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A Framework for IT Portfolio Management
Dr. Andrew Makar is an IT program manager and is the author of the Microsoft Project Made Easy series. For more project management advice, visit the website TacticalProjectManagement.com.
The roots of a portfolio management process model can be found in W. Edwards Deming’s quality management cycle of Plan, Do, Check and Act. In the 1950s, Deming proposed a process model where business processes are reviewed continually to identify improvements. The Plan phase designed new or revised existing processes to improve business results. The Do phase implements the process improvement plan and measures the results. The Check phase reviews the results and reports the status to the management team. The Act phase determines the changes needed to improve the process.
Deming’s model can be reordered and aligned to a portfolio management process model. Instead of following a Plan-Do-Check-Act process, a Plan-Act-Do-Check model can be adopted. With any portfolio, portfolio planning is required to organize the work within a portfolio. Prioritization is needed to focus on the critical projects within a cycle plan. Project execution occurs and ideally delivers the business results. Finally, the monitor phase inspects the project portfolio and the inspection results filter into the next portfolio planning iteration. Figure 1 aligns a modified Deming model to primary portfolio management processes.
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Modified Deming
Cycle |
Primary Portfolio … |
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