Realizing the Value of Portfolio Planning and Management

Course Overview

This course combines our one-day course that level sets knowledge around portfolio planning and management with the Portfolio Power™ simulation game that allows participants to actively manage a ‘real’ project portfolio in an innovation-driven company during two and a half years of virtual time. The situations and success/fail factors that are built into the experience provide a unique opportunity for participants to solve challenges inherent to any project portfolio, which are similar across all industries and all types of businesses. An important facet of the simulation game is the inclusion of continuous value and performance monitoring, which is calculated based on actions and decisions made by the participants – both for the portfolio as a whole as well as for each of the portfolio components.

Key Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Recognize key Project Portfolio Planning and Management (PPPM) terms and concepts
• Recognize key governance concepts for guiding the  establishment of PPPM in your organization
• Define key concepts for effective pipeline management
• Define key concepts and techniques for establishing the portfolio inventory of projects
• Identify and categorize project selection criteria for a portfolio
• Evaluate projects and form a viable portfolio 
• Prioritize and balance the portfolio 
• Align portfolio, programs, and projects to corporate business strategy
• Distinguish between key strategies for alignment and prioritization of projects
• Discuss appropriate strategies to influence positive portfolio performance
• Explain and use functions and responsibilities of a Portfolio Steering Committee 
• Explain and use key functions and responsibilities of Program/Project Office 
• Describe the importance of portfolio management reporting

Course Outline

Project Portfolio Management Overview

• Recognize the key terms associated with Project Portfolio Planning and Management (PPPM)
• Discuss the defining characteristics of PPPM
• Distinguish between strategies for effective and ineffective PPPM 
• State the benefits of Project Portfolio Management
• Discuss the challenges of PPM in organizations

Foundations for Successful Project Portfolio Management

• Recognize the key role of leadership in Project Portfolio Planning and Management (PPPM)
• Define project governance
• List the key structures associated with governance in PPPM
• Define key characteristics of the Project Portfolio Maturity Model 
• State the key roles and associated responsibilities in Project Portfolio Management
• Define key critical success factors for effective PPPM 

Portfolio Selection Criteria

• Determine project selection guidelines
• Establish project prioritization criteria
• Evaluate projects against guidelines
• Identify selected projects

Getting Started with Project Portfolio Management

• State the key constants that must be defined by leadership to enable effective Project Portfolio Management and Planning including; 
  • Pipeline parameters
  • Categorization scheme and associated criteria
  • Project Nomination process and templates
  • Pre-qualification screening process
  • Pipeline management
• Recognize the key role that nominations and business cases play in effective project portfolio management

Portfolio Management

• Implement selected portfolio projects
• Manage portfolio through the lifecycles of several projects 
• Apply company resources to projects according to performance and portfolio guidelines
• Balance and communicate portfolio performance across all levels of the organization for each project within the portfolio
• Manage the portfolio as a whole in order to achieve the most value for the business

Executing Project Portfolio Management

• Recognize the process for entering projects into the portfolio 
• Align projects in the portfolio
• State the process for examining proposals
• State the key characteristics of the selection process

The Value of Portfolio Management

• Differentiate between strategies for effective and ineffective PPM 
• Describe the benefits of Project Portfolio Management 
• Identify the challenges of PPM in organizations