Sustainability in Project Portfolio and Program Management

Sustainability in Project Portfolio and Program
Management
1

Executive summary
The main focus of this report would be to evaluate the functionality of the suggested portfolio
management function in order to convince the members of the organization that are resisting.
This report has disclosed the impact of project portfolio management on different aspects of
business in Richard Crookes Constructions. This report has suggested that management
should use return on investment method for the purpose of project evaluation. In addition to
that Change management strategy suggested in this report is Kotter's change management
plan. In addition to that this report has also explained methods and techniques that are
currently used in business. Threats and issues in stakeholder management is also discussed in
the report for facilitating implementation process.
2

Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Situational context......................................................................................................................5
Portfolio evaluation....................................................................................................................8
Portfolio management..............................................................................................................10
Maturity levels.........................................................................................................................12
Corporate culture......................................................................................................................15
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
References................................................................................................................................19
3

Introduction
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) can be defined as the art and science of managing
different project undertaken by a particular organization. This business management
technique is critical for an organization as its success is dependent on the success of different
projects undertaken by them. PPM helps the business organization to understand and evaluate
the operational and financial viability of such projects. Main focus of this report would be on
project management in family-owned business organization i.e. Richard Crookes
Constructions. This is a family-owned company that has been operating in Australia since
1976and it has been providing construction services to private as well as government
organizations over the period of time (Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2013). In the given situation,
management of the organization has proposed to implement PPM. Management of the
organization has appointed us for the purpose of implementing the PPM and this report will
describe various aspects of implementation process. In the provided case study, there are
certain members of the organization that are not satisfied with the approach suggested by us
for the purpose of implementing portfolio management. This report will help in convincing
such members of the company.
4

Situational context
Need and requirement of implementing portfolio project management in any business
organisation has increased including Richard Crookes Construction. One of the primary need
of implementing this project portfolio management is to director business operations towards
growth and development (Bodie, Kane & Marcus, 2013). This is due to the fact that resource
allocation and cost of agency can be maintained by the organisation with the help of selecting
effective and efficient projects for operation in the business. After conducting analysing past
performance of different project undertaken by this organization it can be said that there are
no failed projects in past. Success rate is expected to increase with the implementation of
PPM (Nikkhou, Taghizadeh & Hajiyakhchali, 2016).
Investing in the right projects
After evaluating different projects completed by the organisation, it can be said that currently
over on success rate of this is high. In addition to that there is a scope of improvement over
the period of time with the help of effective and efficient project management structure.
Project management principles- management of the organisation has been using principles of
PMBOK providing standardization to the project management process (Longenecker, Petty,
Palich & Hoy, 2013).
Project management methodology- Currently management has been using prototyping
methodology for developing projects.
The main purpose of portfolio management is to evaluate the financial and operational
viability of a particular project undertaken by the organization. There are certain projects
undertaken by the organization that might not be very operationally viable and financially
profitable for the organization (Burns & Dewhurst, 2016). This is one of the primary reason
that management of the organization is a considering to implement portfolio management
function in the business. Therefore it can be said that current management is not taking 100%
accurate decisions in relation to investing in the right projects.
Capacity Optimisation
After evaluating the working of the organization it can be said that management is operating
at 100% capacity. This is due to the fact that Richard Crookes Constructions has been in
5

operation for a long period of time and it has experience in relation to capacity optimization
and resource utilization. The capacity of this organization changes regularly in accordance
with the business environment (Longenecker, Petty, Palich & Hoy, 2013). If the demand for
construction services in the industry is lower than the capacity of this organization
automatically decreases as it is more profitable in this situation.
Execution
There are various key performance indicators that can identify whether a particular
organization is executing effectively or not. One of such key performance indicator is overall
revenue and profitability. After evaluating these key performance indicators it can be said
that this organization is executing in an effective and efficient manner (Hatten, 2015). Overall
profitability of the organization has been increasing over the period of time which is a
positive indicator.
Absorption of changes
Management of the organization is using different Change management Strategies for the
purpose of executive different projects and incorporating the changes in day-to-day
operations. Therefore it can be said that Richard Crookes Constructions has been successful
to absorb the changes that are created out of the internal and external business environment
(Hatten, 2015). Change management strategies that are currently used by the organization is
Kotter's change management plan.
Realization of promised benefits
According to the annual review of project selection and performance, it can be said that
management is not able to achieve targeted profits. There are some deficiencies in current
project selection performance strategies that can be mitigated with the help of implementing
new portfolio management technique (Maylor, Blackmon & Huemann, 2016).
Decision making process-
Following is the basic decision making process that is generally used by management of
Richard Crookes Construction for incorporating the changes with respect to project portfolio
management-
 Identifying decisions to be taken
6