Practice: Portfolio Management |
The objectives of this practice are to capture, define, prioritize, and manage work requests for new and existing products by using a standardized portfolio management framework.
Purpose
Organizations define goals and set targets that are part of an overall organizational strategy. The achievement of the defined strategy is constrained by the available resources, funding, infrastructure, regulatory environment, and other factors. Resources and funding are finite; there is only so much of each available. The challenge is to maximize the potential benefits and contributions in achieving the goals and targets, while being the most effective in applying (and monitoring the consumption of) the limited resources and funding. Moreover, the executive leadership of the organization must make a determination that their policies and processes followed to meet the challenge identified above is effective, somewhat effective, or not effective at all. This practice provides the process guidance and governance needed to manage and overcome the challenges and limitations imposed by the constraints and limiting factors faced by organizations while trying to achieve their strategic goals. It also provides guidance and a process reference model for organizations to make selections, provide oversight, and make decisions among all initiatives that compete for the same group of resources and funding.
How to read this practice
The best way to read this practice is to first familiarize yourself with its overall structure and the Portfolio Management reference model: what it is in it and how it is organized. Begin by making sure that the teams, including stakeholders, understand what the key concepts are: Work pipelines Value analysis Next, understand how the various participants in a portfolio collaborate on an ongoing and cyclical manner, for example: The portfolio analyst facilitates the processing or requests within the portfolio work pipelines, coordinates with the portfolio stakeholders, and keeps all requests within the portfolio current, complete, and relevant. Portfolio stakeholders provide timely input, decisions. and actions to guide prioritization and optimal balancing of the portfolios, while ensuring that resources and capacities are available to execute on the work of the portfolio. Their direct involvement and ongoing commitment help focus the operational teams toward the accomplishment of the goals most beneficial to the organization. The operational teams (project, product, and development) commit to completing the work in a manner consistent with the approved priorities and to avoid working on components not formally sponsored and authorized within the portfolios. Then understand how these groups collaborate when they perform the following activities: Define and prioritize portfolio Balance and authorize portfolio Monitor and control portfolio Also, understand what work products are used as input to and output from various tasks, such as the business case, component list, product roadmap, and so on. Last, understand the various guidelines that explain how to define, prioritize, authorize, and monitor the portfolio components.
Additional Information
For more information on portfolio management, see: The Standard for Portfolio Management. Second Edition. Project Management Institute (PMI). Found at http://www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/Library-of-PMI-Global-Standards-Organizations.aspx
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