Portfolio management senior leader and practitioner pocketbook

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Details

Portfolio management is crucial to the successful achievement of government priorities, by ensuring that the viability of projects is considered in the round, and that investment is phased to deliver
greater outcomes, especially in fast moving environments. Research consistently finds that the single most important factor in effective portfolio management is senior management commitment,
which encourages stakeholders to collaborate in pursuit of agreed portfolio objectives.

This guide is designed to provide a high-level insight into portfolio management practices and techniques, for time poor, strategically focused senior managers. It is also a useful quick reference guide for all portfolio professionals across government. It helps answer the 10 fundamental questions about portfolio management:

1. Do we have a clear view on what initiatives are ‘in flight’ and in planning, what they will cost and what business impact is anticipated?
2. Do our investment appraisal and portfolio prioritisation processes ensure limited resources (cost, skills, equipment etc) are allocated to the initiatives with the greatest impact on organisational priorities, subject to an acceptable level of risk/achievability?
3. Are the cost and benefit forecasts used to inform investment decisions accurate and reliable?
4. Is initiative scheduling matched to the organisation’s capacity and capability to deliver initiatives and absorb business change?
5. Are funding allocations adjusted to reflect changes in organisational and ministerial priorities and initiative performance so that spend remains aligned with strategy?
6. Are limited/constrained resources (e.g. skilled staff) managed to ensure efficient delivery – does initiative scheduling at a portfoliolevel reflects resource availability?
7. Are portfolio-level risks and dependencies between initiatives managed effectively?
8. Is there a clear view of initiative performance against key milestones, costs and benefits, and is effective action taken to address variances from plan?
9. Are initiatives delivered consistently on time and to budget?
10. Are forecast benefits realised in practice with effective action taken to identify emergent benefits and mitigate disbenefits?

This Senior leader and practitioner pocketbook accompanies the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s series of guidance on portfolio management – providing a summary of the key issues to consider in implementing and sustaining progress, the key questions to consider and the techniques available to successfully optimise the return from our investment in projects and programmes across government and in your organisation.

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Product Information

Delivery vehicle Portfolio

Product type Workbooks and guides

Updates

21 November 2022

First published.