What is the typical business profile of people who face these issues?

C-level executives (CEO, CMO, CIO, CFO, etc.) and their direct reports.

How will I benefit from participating in this workshop?

Following your participation in this workshop, you will be better able to:

• Implement your corporate strategy through projects
• Choose the projects that are needed to implement the strategy
• Guide the management of projects through their whole life cycle from concept to value creation

What will I do in this workshop?

The workshop is structured in five modules:

Module 1: Project Portfolio Management 

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) organizes a series of projects - not necessarily interdependent or directly related - into a single portfolio consisting of reports that capture project objectives, costs, timelines, accomplishments, resources, risks and other critical factors. PPM is a management process designed to help an organization acquire and view information about all of its projects, then sort and prioritize each project according to certain criteria, such as strategic value, impact on resources and cost. Executives can then regularly review entire portfolios, spread resources appropriately and adjust projects to produce the highest returns.

Module topics:

• Objectives of PPM
• The PPM process
• PPM context
• The added value of PPM

Module 2: Project Portfolio Creation 

PPM begins with the development of an inventory of all current and planned projects and programs within the organization. It starts with collecting the project information necessary to allow them to be analyzed and compared, such as project name, estimated duration, estimated cost, business objective, how the project supports the organization's overall strategies, and so on. This information is then stored and maintained centrally in electronic format.

Module topics

• Portfolio scope and structure
• Inventory of programs and projects
• Project/Program information requirements
• PPM templates and tools

Module 3: PPM Governance 

Once the inventory of projects and programs has been created, the project portfolio management team must be selected. Typically, the PPM management team is made up of department heads or business unit managers who generate requests for projects, provide project resources (especially team members), provide project funding, use finished project deliverables, or set strategic directions. The PPM management team must define and agree a set of criteria that will be used to authorize and prioritize project initiatives. This requires that broad, organization-wide discussions of the criteria are held before they are finalized.

Module topics

• PPM Management team
• Project/program authorization criteria
• Project prioritization criteria
• Project evaluation criteria

Module 4: PPM Requirements 

Successful operation of PPM requires an organization’s project management maturity to be well developed. This implies projects are consistently managed according to generally accepted good project management practices that produce reliable information concerning project timelines, budget and spend, progress, risk exposure and so forth. Moreover, PPM requires that for every new project/program initiative a solid business case is prepared and project ROI is proven. Enterprise-wide PPM requires organizational support – typically in the form of an Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) – for maintaining the project inventory and for enforcing consistent use of and compliance with PPM policies and procedures.

Module topics

• Project management maturity
• Project Management Office support
• PPM policies and procedures

Module 5: Project Portfolio Monitoring and Tracking 

Once a project portfolio has been created, the challenge of delivering it begins. This is not easy in a complex landscape of evolving business requirements, internal and external resources, and evolving risks. Projects must be periodically reevaluated to determine which projects are meeting their goals, which may need more support, or which may need to be down-sized or dropped entirely. PPM is most effective when the portfolio is frequently revisited and actively managed.

The critical examination of an organization’s project portfolio derives instant value from portfolio management: duplicate efforts can be eliminated; projects that require excessive resources can be streamlined; projects with a high strategic impact or significant risk exposure can be carefully monitored; projects can be prioritized according to the organization’s ability to provide the necessary financial and human resources.

Module topics

• Prioritization and planning techniques
• Business case and feasibility assessment
• Identifying new project opportunities
• Streamlining and optimizing portfolio execution