1.2 Introduction to Project Management

• 1.4 Project, Program and Portfolio Management
• Hierarchy is used to align projects with the strategic plan:
• Higher level portfolio
• Lower level portfolio and possibly individual projects
• Higher level program
• Lower level program and possibly individual projects
• Projects
• Portfolio Management
• PMBOK definition of a portfolio: "a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate efective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives"
• The mix of projects and programs in the portfolio all help meet the strategic objective (e.g. maximise ROI) but might not be directly related or interdependent
• PMBOK definition of portfolio management: "centralised management of one or more portfolios, which includes identifying, prioritising, authorising, managing, and controlling projects, programs, and other related work, to achieve specific strategic business objectives"
• Program Management
• Program PMBOK definition: "a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually"
• Projects are related by sharing a common outcome
• A project can exist outside of a program, but all programs contain projects
• Program Management PMBOK definition: "centralised coordinated management" of programs 
• Focuses on project interdependencies like
• resource constraints and conflicts
• shared change management issues

• Reasons for initiating projects
• business need (to support strategy)
• e.g. to operationalise a plan e.g. to improve customer service, to create a new web application, to design and build a process or product, to set up a new sales department in a different country
• to fulfill an internal or external request
• legal / regulatory requirement
• market demand
• social need
• technical progress
• Note: benefits arising from a project can support program, project, strategic objectives
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• Primary function is to support PMs including
• coordination, support, centralised management of projects
• manage shared resources
• training
• communication coordination between projects
• PM methodology, standards,best practices - and monitoring to ensure compliance
• Organisational Process Assets (policies, procedures, templates,documentation)
• can also manage projects
• can have authority to recommend changes, terminate projects
• Differences between PM and PMO
• PM focuses on project, PMO on program changes seen as opportunities to better achieve business objectives
• PM manages P resources, PMO on shared resources
• PM manages constraints (scope, Q, schedule, cost…) of individual project, PMO manages methodologies, standards, overall risk/opp, P interdependencies