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

6.3. IT PORTFOLIO SOFTWARE SELECTION PROCESS

Exhibit 6.2 depicts the IT portfolio management software selection methodology. Objectives for acquiring and using a comprehensive IT portfolio management software solution must be articulated and agreed to by all stakeholders. This means assessing and understanding where the organization sits from the perspective of the portfolio management process and organizational maturity. For example:

• Does your organization have poor or nonexistent project/program management processes and inventories?

• Is there a governance body (with excellent executive sponsorship) that coordinates business and technology staff to support criteria creation and application of criteria to make portfolio decisions?

• Are resources shared across divisions or siloed, and how current and comprehensive is information about staff experience levels?

These are examples of initial questions to ask in order to establish maturity assessments. Mapping appropriate maturity with sufficient functionality to address pain points, while addressing the level of difficulty of adoption and need for sufficient training and mentoring, are key considerations. Most failures for portfolio management tools adoption occur due to human barriers, including the inability to change culture to adopt tools consistently. As has been made clear in earlier chapters, you need to know where your organization resides on the IT portfolio maturity scale and assess the greatest, most acute challenges to make ...