15331 Project Portfolio and Program Management

Organisations that adopt projects as a means to achieving change and delivering results often find it difficult to prioritise projects and to make best use of their resources. Additionally, many recent surveys have demonstrated that project backlog is a major issue in Australia. Portfolio management is a management approach that aims to align project efforts with the corporate strategy and optimise the efficient use of resources throughout the organisation. This subject focuses on two aspects of the management of portfolios:

• the selection and prioritisation of projects, based on contribution to organisational benefits and achievability
• the allocation and prioritising of resources between those projects that have been chosen so that they can deliver the expected benefits.

The subject identifies four key activities and techniques to accomplish this:

1. analysing the portfolio of existing and potential projects
2. selecting the projects to be implemented as part of this portfolio
3. allocating resources to those projects that have been selected
4. collecting and storing project data for performance measurement and portfolio reorientation.

The subject also discusses the issue of the coordination of the whole activities portfolio and why it should be an organisation's ultimate objective.

Organisations typically aim to implement business strategies that generate benefits for the business and their customers. However, if projects are managed independently, this objective is seldom achieved. Program management offers the means to manage groups of projects with a common business purpose in an integrated and effective way.

This subject develops a view in which program management (PgM) may effectively link strategic decision making with its successful implementation through projects. This subject shows how program management can enable the implementation and control of business strategies while allowing for the dynamism and flexibility inherent to the project approach.

Program management could be described as the governance and harmonised management of a number of projects and other actions to achieve stated business benefits and create value for the stakeholders. The subject first discusses the need to combine a performance (project-based) and a learning (value-based) process in the management of programs. It then outlines in detail a program management life cycle, grounded in theory and a long experience of managing stakeholders' needs and expectations through value, project, and program management in a variety of industries.

The subject also discusses recent Program Management Standards issued by the PMI (Project Management Institute) and the recent revision of the OGC's 'Managing Successful Programmes' from the UK.

Typical availability

Autumn semester, City campus
Spring semester, City campus