The document provides an overview of portfolio management concepts and how to introduce and improve portfolio management practices. It summarizes the keynotes from a presentation given by Martin Samphire and David Dunning on behalf of the APM Portfolio Management SIG. The presentation covered portfolio management concepts, introduced the PfM SIG and its focus areas, and discussed results from a PfM survey. It provided guidance on introducing portfolio management, including establishing key principles, mapping capability maturity, and taking an incremental approach to change.

1. Pragmatic Portfolio Management
25 Sept 2012
Martin Samphire and David Dunning, on behalf of the APM
Portfolio Management (PfM) SIG
APM Portfolio Management (PfM) SIG
APM Thames Valley Branch
1

2. APM Presenters
2
Martin Samphire
MIOD
Chairman of APM Governance SIG
Owner and MD – 3pmxl Ltd
Sectors – FS, police, defence, energy
David Dunning
CMC
APMG Registered MoP™ and
P3O® Consultant
CPS Director
(APM Portfiolio Mgmt SIG Committee Members)

3. Agenda
Introducing the PfM SIG and PfM background
Portfolio Management concepts
How to introduce / improve PfM
PfM survey – some results and insight
Group discussions – key insights from survey
Q&A
Summary and close
3

4. PfM SIG and background
4

5. PfM SIG – some committee faces
Our passion - "To develop and promote the professional discipline of Portfolio
Management for the public benefit.“
…..Promoting, Influencing, Communicating, and Sharing best practice……
Achilleas
Mavrellis
Defra
(SIG Secretary)
Christine
Rigby
AstraZeneca
Stephen
Parrett
Right Change Consulting
(SIG Chairperson)
Nigel
Bell
HP
Martin
Samphire
3pmxl Ltd
David
Dunning
CPS
5
Rebecca West
City of London
Corporation

6. Change
Management
AssurancePeople
Governance
Programme
Management
Benefits
Management
PMO
Portfolio
Management
(PfM)
PfM SIG - interfaces with other SIGs
6

7. Directing Change
2nd edition 2011
7
Co-Directing Change
2007
Sponsoring Change
2009
Free to APM members at www.apm.org.uk/memberdownloads
PfM – strong link to governance
GovSIG – Publications to date

8. APM PfM SIG focus for 2012
Survey – update, analyse and provide
insights (more later)
Enhance relationship with external bodies
to influence business leaders
Spread good practice to APM members
and beyond – events, papers, website,
case studies

9. PfM SIG – Join the Debate....
Come and join us to find out more!
– Link to PfM SIG area on APM website
Become one of our Bloggers online...
Do you have some interesting PfM learning, tools, techniques or
a case study to share through a written article or presentation?
Please do complete the survey at
www.surveymonkey.com/s/LB93F9C
PfM “Fest” on 2 October
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10. PfM – some key concepts
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11. Which world do you live in?
Business as unusual?
11
Business as usual?
Inconvenient
period of change
Current steady
state
Future steady
state

12. The Black Death, PM and PfM
The Black Death has a parallel with project management….the signs of something going
wrong were well known and yet the same medicine was applied – Project March 2012
Heavy investment in PM and change
delivery framework, tools and skills
Success rate for projects not improved
Need new “medicine”
Could that be more focus on Portfolio
Management?
Successful Portfolio Management
leading to better Benefits Delivery?
12

13. 13
Change in context
Mission
Strategy &
Objectives
Portfolio Mgmt –
Definition &
Monitoring
Operational
Planning & Mgmt
Programme and Project
Mgmt of authorised
P&Ps
Operational Mgmt
of on-going operations
(BAU)
Organisational and External Resources delivering tasks
Vision Portfolio Management
“Doing the right
projects”
Programme & Project
Management
“Doing the projects
right”

14. Projects
Programmes
Portfolio
Specific
business
benefits
Outputs
Achieve Strategic
Outcomes
Portfolio Management ensures
“right projects and optimises
investment in change”
Positioning PfM
14

15. Positioning PfM – Definitions
Making the right investment choices and effectively optimising scarce resources
(money – technology – infrastructure - people)
APM
The prioritisation,
selection and
management of an
organisation’s
projects and
programmes in line
with its strategic
objectives and
business priorities,
taking into account
its capacity to
deliver them.
OGC
PfM is a
coordinated
collection of
strategic
processes and
decisions that
together enable a
more effective
balance of
organisational
change and BAU
National Audit
Office
Prioritisation of all
an organisation’s
projects and
programmes in
line with business
objectives and
matched to its
capacity to deliver
them.
Cranfield &
Open University
Managing a
diverse range of
projects and
programmes to
achieve the
maximum
organisational
value within
resource and
funding
constraints.
15

16. Positioning PfM – Some SIG Perspectives
‘Portfolio Management ensures the ‘right’ projects & programmes
are selected and managed for success….’
Portfolio Management SIG 2011
‘All Projects
Succeed’
APM Vision 2012
Supports timely
decision making
and re-orientation of
in-flight projects &
programmes so that
strategic benefits
are optimised
Avoids projects being
seen as the province of
a specific department –
decisions based upon
business not ‘local’
criteria
Identification of Projects
& Programme that are
strategically aligned
and add value Those
not strategically aligned
are not started or
cancelled as early as
possible
Ensures visibility of all
projects & programmes
and their
interdependence and
enables tracking and
focus to ensure success.
Provides better
engagement with staff
Supports effective and
optimised allocation of
resources to better enable
the highest priority ‘right’
projects and programmes
to succeed
Ensures management
of risk at the collective
level increasing
success of the ‘right’
projects & programmes
and a link to business
risk management
Supports robust
governance of change
across the whole landscape
of change / projects
16

17. Positioning PfM – Integrated Cycles
Understand
Strategic fit
Plan
Portfolio strategy
& delivery…
The baseline…
Balance
E.g. Overall risk,
return, coverage etc
Prioritise
Ranking criteria
Categorise
For easier
decision making
Organisational
Energy &
Willingness
Definition Delivery
Input
Results:
Influencing
Strategy
Output
delivering
Strategic
OutcomesPerformance
(Verify – Clarify –
Check – Respond)
Diagram based on the Portfolio
Management cycles in OGC
Management of Portfolios (MoP™)
Benefits Mgmt
Maximise Portfolio
performance
Financial Mgmt
Alignment with financial
business cycles
Risk Mgmt
Mitigation …& opportunity…
Stakeholder
Engagement
Maintaining
support for delivery
Resource
Mgmt
Management
Control
Templates,
Assurance
Governance
Clarity for decision
making
17

18. Demand Management Process
18
3pm
Project
Lifecycle
Performance KPIs

19. Portfolio definition – categorise
Identify alignment with strategic objectives – segment where
possible into categories of similar type
Strategic
Investments which are
critical to sustaining
future business strategy
High Potential
Key Operational Support
With tailored investment criteria
Investments which may be
important to achieving
future success
Investments on which the
organisation currently
depends for success
Investments which are
valuable but not critical to
success
19

20. Portfolio “filter”
Portfolio Plan
BAU Work
Vision
Current State
Programmes and
Projects
StrategyMission
Consensus?
Poorly
understood
Priorities
agreed?
Poor
control
processes
Resources
Not Integrated
Not what
expected
Positioning PfM - where can it go wrong?
Business Strategy
Changes
20
Business
Performance
Benefits

21. Key principles for success
21
Senior management commitment
– Senior champion and clear roles / accountabilities
– Active engagement - Fast decision making
– Rewards and recognition alignment
Alignment with governance framework
– Portfolio direction group / Investment Committee
– Portfolio Progress Group / Change Management Committee
– PPM Forum – project progress
Alignment with strategic objectives
– Portfolio segmentation
– Prioritising (weighting, rating, pair-wise comparisons, decision conferencing
– Link benefits to strategic objectives – value led
Use of a portfolio office
– Process and standards, support, challenge, assurance, reporting, lessons
– Evidence
Energised culture
– Collaborative working, proactive communications, learning and improving
Adapted from OGC MOP

22. Positioning PfM – The Benefits of PfM
More “right” programmes / projects
Removal of redundant, duplicate, poorly performing projects
More effective implementation of programmes / projects –
consistent approaches and improved dependency management
Better resource utilisation and collaborative working (both projectrs
and bau)
Holistic risk management
Enhanced transparency, accountability and governance
Improved engagement and communication between senior
management and staff
Greater benefits realised (and that support strategic objectives)
Reference: MoP™ Office of Government Commerce, 2011
22

23. PfM – how to introduce and
improve
23

24. 24
Vision…What is our expected future state?
Requirement…How does it piece together?
Readiness…Have we checked we can do this?
Approach…Opening, mid & end game?
Roadmap…How do we get there?

25. 25
Problem Outcome Benefit
Resource management – unsuitable model for
managing going forwards
• Central place – for resources, skills,
plans.
• Process for long term planning and
resource allocation.
• Update cycle to control allocations for
plans ‘in flight’
• More efficient use of resource pool.
• Ability to be more agile
• Reduce the cost of managing issues resulting from
ineffective resource management.
• Increase delivery certainty from greater timescale
predictability
Lack of visibility of work in flight / approaching
and lack of visibility of timescales.
• Central place for plans and other
project controls.
• Common reporting portal.
• Replace current manual reports with
more automated / on demand report
solutions.
• Reduce cost of reporting
• Increase predictability for the business leading to less
time spent introducing changes
• Improve reputation with the business
Incomplete approach to forecasting the forward
load, unsatisfactory transition from possible to
real plan
• Provide a portal through which work
requests can be registered.
• Introduce planning standards for long
terms and near term work.
• Review priority model to require
alignment to strategy
• More predictability of project starts from greater
visibility of resource demands now and into the future
leading to more efficient use of resources
• Less management time spent resolving issues which
could have been avoided.
• Enables more effective prioritisation – more if the
important work is done.
Ineffective collaboration on project controls and
no central configuration management
approach for document
• Project Collaboration environment.
• Document Library, common project
controls.
• Cross project issue, risk, lesson
learned reports
• Less time managing documents, less issues resulting.
• Less storage space needed.
• One place to look for documents, less time searching
for the right version.
• Better learning.
• Less time spent assembling cross project reports
Ineffective Performance measurement and
management
• Common progress cycle from
common plan structures, supporting
common metrics
• Less time spent capturing status.
• Less time spent starting up plans and project controls.
• More reliable planning leading to less issues to
manage.
• Increased predictability leading to reputation benefits
and business time saving.

26. Base Capability
Tools – planning tools, collaboration environments,
reporting platforms, user capability. Architecture,
installation, performance assurance, trained users
following basic procedures for use, simple quality
assurance checks.
Data – Databases and data stored, reporting data
sources, basic quality assurance. Base data model
defined, access controls, data aggregation and
integration facilities in place.
In addition to the data and tools, basic usage guidelines
and support will need to be provided.
People & Process
Controls – definition of the right information needed at
the appropriate moment of processes. The right
management information, commonly used, and relied
upon by the business. For example, business case
documents, change registers, risk logs, etc.
Operation – execution of the appropriate processes
and roles to deliver work. Common, joined up
procedures carried out by people, where capability is
not an issue.
Insight & Management
Reporting – definition of common reports delivered
from common process using common tools & data.
Integration - Progress from manual data through to
integrated reports linking related data stores (like
planning and finance data), to snapshotting and data
capture / trend analysis.
Collaboration – Common ways of sharing all kinds of
information (Risk, Issue, etc.), linking of unstructured
information.
Organisation & Leadership
Organisation - The ecosystem which delivers projects
and programmes. Tools and processes owned, support
and governance in place, scrutiny and oversight of the
portfolio active.
Leadership - Initial link between strategy & delivery
visible, capability hiring approach in place, executive
level use of information for decision making, strategy
drives delivery and delivery of benefits informs strategy.

27. Recommend not to take on too much
change at once. Enable Improve
Change
Choose a sensible scope in each of the
areas of Base Capability, People &
Process, Insight & Management and
Organisation.
(Also - We might not need to do everything)
INSIGHT &
MANAGEMENT
ORGANISATION
PEOPLE & PROCESS
BASE CAPABILITY
Higherorder
engagementwiththe
organisation
CHANGE – improvements
possible with fundamental
organisation changes
IMPROVE – capability
benefits derived from
basic building blocks
ENABLE – basic
capability building blocks
in place
Fromcurrentstateto
ultimatesolution
SOLUTION COMPONENTS
TRANSFORMATION
• Consider the problem statements and the
desired outcomes against each of the solution
components.
• Do we need to consider tactical en-route to
strategic solutions.
• Will the solution offered really help achieve the
benefit expectation.

28. Capability / Maturity enabled building blocks
• Depending on the circumstances, there are changes that it is sensible to make first,
and changes it is sensible to delay.
• It may be sensible to introduce some changes only after others have settled into
business as usual. For example, resource planning before resource management.
• It may well be that:
• there are bandwidth constraints which will limit what can be led or absorbed by staff.
• we cannot reach or influence the stakeholders until they have seen initial benefits.
• It is sensible therefore to plot out a sequence of change respecting these constrains:
INSIGHT &
MANAGEMENT
ORGANISATIONPEOPLE & PROCESSBASE CAPABILITY
Key Business Issues Demonstrable Business Benefits
CHANGE
IMPROVE
ENABLE
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3Not in Scope

29. INSIGHT & MANAGEMENT ORGANISATIONPEOPLE & PROCESSBASE CAPABILITY
• Tools joined up
with other tools
• Data integrity
• IT strategy
alignment
• Interpretation not
a gamble
• Processes relied
upon by the
business
• People capability
not an issue
• Flexible Insight to spot issues
• Meaningful analysis on reliable
information from reliable
process
• Supporting key business
processes
• Scrutiny and
oversight of the
portfolio
• Strategy drives
delivery and
delivery informs
strategy
• Future resource
needs from strategy
CHANGE
• Tools aggregate
information
easily
• People use tools
& follow basic
usage model
• Accuracy and
reliability
• Common
Information
• Processes joined
up and operated
• People capable
of following
processes
• Common data schemes in
different systems
• Common reports extended to
integrated information
• Aggregated information for
further collaboration
• Support and
governance in place
• Exec level use of
information for
decision making
• Skill development /
acquisition
IMPROVE
• Common
planning &
collaboration
tools
• People have
base tool
capability
• Data Accuracy
• The right
management
information
• Common
procedures
• Enough of the
right people
• Common reports defined
• Information sources
understood and manually
worked together
• Common ways of collaborating
around information
• Standard tools &
processes owned
• Initial link between
strategy & delivery
visible
• Capability hiring
approach
ENABLE

30. Transformation
Phase 3 Vision = CHANGE – deliver benefits beyond what is possible with improvement alone.
• Design
• Change
Phase 1
Enable
Phase 3
Change
Phase 2
Improve
Design Change
Realise Benefits
S
Design Change
Realise Benefits
Design Change
Realise Benefits
F
Assessment
Initiation
Define
Identify • Identify – the problems to be solved
• Assess – what the implication is
• Define – the solution and the roadmap
Phase 1 Vision = ENABLE
• Assessment
• Design
• Change
Phase 2 Vision = IMPROVE – build upon the capability enabled.
• Design
• Change

31. PfM – survey and insights
31

32. PfM Survey – Principles(*)
Considered
Proactive and visible senior management commitment
Consistent and effective governance alignment
Alignment of the Portfolio with strategic objectives
Co-ordination through a Portfolio Office
Energised change culture and associated behaviours
(*) Principles from: MoP™ - Office of Government Commerce, 2011
PfM Survey asked how each of these were perceived in
organisations in terms of their Importance and Effectiveness
32

33. Principle Importance Effectiveness
Alignment of the Portfolio with strategic
objectives
63% 37%
Proactive and visible senior management
commitment
57% 42%
Consistent and effective governance alignment 43% 27%
Shared change culture and associated
behaviours
29% 18%
Co-ordination through a Portfolio Office 28% 22%
33
Reasonable
correlation
Senior focus?
We don’t need PMOs? Poor show –
need to improve
Most important
No to culture change?
Principles(*)
Rated

34. PfM Survey – Challenges Faced
1. Gaining Board buy-in to a single agreed view of business objectives
2. Developing an initial portfolio
3. Getting portfolio management started
4. Securing and sustaining business unit management commitment
5. Prioritising and balancing the portfolio
6. Dealing with tensions between Portfolio and BAU/Operational objectives
7. Securing and developing people with the right portfolio skills/capabilities
8. Putting in place the right tools & techniques to support PfM
9. Delivering overall portfolio benefits
10. Setting up, and gaining compliance with, portfolio management processes
11. Achieving the goals set for a portfolio management function
12. Applying lessons learnt from regular reviews of PfM performance
34

35. Challenge Rated
High
Interest
Developing an initial portfolio 40% 15
Gaining Board buy-in to a single agreed view of business objectives 37% --
Getting portfolio management started 36% 42
Securing and sustaining business unit management commitment 20% 38
Prioritising and balancing the portfolio 20% 58
Delivering overall portfolio benefits 18% 58
Putting in place the right tools/techniques to support PfM 18% 61
Dealing with tensions between Portfolio and BAU/Operational objectives 17% 46
35
All their fault?
Top 3
topics
Little correlation
A long way to go in many areas, but significant interest in more
debate/learning about how to improve performance
Are Challenges being met?

36. Exercise – survey insights
36

37. Exercise – objectives and process
In groups
– Take a Portfolio Management Principle
– Discuss it’s importance
Together
– Each group - Make a short ‘champion’
presentation
– Vote!
37

38. Q&A and summary
38

39. Summary
Effective PfM is about delivering Strategic Objectives
This implies:
– Executive ownership of the Portfolio
– Integrated governance and decision-making
– Commitment to the underpinning and active processes
This requires:
– Objective > Problem > Outcome > Benefit mapping - value led
– Vision and roadmap
– Organisational will – active and fast decision making
– Change Programme to implement / improve
Getting PfM right should result in:
– Clear links between strategy, plans and the change portfolio
– Optimisation of all change resources
– Better overall benefits delivery and strategic outcomes
39

40. For follow-up contact
40
Martin Samphire
msamphire@3pmxl.com
+44 7798 700314
David Dunning
David.dunning@CPS.co.uk
+44 7767 803540