Project Portfolio and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) are established terms used intensively across many industries and by software vendors. There are standards and software solutions that support the planning and control of ideas, initiatives, and projects. But do these approaches and tools truly meet organizations’ actual needs?
Portfolio Prioritization Process
Due to the limited resources of an organization – particularly its IT department – a portfolio prioritization process is typically in place. Weighting criteria include: strategic alignment, costs, quantitative and qualitative benefits, risks, required resources, and organizational impact.
Impact Analysis – Critical Success Factor for Project Planning
How does an IT organization plan resources, assess risks, identify dependencies, and forecast future effort? The best process is useless if the relevant data is not available.
Without a proper impact analysis capability integrated into the PPM tool, portfolio prioritization becomes a mere alibi exercise – it looks structured on the surface but lacks the data foundation to drive genuine strategic decisions.
Conclusion: True PPM requires more than a prioritization framework. Organizations need impact analysis capabilities to understand dependencies and resource constraints before they can make informed portfolio decisions.
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