The most difficult challenge for organizations as they grow is aligning projects with their high-level business goals. Executives and managers struggle while prioritizing projects and allocating resources to achieve optimal efficiency. Project portfolio management is key to unlocking these difficulties.
What’s project portfolio management?
Project portfolio management a.k.a. PPM is the process utilized by organizations to plan their schedules and allocate resources to make sure that the project portfolio is a success. It is the system that helps analyze the potential returns, performance, and risks of undertaking a project so that the right work can be prioritized.
It is a data-driven process that helps executives and managers to prioritize the projects effectively. This involves reviewing project portfolios regularly to determine which projects to cut, how the budget is spent, and what ROI each project portfolio delivers to ensure that resources are effectively used.
What are your objectives in project portfolio management?
Business is built on taking risks. While it is important to take a risk, remember that higher risks don’t always mean higher rewards. Smart decision-making is what determines risk vs. reward. PPM aims to identify what’s working and what’s not, and how organizations can streamline their efforts to measure overall effectiveness in line with the business strategy. However, organizations that engage in project portfolio management are typically bombarded with some common challenges like effective execution, resource allocation, etc.
Challenges of project portfolio management –
Some of the biggest challenges of project portfolio management revolve around
Project execution: While some projects might survive with a simple structure, the entire portfolio needs complex governance, which can lead to oversight conflicts. The projects running in the organization may not run under a defined governance process due to the lack of a central tool.
Resource allocation: When an overwhelming number of projects are executed in parallel, a lack of insights leads to resource conflicts, bottlenecks, and delays.
Risk management – Risks are known in advance. but the lack of impact analysis and unawareness about the leading indicators like impact on time, resources, etc. often delay the projects, negatively impacting the revenue and ROI.
- Safe and efficient resource management:
- Reduce turnaround time:
- Better collaboration:
- Robust Reporting:
Project portfolio management can be complex and challenging. Therefore, executives utilize project portfolio management solutions to review and monitor data and increase work productivity. Once the process is streamlined and infused properly, projects align better with organization goals and overcome these obstacles.
The best enterprise portfolio management software –
Introducing Microsoft Project. Microsoft Project is one of the best project management software for managing small to large projects. Microsoft Project is a robust PPM tool that manages all aspects of project portfolio management. Using MS Project for portfolio management tools can help you accelerate your work and make smart data-driven decisions to improve project performance and resource management.
Key capabilities of project portfolio management solutions
PPM solutions allow for resource sharing to improve efficiency and management. It provides centralized storage that can be accessible to all users. This allows you to see who is working on which projects now and in the future and helps you plan and distribute your portfolios wisely.
Another significant advantage of PPM is the decreased turnaround time. With PPM tools, managers can keep track of all work by scheduling them in a precise manner. It allows companies to complete projects in a shorter amount of time and also helps them avoid making mistakes and wasting time.
Sometimes project teams include members from different departments. They also have to manage day-to-day responsibilities, making it difficult for other stakeholders to attend meetings and keep up-to-date. PPM software gives teams greater project portfolio visibility and transparency by making the whole project visible to the company leading to reduced communication gaps and improved collaboration.
Monitoring the work progress is crucial to long-term success. PPM software is crucial in monitoring project stages and can give insights that will keep you informed about what’s going on at the portfolio level and with available drill down to specific project and activity levels.
Swati
Swati possesses excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities and takes keen interest in all aspects of a project lifecycle management from requirements analysis to architecture, design, implementation and closure.
She attended the University Institute of Technology, RGPV where she received her Master’s in Computer Applications Degree. She is also a Microsoft Certified Professional and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in Enterprise Project Management. She also has received a number of recognition’s at Advaiya.
