Project Portfolio Management: A Practitioner’s Approach

Why are so many of today’s technology projects “dead on arrival?” Maybe we are selecting the wrong projects for investment. Why are resources our most common “bottle neck?” Perhaps we don’t understand our project priorities. Why do so many projects turn into “money pits?” Maybe we don’t know when to terminate them. This seminar provides you with the tools and techniques that will help you select the right projects for investment, prioritize them against the other projects competing for the same pool of resources, terminate them when they don’t meet the target objectives, and complete them successfully to meet organizational goals. The focus of the seminar is on a management framework called Balanced Scorecard (BSC) that directly links business strategy to desired results – an ideal fit to measure, manage, and maximize the performance of a project portfolio. A revolutionary management idea that has reached the ranks of total quality management, reengineering, and six sigma, BSC – developed in the 1990’s – requires every action to answer to corporate goals. In a project portfolio environment, this promotes strategic alignment and eliminates projects that have little or no strategic value. Furthermore, it provides a metrics-driven discipline for assessment, prioritization, selection, tracking, and management of projects in a portfolio. Through case studies and real world examples you will learn how to enhance business value and return on investment through managing projects in a portfolio using a scorecard approach.

Duration

2 days

Who Should Attend

Senior managers
Program managers
Portfolio managers
PMO managers/officers
Project planners
Project managers

What You Will Learn

• Describe basic concepts of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and apply the BSC approach to measure, manage, and maximize the performance of a project portfolio.
• Convert BSC-based business value drivers to a series of well-defined project and portfolio performance metrics.
• Define a project investment strategy to maximize business value.
• Classify projects into three basic groups and properly allocate investments for each group.
• Build a business case for each project and rank and prioritize projects based on strategic fit, risks, opportunities, and other key criteria.
• Use quantitative/qualitative tools and decision techniques to measure BSC value drivers in selecting the right projects for investments.
• Apply proper criteria to reprioritize projects when resources become limited.
• Delineate criteria to determine when a project no longer serves its purpose and needs to be terminated.
• Review major commercially available portfolio management software tools.
• Identify steps to build the foundation to successfully implement BSC to manage project portfolios.

Outline

Introduction

• What is a project portfolio
• What is project portfolio management?
• Why project portfolio management?
• End-to-end life cycle: Funnels and Filters – A new model

Integrated Project Portfolio Management Methodology

• Project selection methodology
• Project classification and allocation
• Portfolio implementation
• Project inventory
• Initial project assessment

Balanced Scorecard

• What is a Balanced Scorecard (BSC)?
• BSC as a management system
• The four perspectives of BSC
• Why do we need a BSC?
• How does it apply to project portfolio management?

Building a Balanced Scorecard for a Project Portfolio

• Start with organizational goals
• Identify project portfolio linkages
• Define project portfolio outcomes
• Develop project portfolio performance drivers
• Link project portfolio performance to financial performance

Project Portfolio Performance Drivers

• Strategic fit
• Expected profitability
• Project “Triple Constraints”
• Risks and opportunities
• Satisfaction of project stakeholders
• Project and project portfolio management processes
• Employee learning and growth

Project Portfolio Management Tools

• Scoring models
• Non-weighted models
• Weighted models
• Financial methods
• Risk and opportunity assessment tools
• Project Business Plan

Achieving BSC Objectives through Project Portfolio Management

• Project assessment, prioritization, and selection
• Balancing the project portfolio
• Tracking project and project portfolio performance
• Project reprioritization and termination

Review of Portfolio Management Software Tools

• Project portfolio management tools
• Pros and cons of portfolio management tools
• Industry experience with portfolio management tools

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