PROJ6005: Portfolio Management Implementation Report - Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of six sigma portfolio management within the Boral Company. It begins with an executive summary outlining the benefits and challenges encountered during the implementation process. The report delves into the situational context, evaluating the company's current portfolio management practices and the strategic value of project portfolio management. It explores portfolio evaluation methods, including the scoring model, and proposes the implementation of the six sigma method to overcome existing challenges. The report also examines portfolio management strategies, the role of the Project Management Office (PMO), and maturity levels based on the Gartner model. Key practices for enhancing maturity levels are discussed, including improvements to project planning, measurement, and analysis, and the adoption of the PRINCE2 model. The report concludes with an analysis of the corporate culture and the impact of change management initiatives within the organization.

Portfolio management
implementation report

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Executive summary
The report has provided a view regarding the benefits and issues faced by the Boral Company
after implementing the six sigma portfolio management in their business functions. The
situational context and portfolio evaluation provided a brief view regarding the promised benefits
of the organization by using the proposed project method and also define the challenges that face
by the firm in their current method. Besides this, the portfolio management and maturity levels
of the organization demonstrate the role of the project management office and the best way of
improving the maturity level of the organization. Furthermore, the corporate culture prevailing in
the firm has also been analyzed after reviewing this context.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Situational context.......................................................................................................................................3
Portfolio evaluation.....................................................................................................................................4
Portfolio management.................................................................................................................................6
Maturity levels.............................................................................................................................................7
Corporate culture.........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Boral Company is one of the leading organization of Australia who uses lean portfolio
management procedure for doing their projects. However, it is noticed that the current portfolio
management system creates several challenges for the organization. Thus to overcome the issues,
the company has incorporated six sigma portfolio management method, and this has been briefly
discussed in the earlier task. In this paper, the implementation of this newly proposed portfolio
management will be discussed in this context. For effective implementation, both the benefits
and challenges that can occur due to this proposed plan will also be briefly demonstrated in this
report.
The situational context of the organization demonstrates the optimizing capacity of the current
business condition, along with the strategic value of project portfolio and project management.
Based on this fact, a brief evaluation of the portfolio management and maturity levels related to
the project portfolio management of the chosen company will also be provided in this context.
Furthermore, the corporate culture of the organization will be demonstrated in this report by
considering the change management initiatives and the challenges, including in the sustainability
criteria of the Boral Company of Australia.
Situational context
After reviewing the background of the chosen company portfolio management procedure, it is
analyzed that the firm uses the lean methodology of portfolio management (Lee & Shin, 2018).
According to the concept of project management, every organization should make prioritization
criteria so that they can invest in the right projects. Based on this fact, the lean portfolio
management of Boral Company helps the project management to analyze the current and future
state of their portfolio with the help of Portfolio Canvas tool and identifying the business
initiatives of achieving their company goals (Sibirskaya, Egorov, Safronova, Mikheykina &
Ivashkova, 2015). This procedure helps the firm to invest in the right projects, but for this
portfolio management, sometimes the organization cannot optimize up to their predicted
capacity. Due to this reason, the company has to suffer, and overall, it negatively impacts on the
rate of production and growth rate of the company. Thus in order to execute it correctly, the
organization has to develop some planning such as learning the way of organizing strategic and
investment funding procedure surrounding the key value areas and also create a team to drive the

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alignment of the organization by following lean ways of working (Chirkunova, Kireeva,
Kornilova & Pschenichnikova, 2016). Hence by following both these procedures, the selected
company has well-executed its operations in spite of the challenges they are facing in their
business. From the company working prospects, it is seen that the chosen firm does not absorb
all the changes in their business operations.
According to the management team, the organization absorb the changes that are effective for
their business and suitable for their working functions. With the help of this lean portfolio
management, the company goals are to increase delivery trimming, produce a higher quality of
products, improve the organizational health and improve the production speed (Fernandes, Ward
& Araújo, 2015). However, all these promised benefits are fulfilled accurately by the Boral
Company, and due to this reason, the six sigma portfolio management procedure is proposed for
this firm. The chosen portfolio management helps the firm to reduce the issues and enable them
to reach their promised advantages of the business. The strategic value of the project portfolio
management and project management has centralized on the maximized commercial value and
also on the identification of future business prospects (Hawrysz & Maj, 2017). In order to
increase the strategic value of both this management procedure, the company needs to consider
its project management lifecycles, change management, project offices, organizational change
and resource management. By considering all these aspects, the firm can easily identify the
strategic and non-commercial value of their projects. Hence by analyzing the relevant
dimensions of the project portfolio than can increase their company strategic value in project
management procedure.
Portfolio evaluation
From the earlier project analysis of Boral Company, it is seen that for project portfolio the firm
generally use PPM (Project Portfolio Management) software to execute the advanced project
without facing any difficulties and complete them within the stipulated time frame (Kaiser, El
Arbi & Ahlemann, 2015). There are several methods used in executing the PPM software tool,
but among them, the company use the scoring model method for evaluating their overall project
portfolio. The method enables the chosen firm to assign the scores and weights of the projects by
considering the prioritized highest score (Flatscher & Riel, 2016). Comparing this method with
other methods such as cost analysis, decision free analysis and objective matrix, it is seen that the

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scoring model consider the technique bridges of both qualitative and quantitative models before
determining the score.
Besides this, it is the easiest method among all other methods, and it can be deleted and added
from the set without calculating the score of other projects (Petro & Gardiner, 2015). However, it
is noticed that this method possess some challenges for the organization concerning using the
lean method of portfolio management. One of the challenges that face by the organization due to
their current method is that the justification of the project does not always show the value of the
investment. Due to this reason, it becomes difficult for the Boral Company to analyze the exact
score of its project portfolio. Sometimes the organization can get optimal results by using this
scoring method in the global work environment. Hence it is also considered as a significant
challenge faced by the chosen organization in evaluating its project portfolio in the international
market environment.
For overcoming the challenges faces by the organization in incorporating the scoring method of
lean portfolio management, the firm is proposed to implement the six sigma method. With the
help of this six sigma management method the firm can use other PPM tools, process and
techniques that overall not only improve the business performance, practice and sustainable the
project outcomes but also help them to achieve their project goals (Padovani, Muscat, Camanho
& de Carvalho, 2017). The other PPM techniques, tools and process that should be used by the
organization after the implementation of the project portfolio management are cost analysis,
estimated commercial value (ECV) and decision tree analysis. The cost analysis evaluates the
ratio of risks and reward of any project whereas the decision tree analysis method creates a visual
aid of the qualitative outcomes the help in understanding the subjective factors of the project that
can generate positive results.
Besides this, the ECV incorporates the risks of the project into the formula as technical and
commercial success probabilities. Thus with the help of these techniques and tools, the Boral
Company can get sufficient opportunity in doing their project operations properly. The
explanation shows that the benefits management cycle is incorporated in the evaluation process
of six sigma management procedure to get positive outcomes. The chosen company formerly
incorporated the benefits management lifecycle but after the implementation of six sigma method
the company incorporate this technique for identifying, measuring, planning and tracking the

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benefits of the project investments and for the evaluation process (Laursen & Svejvig, 2016).
The benefit management procedures help the firm to understand the day-to-day management
process and enable the project to manage to focus on the direction of transitional management
that provides new capability and opportunity to the business. The benefits management also help
in advising the project manager regarding the way of maintaining strategic oversight of the
portfolio so that the business can effectively reach their goals.
Portfolio management
From the Boral Company project portfolio management report it is investigated that the
organization uses effective planning and strategies for aligning their collective projects with that
of their strategic objectives (Kock, Heising & Gemünden, 2016). Thus for aligning the collective
projects with the strategic goals identify the potential and existing projects that the company are
currently operating. The reason for understanding all these projects is to identify their role in
reaching strategic business goals. After that, the project manager will determine their upcoming
project with the company-wide strategy and prioritize the value of the project in effective order
by allocating the resources in such a manner by which it can help the firm to be one step closer in
reaching their business objectives (Pärn, Edwards & Sing, 2017). Later on, by adjusting the
project strategy, the management has aligned their collective projects with that of their strategic
objectives.
Yes, a Project Management Office has been introducing in the Boral organization whose primary
role is to make sure that the company are following the procedures, practices and standards for
making their projects successful. The office helps the firm to use the common practices of
standards and practices so that they can be successful in reaching their goals (Gemünden, Lehner
& Kock, 2018). It is noticed that currently for managing the project portfolio, the firm has
incorporated some quantitative and qualitative techniques and tools so that they can get effective
results. The quantitative methods used by Boral Company are mathematical, optimization
techniques and programming models (Eriksson & Leiringer, 2015). All these techniques and
tools of quantitative methods are sufficient for the origination as it helps the management to
identify the input variables that can enhance the probability distribution and value of the projects,
respectively. Besides this, the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis software is used for
qualitative methods. The tool is useful in understanding the holistic picture of the current project

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whom they are dealing within the business. It is also useful in analyzing the value of the project
in the market.
Maturity levels
From the previous assignment, it is seen that for getting better outcomes, the firm should
implement six sigma portfolio management procedure. Thus according to the organizational
working context, the maturity level that should be best suitable for the firm in terms of project
portfolio management is based on the Gartner model that define five maturity aspects that can
improve the business project aspect of Boral. The maturity level should be made by considering
the factors such as reactive, initial integration, emerging discipline, effective innovation and
integration (Ahmad, Lwakatare, Kuvaja, Oivo & Markkula, 2017). With the help of these
maturity factors, an appropriate level should be set by the organization that helps them to
complete the project within time.
The key practices that can be adopted for enhancing the maturity level are as follows:
• The project management should improve the project planning, controlling and monitoring
procedure by analyzing the best practices of estimation such as resource and risk
planning and scheduling.
• Measurement and analysis area should be improved by sustaining and developing the
measurement capability within projects leading to the management of measurement at the
organizational level (Langston & Ghanbaripour, 2016).
• Moreover, the company should also introduce the PRINCE2 model, which is a process-
based approach that focused on control and organization over the entire project. Thus by
using this model, the firm can improve its maturity level with respect to its business
operation.
In order to implement this change, the project management team should learn regarding the
chosen model and uses effective planning for improving their key practices (Coppola,
D'Ambrogio & Gianni, 2016). If they become successful in doing these operations, then they can
easily assist the organization in reaching their business goals.

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Corporate culture
Boral Company has maintained a hierarchical and employee-friendly corporate culture in their
business operations. With the help of the hierarchical corporate culture, the managers and the
employees maintain their job roles and complete their work in time (Fryt, 2019). Besides this, the
employee-friendly corporate culture enables the workers of this company to share their thoughts
and opinion without any hesitation to their superiors. Based on these corporate cultures, the
internal stakeholder provides some input and influence on the company working prospects. The
primary stakeholder of this company is HR Director, Facilities Manager, Technology Manager
and Accountant those who play an active role in maintaining the corporate culture of the firm
(Coppola, D'Ambrogio & Gianni, 2016). For maintaining the corporate culture, the HR Director
sometimes arranges meetings with the project manager and management team while taking any
decision regarding project implementation and employee recruitment. Besides this, the other
stakeholders efficiently communicate with their employees so that they can share their views
regarding the completion of the project within time. Change management initiative of building
the employee capability and execute it properly is the primary approach that took place in respect
to the project portfolio management process.
The change management initiatives have improved the business operations and create several
benefits to the organization by enhancing the different perspectives of the stakeholders that are
discussed earlier. The concerns of the stakeholder that might be noticed from this change
management perspectives are that they execute the project criteria as per the organization and
client needs (Chovanová, Babčanová, Horňáková, Samáková & Makyšová, 2019). Besides this,
they also take practical steps in training the employees relating to several changes occurring in
the organization. Both these concerns provide a positive impact on the business function of Boral
Company. The aspects of understanding the employee’s capabilities and identifying the project
needs are the main factors that can support the project management portfolio and its
sustainability criteria. It is analyzed that after the implementation of all these concepts by using
six sigma methods can generate some benefits and challenges for the organizations. The benefits
have been well known after accessing the report whereas the primary challenges are the absence
of commitment of the project manager, incomplete understanding of the methodologies by then
employees and the poor execution of the methods in the project (Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales,

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2015). All these challenges create a negative impact on the business process and also sometimes
cause a delay in completing the project within time. Thus the Boral Company needs to
understand all the benefits and problems of using six sigma methods in its project portfolio
management.
Conclusion
The report has demonstrated the benefits that can generate in the project management portfolio
method after the implementation of six sigma method in the business operations of Boral
Company. From the situational context, it is analyzed that the organization preferably invested in
the right project but sometimes by using the lean method, they become failed in optimizing the
firm capacity. The portfolio evaluation and management analysis provided a brief view regarding
the methods, tools and technique that should be used by the organization after the
implementation of the proposed management method. Moreover, from this report, a brief
explanation has been found regarding the maturity levels, corporate cultures and the challenges
that can be faced by the Boral Company after the implementation of the selected portfolio
management.

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References
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