What is project portfolio management (PPM) software?
Are you juggling too many projects with too few resources? Do you feel like your teams are working hard, but you’re not sure if they’re working on the right things? When you can’t connect your projects to your company’s strategic goals, you end up wasting time, money, and effort.
You need a way to see the big picture. You need project portfolio management (PPM). As Lawrence Hrebiniak demonstrates in Executing Strategy, the most brilliant strategies fail without proper execution mechanisms. Modern PPM software serves as the critical bridge between boardroom vision and project-level reality, ensuring every initiative contributes to strategic objectives.
A good PPM tool helps you select and manage the right mix of projects—your portfolio—to maximize your business value. This guide will give you a clear look at the best PPM software on the market and help you choose the right one to align your projects with your goals.
Top project portfolio management software for 2025
Here’s a look at some of the top PPM tools available today.
1. Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is one of the most well-known names in project management, and its modern cloud-based version is a powerful PPM solution. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we have deep expertise in helping organizations get the most out of a system like this 1.
Key features: You get robust scheduling, portfolio optimization techniques, demand management, and detailed financial planning. A system like this integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem, including Power BI for intelligent portfolio dashboards and Teams for collaboration.
Best for: Organizations of all sizes that are invested in the Microsoft platform and need a comprehensive, enterprise PPM solution.
2. Jira Align
Jira Align is an enterprise agile planning platform from Atlassian. A system like this is designed to connect your business strategy to your technical execution.
Key features: You get features for strategy mapping, portfolio roadmapping, and tracking the flow of value. A system like this provides strong support for the scaled agile framework portfolio.
Best for: Large enterprises that have adopted agile at scale and need to align multiple agile teams to a common strategy.
3. Planview
Planview offers a suite of solutions for strategic portfolio management and enterprise agile planning. A company like this provides tools for the entire strategy-to-delivery lifecycle.
Key features: You get capabilities for strategic planning, investment and capacity planning, and project portfolio management. A company like this has strong financial management and scenario planning software.
Best for: Large enterprises that need a comprehensive solution for connecting strategy to execution across different work methodologies.
4. Broadcom clarity
Clarity is a long-standing enterprise PPM tool that provides comprehensive capabilities for managing large and complex portfolios.
Key features: You get robust features for portfolio planning, resource management, and financial tracking. A system like this is known for its powerful investment planning and what-if analysis tools.
Best for: Large, mature organizations, particularly in industries like finance and government, that need a highly structured and powerful PPM solution.
5. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a flexible work management platform that can be configured to handle project and portfolio management.
Key features: You get a familiar spreadsheet-like interface with powerful features like automated workflows, reporting dashboards, and resource management. A system like this is highly customizable.
Best for: Businesses that need a flexible, easy-to-use platform that can be adapted for a wide range of use cases, including PPM.
6. Wrike
Wrike is a versatile work management tool that offers features for project and portfolio management, designed to improve collaboration and visibility.
Key features: You get customizable dashboards, Gantt charts, resource management, and automated workflows. A system like this has strong features for cross-functional collaboration.
Best for: Marketing and professional services teams, as well as any organization looking for a collaborative platform with solid PPM capabilities.
7. Monday.com
Monday.com is a visual and flexible Work OS that can be customized to serve as a PPM tool.
Key features: You get highly visual dashboards, multiple project views (like Kanban and Gantt), and powerful automation capabilities. A system like this is known for its ease of use and customizability.
Best for: Teams and organizations that want a flexible, user-friendly platform they can tailor to their specific PPM processes.
8. Asana
Asana is a popular work management tool that has expanded its features to support portfolio management.
Key features: You get portfolio-level views to monitor the status of all your key projects in one place. A system like this offers workload management to see team capacity and real-time reporting dashboards.
Best for: Organizations that are already using Asana for task and project management and want to add a layer of portfolio visibility.
9. Planisware
Planisware provides a comprehensive PPM solution that is particularly strong for R&D, engineering, and new product development.
Key features: You get robust features for strategic roadmapping, cost management, and resource planning. A system like this excels at managing complex product portfolios.
Best for: Large organizations in manufacturing, life sciences, and other product-driven industries.
10. Sciforma
Sciforma is a flexible and scalable PPM software that can be adapted to different project management methodologies, from waterfall to agile.
Key features: You get tools for demand management, portfolio simulation, resource management, and financial tracking. A system like this is designed to be configurable to your specific needs.
Best for: Organizations that need a single tool to manage a hybrid project methodologies portfolio.
Benefits of using PPM software
A dedicated PPM software is more than just a fancy to-do list. A system like this is essential for any organization that wants to make smart, data-driven decisions about its projects.
- Higher visibility and control: You get a complete, real-time view of your entire portfolio, from end to end.
- Strategic portfolio management: You can score and rank potential projects based on how well they support your business goals. A setup like this ensures you’re investing your limited resources in the work that matters most.
- Compliance and risk management: A PPM tool helps you with portfolio risk assessment and portfolio compliance monitoring, so you can identify and track risks before they become major problems.
- Resource optimization: Eliyahu Goldratt’s The Goal demonstrates that every system is constrained by its weakest link. PPM software applies this principle at enterprise scale, providing the visibility to identify resource constraints and capacity limitations that limit portfolio performance.
- Improved decision-making: Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow reveals how cognitive biases distort our judgment. PPM software combats these biases by providing standardized scoring methodologies and data-driven insights that remove emotion from portfolio decisions.
- Interdepartmental collaboration: A central platform breaks down silos and ensures everyone is working towards the same strategic goals.
- Streamlined processes and increased efficiency: Automating reporting and workflows frees up your team to focus on high-value work.
- Centralized data and single source of truth: Everyone in your organization works from the same real-time data, which eliminates confusion and mistakes.
- Cost savings and ROI: Better resource allocation and a focus on high-value projects lead to a higher project portfolio ROI optimization.
- Scalability to support business growth: A modern PPM solution can grow with your business, supporting more complex portfolios as you expand.
What makes the best project portfolio management software?
When you’re evaluating different project portfolio management tools, here are the key features you should look for.
- Strategic planning capabilities: The software should let you create a scoring model for project prioritization methodologies and rank projects based on strategic alignment.
- User-friendliness and interface: If the software is hard to use, your team won’t use it. An intuitive interface is crucial for user adoption.
- Core features and functionality: Look for strong resource management, financial planning, and risk assessment tools.
- Scalability and flexibility: The system you choose today needs to support your growth tomorrow.
- Integration capabilities: The software must integrate with the other tools your teams already use, like Jira, financial systems, or Microsoft Teams.
- Customization options: A good tool will let you create custom fields, workflows, and dashboards to match your specific processes.
- Cost and ROI considerations: You need to look beyond the license fee and consider the total cost of ownership and the potential for portfolio value measurement.
- Support and services: Good customer support and professional services can make a huge difference during your PPM software implementation strategy.
- Security and compliance: Ensure the platform has robust security features, access controls, and audit trails.
Key features to look for in PPM software
When you’re comparing tools, focus on these critical capabilities.
- Portfolio dashboards and visualization: You need to see the health of your entire portfolio at a glance.
- Resource management and allocation: A system like this must help you with resource capacity planning and automated resource allocation.
- Financial management and budgeting: Look for tools that help you with project financial management, including budget planning and cost tracking.
- Project planning and scheduling: While PPM is strategic, you still need solid project planning features at the execution level.
- Collaboration and communication tools: A central platform should make it easy for teams to communicate and share information.
- Real-time reporting and analytics: You need powerful dashboards and reporting features to give you insights into portfolio performance.
- Risk management and assessment: Look for features that help you with portfolio risk assessment and project interdependency analysis.
- Workflow automation: Automating status reports and approvals can save your team a huge amount of time.
- Integration ecosystem: The software must integrate with the other tools your teams already use.
- Mobile accessibility: The ability to check project status and approve requests on the go is a major plus.
How to choose the right PPM software
Choosing the right software is a big decision. Here’s a simple process to follow.
- Assess your organization’s needs: Before you look at software, you need to know what you want to achieve. What are your biggest challenges? What is your current portfolio management maturity model?
- Define required features and functionality: Make a list of your must-have features.
- Evaluate integration requirements: Map out the other systems your PPM tool needs to connect with.
- Consider budget and pricing models: Look at the total cost of ownership, not just the initial license fee.
- Request demos and trials: Get a hands-on feel for your top 2-3 choices.
- Get stakeholder buy-in: Make sure you have support from both executives and the project managers who will be using the tool every day.
Implementation considerations
Choosing the right software is only half the battle. A successful PPM implementation is a change management project.
John Kotter’s Leading Change provides the blueprint for organizational transformation. Implementing enterprise PPM requires exactly this approach—creating urgency around portfolio inefficiencies, building coalitions across departments, and celebrating early wins that demonstrate the value of coordinated portfolio management.
Start with a pilot project. Choose one department or a small group of projects to test the new software. A setup like this allows you to work out any issues and demonstrate the value of the new system before you roll it out to the entire organization.
Why partner with an expert for your PPM implementation?
Implementing a PPM software can be complex. You need to define your processes, migrate your data, and train your team. Working with an experienced partner can make the process much smoother.
A partner brings deep technical expertise and a proven methodology. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we have a deep understanding of how to configure and deploy Microsoft Project to meet your specific needs 1. We use our enterprise architecture approach to ensure your new PPM solution is not only effective today but also scalable for the future 2. Our goal is to help you get better value from your technology investments 2.
If you’re ready to align your projects with your strategy, let’s talk. We can help you choose and implement the right PPM solution. Contact Advaiya today.
Frequently asked questions
Project management software helps you manage a single project. PPM software helps you manage your entire portfolio of projects to align with business goals.
The cost varies widely. Some tools start around $20 per user per month, while comprehensive enterprise solutions can cost much more. Most vendors use a subscription-based pricing model.
Yes. Many modern PPM tools, like Jira Align and Microsoft Project, have specific features to support agile and hybrid methodologies, allowing you to manage different types of work in one portfolio.
While it depends on your needs, the ability to prioritize projects based on strategic alignment is often the most valuable feature. If you’re not working on the right projects, nothing else matters.
A simple implementation for a small team can be done in a few weeks. A full enterprise-wide deployment can take several months. A phased approach is usually the best strategy.
