Enterprise Portfolio Management for Organizations Managing Critical Infrastructure

Historically, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tools were used by program and project managers in large organizations to manage project requests, prioritize and select projects, predict and manage resource demands, and manage the ongoing execution of selected projects.

However, in the early 2000s, more senior audiences for PPM solutions began to emerge. Senior managers and executives sitting above the project and program management departments wanted assurance that the portfolio of projects being managed aligned with the organization’s overall strategic objectives. This has lead to a broadening of the PPM mandate and the emergence of new PPM tools to address the specific needs of more senior audiences. Gartner recently published a report introducing the “PPM Product Usage Reference Model,” that segments PPM usage into four distinct layers, where each layer represents a different group of individuals within the enterprise, and each requires a distinct set of PPM processes and tools.

“Dynamic Portfolio-Level PPM Tools” sit at the apex of this model, supporting executive-level decision making and driving continuous alignment of portfolios to the strategy and goals of the organization. Dynamic portfolio management is focused on:

• Strategy and investment planning and budgeting
• Program portfolio management
• Enterprise-level demand management and prioritization
• What-if scenario planning and replanning
• Enterprise-wide resource capacity planning and management

The Copperleaf Suite provides dynamic portfolio management specifically suited to the needs of organizations managing large numbers of physical assets. The solution enables organizations to evaluate diverse investments in one PPM process, enabling informed trade-off decisions between investments which may bring very different types of benefits to the organization.