One of the key PPM Trends and Innovations we have have seen over the past 5 years is the drive to more strategic ways of managing protfolios. Most PPM solutions have developed from what we would class as a bottom-up approach, where the individual work is consolidated to build out a portfolio.

KeyedIn is different. We have always seperated top-down from bottom-up so we can maximize the the value PPM brings to the enterprise.

Top Down PPM begins with objectives – what marketplace opportunities exist for an organization’s capitalization. It moves forward with project implementation – realization of the monetization.

It’s the in-between’s that bare the complication. Project selection aligned with business strategy, detailed cost/benefit forecasting and risk analysis. And the daily details entailed with project resource allocation and proactive management.

Visibility accommodating both strategy to project (top-down) and project to strategy (bottom-up) is a necessity today. Also, all involved need standardization of reporting, collaborating and assessing aspects of projects they’re associated. Cloud-based automated project portfolio management (PPM) is the most productive facilitator of this, enabling a real-time environment where all is captured and communicated via permission-based access scaled to a user organization’s preference.

Top-down, having an overview of all projects on one dashboard provides confirmation activities commence and continue according to strategy. This ongoing view of each portfolio project enables informed decisions to be made regarding prioritization, go or no-go stage decisions, when and if to reallocate resources across the portfolio. It provides a rich understanding of potential consequences (good ones and otherwise) of every change in scope, with drill down capabilities through each project as beneficial.

Bottom-up facilitates standardized notification and reporting processes for resource use with project management, ensuring capability and availability as necessary. This is where the Cloud-enabled collaboration happens – those on a project team are able to document and share aspects they’re working on, keeping everyone in the know. People realizing their contribution’s fit within the project help keep all informed, motivated and empowered. Project managers and executives are kept aware of progress, as well as potential pitfalls, both beneficial to planning.

Whichever of the two views an organization tends to lean, it’s functionally useful to have a SaaS facilitator enabling both. All the PPM tools needed are there, to plan, allocate and view, from strategy through to success.

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Rachel Hentges
PMO Influencer
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Rachel Hentges

Rachel Hentges is challenging PMO leaders to think differently about their role. Rachel is the author of key industry related surveys, reports, blogs and more that challenge the status quo of today’s PMOs.