Portfolio and Program Services
In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, organisations need to achieve maximum benefits with limited project budgets. In addition to maintaining high quality project management discipline to improve project throughput, this means making informed decisions about which projects and initiatives will best achieve the organisation’s objectives.
Is your organisation undertaking the right projects? SMS has helped many clients with the challenge of choosing the portfolio of projects and programs that will best achieve their business strategy.
Portfolio Management is the conversion of strategy into implementation with an understanding of the practical capabilities of the organisation and its suppliers and partners. It is the responsibility of senior management.
There are several Portfolio Management challenges that many organisations experience where SMS can help, including:
- Portfolio Management is complex by nature – we can help simplify it
- Senior management has limited time available to understand the whole portfolio and its dynamics – we help gather key decision support information and present quickly understood views
- The organisation’s strategy may be unclear and changing – we help make implementation sufficiently agile to cope
- Senior management often has insufficient information about their organisation’s implementation capability – we identify constraints and both recognise them in creating the portfolio, and work with you to reduce them
- Senior managers may be rewarded for their division’s performance rather than the whole organisation’s performance, inhibiting the co-operation needed to agree on the best set of projects for the organisation – we work to give agreement on priorities a win-win exercise
From direct experience over many years SMS understands the imperatives and constraints that impact on the implementation of strategy in both commercial and government organisations.
Organisations seek our help with Portfolio Management in a number of ways, including establishing and/or operating a Portfolio Management Office or an Enterprise Program Management Office.
These offices provide real value to top decision makers by:
- Gathering information and presenting it in ways that give clear insights into the business value of the portfolio of projects
- Measuring the real capabilities of the organisation so that the implementation portfolio is likely to be achievable
- Reporting progress with implementation of the portfolio
- Tracking the achievement of business benefits
- Providing a highly responsive service to the portfolio governance decision makers
SMS also conducts reviews and health checks, giving an assessment of the maturity of Portfolio Management in an organisation, and a practical, staged improvement plan. Our reviews often include the operation the client’s Enterprise Program Office or Portfolio Management Office.
SMS has the skills and experience needed to help you understand the objectives and needs of your organisation, then help you select the best portfolio of projects and programs to realise your business objectives.