How to Design an Effective PPM Process with Costbars

Project Portfolio Management is a strategic approach to managing multiple projects as a unified portfolio, ensuring they align with organizational goals and available resources. Think of it like managing an investment portfolio, but with projects instead of stocks.

Key reasons organizations invest in PPM:

1. Strategic Alignment - Ensures projects support business objectives
2. Resource Optimization - Better allocation of limited resources (people, money, equipment)
3. Risk Balance - Maintains a healthy mix of high-risk/high-reward and safer projects
4. Project Prioritization - Focuses resources on the most valuable initiatives
5. Improved ROI - Better project selection and execution leads to higher returns

Basic steps to implement PPM:

1. Project Inventory

• List all current and proposed projects
• Gather key data (costs, resources, timelines, objectives)

2. Strategic Alignment

• Define organizational goals
• Score projects based on strategic fit
• Eliminate or defer misaligned projects

3. Resource Assessment

• Document available resources
• Map resource requirements
• Identify constraints and conflicts

4. Portfolio Selection

• Prioritize projects using consistent criteria
• Balance the portfolio for risk/reward
• Select the optimal mix of projects

5. Governance Structure

• Establish clear decision-making processes
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Create reporting frameworks

Costbars PPM Process - Get Started

After establishing your governance structure you can follow the Costbars PPM process within the application to establish the Project Inventory, Resource Pool, Strategic Alignment Values and associated metadata. It can take weeks or months to establish this data and achieve resource loaded projects to run through the PPM process.

Steps to run through the Costbars PPM Process.

When ready to begin using the PPM process in Costbars, see the Product Help Section

1. Prioritize Projects (P Score): Calculate Strategic Priority based your Strategic Alignment Values and Order of Importance. P Score ranges from 0-100, where 100 indicates perfect alignment with operational strategy.
2. Score Projects (Costbars): Evaluate projects using multiple data points including health indicators, costs, hours, Size vs Complexity metrics, and additional project metadata.
3. Level Resources: Optimize resource allocation by adjusting project start and finish dates. View resource demand changes across the timeline as projects are rescheduled.
4. Select Projects: Utilize the bubble chart visualization to filter projects based on P Score and C Score ranges. Run selection analysis to identify optimal project combinations.
5. Review Resource Demand: Analyze resource requirements for selected projects and make scheduling adjustments as necessary to optimize resource utilization.
6. Finalize Selection: Make final project selections or eliminations to achieve desired strategic outcomes and resource balance.