Comparisons

Who is responsible for tracking and capturing the business benefits of projects within a portfolio? Is it the portfolio management office, which can take a long-term view, or the project sponsors who create the business case in the first place? Here’s a comparison of these two models.

A portfolio manager’s role can vary depending on the organization. Should portfolio managers be responsible for the success of individual projects — a point person for problems and resolutions? Or should they focus on hiring good people and installing good process, leaving execution and benefit realization to the project managers and sponsors?

In establishing portfolio management processes, your organization must first answer a fundamental question about the scope of the portfolio. Do you want to manage your work at the enterprise level or a departmental level?

Portfolio management processes help ensure that organizations allocate scarce resources to the work that produces the most value. But what constitutes “work”? Projects are the most important work for many organizations, but they may represent only a fraction of the money and resources that are allocated. Should you include other work in your portfolio management process, or focus only on projects?

Portfolio management is a key corporate function that takes an organization wide view of all of the initiatives that are being undertaken and seeks to ensure successful execution in the most effective manner. There are a number of different ways that can be accomplished. Here is a summary and comparison of a balanced versus a targeted approach.

Project portfolio management is more than just ensuring that projects get completed, it’s about ensuring that the projects that get done are maximally aligned with the needs of the organization. This comparison looks at two different approaches that need to be implemented at the highest level of the organization during annual strategic planning.