Any business owner will agree that effective project portfolio management forms an important part of a company’s growth. It is critical, however, to also bear in mind is that there are many elements that contribute to the successful use of technology that supports an organisations project portfolio management needs. In fact, the first step in this process is choosing software that will allow you to take care of all your portfolio needs and manage every project as effectively as possible.
Prioritisation is essential within any organisation and your software application should provide you with the ability to prioritise any project manually, or by using specific business rules. Properly categorising your projects will help you to effectively manage them and optimise resource allocation and governance based on their classification. As a project manager or project owner, you should be able to view and analyse projects based on priority and category, and define the various requirements that govern the specific project types. With an online or web-based application, these are just some of the handy functions that will be available to the entire team. It’s a convenient way for all members of a project team to be on the same page at all times and have access to the latest updated project information and documents.
Portfolio reporting includes the ability to analyse project governance, status and health across the entire portfolio. Your software should allow you to extract reports that can be sorted, grouped or filtered based on the results you require. You need to be able to download these reports in various formats, including Excel or PDF. This reporting function simplifies the overall portfolio management and allows for transparency across all projects and current progress. With a centralised location for data storage and user access, reporting is straightforward and accurate.
An integral function of a successful project portfolio management application is the ability to provide users with intuitive dashboards that will deliver an instant overview of various projects and their statuses. Users can simply click through to a specific project, and access updated information at any stage. The application needs to be user friendly and should require a small learning curve so that users can access and use the application in the most effortless way and enjoy all the benefits that come with a web-based or an online work system.
With an easy-to-use system and the ability to share information from a centralised database, users will also benefit from simplified work processes, access to real-time information when they need it, and they will have the ability to update a project status instantly. This eliminates the need to have individual systems and date sources for each user and/or project, and with controlled access, project owners can monitor progress, employee activity, and keep an eye on all project information.
Project portfolio management is essential for any company that runs projects on an ongoing basis, giving your company an edge over competitors within your industry. Not only does this type of technology allow for proactive management and accurate reporting, but it will also provide you with an organised and systematic approach to complete any project productively and successfully.
Are you looking for an effective project portfolio management (PPM) application? If so, try a free 30-day trial of Project Portfolio Office (PPO) today at www.go2ppo.com/try.php.
PPO is an award winning online project portfolio management and collaboration application. PPO is simple, immediate, secure and affordable. PPO is flexible and can be configured to support any methodology.
