Portfolio Management Application

Data management is a critical function, but busy project teams don’t have the time or skills to stay on top of it.

Though information is harvested and reviewed at the project level, rarely is data rolled up in a way that makes it possible to identify opportunities and inefficiencies on a broader basis. This leads to resource conflicts, waste, and last-minute surprises and emergencies that could have been avoided.

Executives often don’t have good visibility into where projects are having problems, even when the difficulties are serious enough to impact other efforts within the portfolio. Communication strategies aren’t always robust enough to ensure the leadership team is aware of emerging challenges, and status reports may not highlight those problems that require executives’ attention. Unless senior management makes a concerted effort to stay on top of issues, they likely don’t have enough knowledge about the health of their portfolio to make the best strategic, operational, and financial decisions.

Few companies have a process for reviewing their entire project portfolio. This leaves the executives in the dark when it comes to evaluating how well the team is delivering its projects. Without a proven portfolio management and analysis strategy to guide them, organizations spend time and money fixing the same problem over and over, and never have the information necessary to improve their long-term performance.

Businesses don’t always have the project management proficiency and related tools to create and maintain accurate project plans. As inconsistent planning and control methodologies are used across the portfolio, any deficiencies in skills or expertise are magnified. The result? Big gaps in the organization’s approach to portfolio management.