If you live and work in a modern business structure, you
know that project management is what keeps businesses moving forward toward
meeting future goals. Project management
truly lays the foundation for goal fulfillment. Even the Roman Forum could not
have been built without its knowledge.
Yet, people who work in the industry know that they must leap a plethora
of hurdles to achieve success.
There is, however, a solution to the problems faced by
every project manager and his team, i.e. which project takes precedence, which
one gets the resources and how to avoid failure. That solution is portfolio management.
Portfolio
management has
been circulating in the business world for many
years. But, it has not been until
recently that project management software companies like
Primavera and
Microsoft have begun adding portfolio management features to their suites. What they have seen is that portfolio
management is the key to standardizing methodology, increasing efficiency and
eliminating overspending.
Portfolio management is the process by which businesses go
about organizing and managing a set of current or proposed projects. The projects are gathered together into a
central location, or portfolio. This
portfolio is then monitored by project managers and other executives to decide
on which projects should get the resources.
Research has shown that a significant percentage of the
most successful companies have a consistent, intrinsic portfolio management
system in place. Further, a study by the
Center for Business Practices demonstrated that the best performing companies
had a central location where information could be analyzed. These companies also actively reviewed the
information gathered on each project to see which projects should get the go
ahead and which would be put on hold.
These businesses likewise balanced their resources and the demands on
those resources.
Portfolio management allows companies to standardize their
practices company-wide. Plus, when a
portfolio management system is in place, all the information on every project
in the works is centrally located in one repository.
Businesses cannot afford to waste money, especially in
today’s environment, on large budget, non-effectual projects or even small
projects that should have never been given the green light. Portfolio management and the many software
programs available will keep projects on track and in budget.
Interested
in project management software programs? Check out this article by Joe Taylor,
Jr. on the Best Project Management Software Packages for Under $100.