A collection of projects or programs grouped to meet strategic business goals, not necessarily related

Only related projects with one manager

The main purpose of portfolio management is to:

Select the right projects and allocate resources to those with highest value

Which criteria are used to evaluate and select projects in a portfolio?

ROI, NPV, payback, strategic alignment, risk and resource availability

A program differs from a portfolio in that a program:

Coordinates related projects for benefits

Focuses on strategic value of unrelated work

Year not given

Project portfolio management

Short answer

Project portfolio management is centralised management of a collection of projects and programs to achieve strategic objectives. It involves selecting, prioritising, allocating resources, monitoring and terminating projects based on value, risk and strategic fit.

What do you mean by project portfolio management?

Project portfolio management is the centralised management of one or more portfolios of projects, programs and related work, so that the organisation's strategic objectives are achieved. A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs grouped together to meet strategic business goals; projects need not be related to each other.

Purpose

Select the right projects (do the right things) rather than only manage them well.
Allocate limited money, people and time to projects with the highest value.
Balance risk, return and strategic fit.

Hierarchy

Organisation strategy
        |
    Portfolio
    /       \
 Program   Program / Projects
   |
Projects

Key activities

Identify candidate projects and categorise them.
Evaluate and select using criteria such as ROI, NPV, payback, strategic alignment, risk and resource availability (scoring models).
Prioritise and balance the portfolio (short vs long term, high vs low risk).
Allocate resources across selected projects.
Monitor and review performance; continue, change or terminate projects.
Report to senior management.

Portfolio, program and project

Level	Focus
Portfolio	Strategic alignment, value
Program	Related projects coordinated for benefits
Project	Deliver a specific output

Benefits

Better use of resources, links projects to strategy, improved decision making, early termination of poor projects and transparency.

Example: A bank's IT portfolio contains a mobile banking app, core system upgrade and cybersecurity project. The management ranks them by strategic value and budget, and delays a low-value project when funds are short.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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