Core Objectives of PPM

  • October 20th, 2014

Maximisation of value by selecting projects offering the greatest value and effectively allocating resources to these projects.


Achieving balance by ensuring the appropriate mix of projects is selected. For example, high and low risk projects as well as long term and short-term projects.


Strategic alignment ensuring that individual projects contribute to the overall business strategy.


Project portfolio management is generally defined as:

“a dynamic decision-making process, whereby a business’ list of active initiatives is constantly updated and revised. In this process, new projects are evaluated, selected, and prioritized; existing projects may be accelerated, or de-prioritized; and resources can be allocated and/or reallocated to the active projects. In a full-scale PPM process, all of the projects in the portfolio are evaluated in concert with each other and in the light of the corporate vision and mission.”

Project portfolio management has a broader context than traditional project management since it emphasises a collective response to organisational needs during the planning and execution of these projects. Naturally, in an informed PPM environment, projects are added to the portfolio, and subtracted from it, based on their overall contributions to the corporate vision and strategic needs. Unlike traditional project management, which focuses only on managing a standalone project bounded by a budget, schedule, and scope, PPM is regarded as a critical discipline for organisational success especially in multi-project environments.

Organizations like yours benefit from the practice of Project Portfolio Management.

Globally resources are becoming scarcer, external environments are far more volatile and the rate of change is increasing. The impact is that organisations have to achieve “more with less” and have a greater ability to be ‘agile’ in order to respond effectively and efficiently to the challenges they face.

In response to the changing environment, there has been greater adoption of project management as means to deliver both products and change within organisations. Due to their ever-increasing numbers of projects, organisations are faced with an environment that is becoming more complex, yet interdependent, requiring a consolidated view of projects and investments. This has also led to a number of key requirements namely, but not exclusively:

  1. To effectively identify and evaluate the best projects in terms of investment for selection.
  2. Prioritise and manage the projects selected.
  3. To track and review the actual benefits derived from the investment in the projects.

If you’re interested in finding out more, register for our iPPM Summit taking place at the Union League in Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 19th. Register here: ippmsummit.com.