1. Program Management
A
program is defined as a group of related projects, subprograms, and program
activities managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from
managing them individually.
Programs may include elements of related work
outside the scope of the discrete projects in the program.
A project may or may not be part of a program
but a program will always have projects.
Program management is then the application of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program in order to meet the
program requirements and to obtain benefits and control not available by
managing projects individually.
2. Portfolio Management
A
portfolio refers to projects, programs, subportfolios, and operations managed
as a group to achieve strategic objectives. The projects or programs of the
portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.
For
example, an infrastructure firm that has the strategic objective of “maximizing
the return on its investments” may put together a portfolio that includes a mix
of projects in oil and gas, power, water, roads, rail, and airports. From this
mix, the firm may choose to manage related projects as one program. All of the
power projects may be grouped together as a power program. Similarly, all of
the water projects may be grouped together as a water program. Thus, the power
program and the water program become integral components of the enterprise
portfolio of the infrastructure firm.
Portfolio management is then the centralized
management of the process, methods and technologies used by project managers
and project management offices (PMO) to analyze and collectively manage current
or proposed projects.
The objectives of portfolio management are to determine the optimal resource mix for delivery and to schedule activities to best achieve an organization’s operational and financial goals.
The objectives of portfolio management are to determine the optimal resource mix for delivery and to schedule activities to best achieve an organization’s operational and financial goals.