenting all project activities
- Identifying staff skills by roles needed
- Putting
quality controls in place
- Identifying
and estimating indirect costs
- Documenting
and prioritizing requirements
- And much more
Start and end
each project on a positive note—order your Templates and Tool Kits for Project
Managers today!
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