IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

1.5. IT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT 101

Overview

There are elements of IT portfolio management that exist in all companies. They have very similar goals and objectives: maximizing value (tangible and intangible) while managing risks and costs. Most companies utilize simple and straightforward financial models to make investment decisions. For these companies, the IT portfolio management framework is incomplete; it is missing key criteria, is not conducted uniformly, and is not applied across the entire organization nor over the entire life cycle of an IT investment. The framework contains information about each portfolio and the investments that comprise each portfolio, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of these investments. Analysis of the IT portfolio identifies specific areas in need of improvement, holes in the requirements and architecture, misalignment to the strategic intent, areas that are being overserved and underserved, and so on. There are three primary areas of IT portfolio management:

1. Processes and a framework to plan, create, assess, balance, and communicate the execution of the IT portfolio. For best-practice companies, these processes are standardized, consistent, and visible across the enterprise.

2. Tools that analyze information and data, such as value, costs, risks, benefits, requirements, architecture, and alignment to business and strategic objectives. Information and data are derived from the strategic intent, strategic plan, and business and strategic ...