Enterprise project management (EPM) is the integration of procedures, technology, organizational structure, and people that ensures alignment of projects to company strategy and goals.
There are three tiers of management in the EPM model. These tiers form the relationship between project, the projects resources, and company strategy. Project management focuses on the effective deliverance of selected projects. Program management is really management of multiple projects and it serves to coordinate projects and the resources that each of these projects share— particularly the people. Usually these projects share a similar goal and processes. Project portfolio management, associates the selection of projects and programs to the strategic goals of the company.
Program management is the management of multiple similar projects by individual project managers for each project and one Program Manager overseeing the whole. It strives to remove the confusion inherent by many related projects by effectively deploying limited resources, particularly personnel, among each project. It is able to do this by tracking relationships among projects, and managing projects or tasks that add value across projects yet are burdensome to any one project.
Project portfolio management (PPM) ensures that projects and programs promote organizational strategies and goals. It tries to do all of that by managing the limited resources available within the company. It requires disciplined decisions driven by priorities established by the Project Management Office or Executive decision.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) has three primary purposes: align project selection with strategy; assign limited resources based on priorities; optimize deployment of resources across projects.
The benefits of PPM include: balancing projects by risk and reward; focusing on meaningful results that support strategic goals; choosing the right projects with the right resources to complete them; using strategic priorities to direct resource allocation.
The roles in PPM provide the authority and knowledge for PPM to function. The following roles should be included as part of any PPM: Steering Committee provides the link to the enterprise’s strategy and operations to ensure that the portfolio adds value to the organization; Portfolio Experts provide the working knowledge of portfolio management; Project Sponsors provide the expertise on the business benefits; Business Analysts are the experts on conducting analysis and documentation that help in making the decisions concerning a project.
Project Management Office primary purpose is to provide and maintain the project management standards and promote their use in an organization. The PMO actively supports a variety of projects by management of the perfunctory chores such as building and updating the project plan and budget documentation used by the projects. A PMO will also supply project managers to projects all over the organization. And, because it provides the project managers to the projects, the PMO can enforce the project management standards it establishes.
At work there are numerous PMO’s, usually one for each division and one main corporate PMO. Each of them operates differently from their colleagues in other divisions. The ultimate goal is have the one main corporate PMO guiding all the divisional PMO’s. work has a long way to go to meet that goal.
References:
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2010). Earned value project management. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide), fifth edition. Newtown Square, PA: Author.
Verzuh, E. (2012). The fast forward MBA in project management, fourth edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
