Mastering Project Portfolio Management: A Systems Approach to Achieving Strategic Objectives

Michael J. Bible · Susan Bivins · Susan S. Bivins

Sept 2011 · J. Ross Publishing

About this eBook

This unique text provides a holistic view of project portfolio management (PPM) that includes people, process, tools, and techniques that work synergistically within the organization to produce portfolio decisions with the best chance of success. It illustrates the entire PPM process from strategic planning through portfolio evaluation and adjustment, including prioritizing objectives, identifying and evaluating candidate projects, selecting optimal portfolios using portfolio analysis, establishing project and portfolio performance metrics, measuring portfolio performance, and project portfolio governance. Rather than just an abstract discussion, Mastering Project Portfolio Management simulates real-world portfolio management through sample scenarios demonstrating advanced decision-making techniques and the use of decision-making software that readers are given access to. This book guides readers step-by-step through the entire project portfolio management process and is ideal for corporate and government training programs and as a primary text for graduate level academic courses.

Key Features 

• Includes limited license access to web-based and desktop decision-support software with a resource aligner module for structuring Analytic Hierarchy Process models, prioritizing objectives and alternatives, and optimizing the portfolio 

• Shows how to effectively design, develop, implement, and manage a tailored project portfolio process without great time or expense by providing a PPM model and the infrastructure needed to support the model 

• Delineates the strategic planning process and its role in producing the objectives that serve as critical inputs to the PPM process, and how to prioritize the organizational objectives identified during the strategic planning process 

• Demonstrates how to identify and screen large numbers of potential projects to produce a reduced pool of candidate projects and how evaluate candidates with respect to the objectives they support 

• Discusses implementation of the approved project portfolio and addresses how to evaluate the portfolio with regard to performance against baseline plans while maintaining relevance to organizational objectives

About the author

Michael J. Bible has 25 years of professional and leadership experience supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). He is a project and program management professional with a successful history applying project management best practices to the technical field of test and evaluation for portfolios of complex defense acquisition programs and projects. Mike was a co-owner of an engineering services firm and applied strategic planning to establish organizational direction while utilizing project portfolio management to successfully grow the company in alignment with business initiatives. Mike is a retired Marine Corps officer who obtained his Master of Science in Project Management from George Washington University. He is currently a Program Manager for URS Corporation. 

Susan S. Bivins has more than 25 years of management and leadership experience dedicated to delivering successful information technology, organizational change management and professional consulting services projects for major global corporations. She specializes in project and portfolio management; international, multi-cultural and multi-company initiatives; and business strategy integration in the private and public sectors. During her career with IBM, Sue managed multiple organizations and complex projects, including operations and support for the Olympics and a strategic transformational change program. Since retiring from IBM, she has led multi-company joint initiatives with Hitachi, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, and served as Director of Project Management at Habitat for Humanity International. Sue earned her Master of Science in Project Management from George Washington University. As a member of the Project Management Institute, she served on the PMI Standard for Portfolio Management team.