Just recently, Antenna Software released their Mobile Business Forecast 2012, which polled 1,000 CIOs and business unit leaders in the UK and US. The report indicated that the average spent on mobile investments would increase from $422,000 to $926,000 in the next year and a half, and that one-third of companies planned on launching four or more mobile projects in the same timeframe. This is just one slice of the world economy, but it does give us insight on how much organizations invest in their projects, and just how many balls they’re juggling at once. This is exactly why project portfolio management is such a crucial function.

What is Portfolio Management? 

If you have someone manage your investment portfolio, he/she would make decisions about the mix of investments you should hold, which will help you meet your objectives, etc. It is much the same with project portfolio management. This process involves analyzing and managing a group of projects. The objective is to determine the best mix of projects and sequencing in furthering the organization’s goals, optimizing costs, and balancing risk. So you look at factors like:

• Expected cost.
• Use of resources.
• Expected timeline.
• Projected benefits and when these will be realized.
• How they relate to other projects in the portfolio.

A business unit executive needs to clearly articulate why their specific project should be funded. It is the rationale for why senior-level executives, CIOs, and CEOs would want to put nearly $1 million on the line. Is it worth it? Will the project achieve key business drivers, including:

• Alignment with corporate goals and strategies
• Increasing business performance.
• Creating new market growth opportunities.
• Stabilizing operations.
• Improving/enhancing operations and/or products.
• Redeploying knowledge resources to strategic operations.
• Transforming business.

The COE approach implemented by BLTC Group allows projects and programs to be prioritized, assessed, and managed in a way that aligns with overall goals and objectives. Is this project going to be a help or a hindrance to the corporation? Is it going to be a good investment? These are the questions that project portfolio management helps answer.