Portfolio Management Proposal

Version 1.0.0
Status: ☒ Working Draft ☐ Approved ☐ Adopted
Document Owner: Project Manager Name, PMO
Last Review Date: July 2022

Portfolio Management Proposal

Purpose
The purpose of the Portfolio Management Proposal is to articulate an approach for effectively evaluating
the impact of each project to the company’s portfolio(s). The process will support project governance,
allowing the business to make informed decisions on which projects to execute to deliver the most value
to the organization.

Benefits
 Objective prioritization of each project in the portfolio(s) based on criteria relevant to the
company’s objectives
 Facilitates project governance based on actionable information such as resource capacity, ROI,
strategic alignment, etc.
 Provides clear visibility to current portfolio prioritization:
o Facilitates easy communication to the organization
o Mitigates conflict related to resource contention

Process
Each “Approved Project” will be evaluated based on several criteria to assess the impact to the
organization. The assessment will produce an objective prioritization score that can provide insight into
the value and risk associated with the project. These scores will be used as a baseline for recommended
prioritization, but additional factors will be considered.

An executive committee will be established that will regularly meet to review all relevant info, incorporate
additional information, and determine prioritization of each project within the portfolio(s). This information
will be communicated to project managers, executive sponsors, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure
alignment with portfolio strategy.

Note: The process assumes projects have been evaluated as part of a formal business case process and
information is available to support the prioritization scoring.

Scoring Criteria
These criteria have been developed in partnership with leadership to identify critical factors for project
governance:

 Project Type – What type of project (i.e., regulatory, innovation, client requested)?
 Strategic Alignment – Which strategic goals does the project align with?
 Financial Benefit – What is the projected revenue generation or savings value?
 Duration – How long will resources be dedicated to the project?
 Effort – How many resource hours or financial costs are required for project completion?
 Complexity – How many different teams are needed for project execution?

Each project is scored based on answers to each of these criteria. A weighted formula has been
developed that emphasizes alignment to organization strategy to determine a total Prioritization Score.

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Prioritization Score = (Strategic Alignment * 0.1000) + (Project Type * 0.1667) + (Duration * 0.1000) +
(Effort * 0.2334) + (Financial Benefit * 0.2334) + (Complexity * 0.1667)

Figure 1 – Example Portfolio View

Project Prioritization Scores are not absolute for determining the priority of a project. Other internal
considerations can influence project governance, such as risk assessments or resource capacity
constraints. Additionally, external factors such as market conditions or regulatory requirements may
necessitate adjustments to prioritization. These criteria will be documented and reviewed as part of the
Portfolio Governance Team meetings.

Portfolio Prioritization and Governance

A Portfolio Governance Team will be established to facilitate regular portfolio review and prioritization.
This team will meet monthly, with ad hoc meetings conducted if project intake volume necessitates, or if
critical portfolio adjustments are required. The team will consist of cross-functional leadership authorized
to make decisions on portfolio governance.

Additional reporting will be provided to facilitate discussion and support governance decisions, such as
resource allocations, budget considerations, time to market requirements, etc. (See Appendix A for
example reporting.)

Results will be communicated to department/business leadership to ensure all stakeholders have visibility
to prioritization and are aligned (method and format of communication to be determined).

Implementation
Because of disparate applications and processes throughout the organization, the implementation of this
process will be executed in multiple phases. The first phase is focused on establishing the process, as
well as the change management required to onboard and train departments. The initial rollout will likely
require manual processes to facilitate. The second phase will implement a systemic solution and migrate
the process to a digital tool, adding additional capabilities to portfolio management.

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PHASE I
The initial phase will be focused on establishing the infrastructure to support the process:

 Define prioritization criteria and scoring

 Establish Portfolio Governance Team and identify members
 Score all existing projects and define workflow to evaluate new projects
 Manual scoring template and document storage requirements established
 Communication frequency and format of portfolio prioritization defined
 Change management and training executed to align all business units to process

Prior to executing any implementation/rollout activities, anticipate several rounds of discussions

conducted with leadership and business to review the proposed process and gain buy-in.

PHASE II
Initiation of Phase II will begin with an evaluation of the prior phase to produce recommendations for
improving the process. A cycle of…
1. Review
2. Improve
3. Adopt
4. Monitor
…will be implemented to ensure continuous improvement of the process. Any adjustments to the process
or criteria will be implemented prior to, or as part of, any systematic migration.

High priority will be given to identifying and establishing an integrated software solution that will act as a
single source of truth for project information and portfolio prioritization. Once a tool has been identified,
vetted and approved, all manual processes will be migrated to the systematic solution. Ideally, this will
allow users to execute projects in the application of their choice, but integrate all data into a single system
to allow for integrated visibility and portfolio planning.

In addition to automation of manual processes, the solution will provide additional flexibility to prioritize
and analyze ‘What-If’ scenarios to aid in strategic planning of portfolios. The system will also be capable
of producing reporting and interactive dashboards to provide unprecedented visibility across the
organization, facilitating better portfolio management, and allowing easy communication of portfolio
strategy to stakeholders.

Proposal Assumptions and Constraints

 Data integrity exists to support Portfolio Management processes

 Resource capacity/expertise exists to support process execution (internal/external)
 Data from separate systems can support integration into a PPM solution
 IT Infrastructure exists to support implementation of integrated PPM solution
 Budget exists to pursue/implement a systematic PPM solution
 Any regulatory requirements or constraints are well understood and defined

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Appendix A: Report Examples

Figure 2 - Example Prioritization Dashboard

Figure 3 - Example Resource Capacity Dashboard

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