IT Project Portfolio – agile annual planning

IT project portfolio management in focus

Let’s tell it like it is – we live in wild times.
The word change is used almost inflationary and it is precisely these changes that are initiating a constantly growing number of IT projects. These should be implemented as quickly as possible. They often overlap, but are also mutually dependent on each other. To maintain an overview, make good strategic decisions and not just see IT as a cost driver, it is necessary to focus on IT project portfolio management.

Tasks of IT project portfolio management

IT project portfolio management is concerned with the planning and management of all IT projects. Due to the discrepancy between the number of projects and the available budget or resources, it is necessary to prioritize the projects so that they can be realized within the current capacities.

The starting point for this is the annual planning of the operational management of the project portfolio. The projects are derived from the master plan and subjected to a scoring process. Projects are commissioned within the framework of the available budget and resources. All changes, whether planned or unplanned, are cyclically reviewed in IT project portfolio management and presented to management for a decision. Together with the forecast, it forms the basis for controlling the IT budget.

In short, the task of IT project portfolio management is to plan and control all current and planned IT projects in an organization.

This includes requirements and pipeline management as well as budget planning and control.

Efficient IT is a key competitive advantage for companies. Information systems form the platform for processes and new products and also create the conditions for their existence. Or to put it another way: IT forms the basis for business in many business processes. If the basis is stable and well thought out, the business processes almost run themselves. Conversely, if there is a lack of clarity regarding the management, prioritization and planning of individual or even all IT projects, sooner or later this will have a negative impact on the company’s daily workflows and processes.

Advantages of IT project portfolio management

Clearly defined processes in IT project portfolio management can provide an overview of planned and ongoing IT investments. Developing a prioritization process ensures that you focus on the work that is necessary to achieve your company’s strategic goals. This not only saves time and resources, but also makes it easier to achieve the planned goals. It also makes it possible to implement complex IT projects and investment decisions are easier to make. IT project portfolio management achieves all of this through its overarching coordination of projects.

IT projects can be assigned to three categories.

1. Compliance: This reflects the requirements of the legislator, which must be ensured by the institutions. They are binding and must generally be available on a specific date. In this case, the company is obliged to provide evidence to BaFin (Austria: FMA; Switzerland: FINMA).

2. Process optimization: The IT projects include functions that ensure processes within the company (e.g. workflow for invoice acceptance/recognition workflow) as well as processes with organizational units outside the company (e.g. electronic invoice dispatch).

3. Products: Products are the result of defined services that are offered to corporate customers. These include, for example, asset protection policies, car insurance, real estate loans, building society savings contracts and others.

Solutions from the BAMAC GROUP

The BAMAC GROUP supports you in the implementation of your IT project portfolio management. We help you to identify, evaluate and manage your IT measures. In particular, we offer answers to the following questions:

1. How can the IT measures be converted into projects and evaluated and prioritized as part of IT project portfolio planning?
   (annual planning)
2. How can the changes in the IT project portfolio be controlled? (Project portfolio management)
3. How can the status of the IT project portfolio be communicated appropriately? (Project portfolio report)

Annual planning is the right tool for you if you want to identify projects from the IT measures and incorporate them into a prioritized plan for the following financial year.
Annual planning involves the evaluation and assessment of IT projects for the following financial year, as well as their prioritization and commissioning. The aim is to prepare the annual planning in such a way that the best possible decisions can be made.

Project portfolio management is right for you if you are looking for methods and tools that provide you with quality-assured information on the progress of your approved IT project portfolio. This also applies to your “rolling planning”.
Project portfolio management reviews existing estimation results in the development and customizing of software. This provides information on errors and/or risks in the present estimate.

The project portfolio report is right for you if you want to receive regular information on the status, progress and risks in your IT project portfolio.
The aim of the project portfolio report is to regularly inform management about the status of the IT project portfolio with the help of standardized key figures.

We are happy to illustrate our approach using specific case studies from IT project portfolio management. Find out how you can increase the predictability of IT development projects, how to achieve consistent annual IT planning with the help of rolling planning or how to optimize the costs in your IT project portfolio.