Project Portfolio Management is a term used to describe methods for analysing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics
The key objective is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the organisation's overall goals
"Portfolio management is best defined as a core strategic business process of actively identifying, evaluating and prioritizing projects, resources and budgets within their global or regional business pipeline. This management action allows for improved harmonization and assessment of competing investments across the organization and to make sound decisions." [IAPPM -2004]
Portfolio definitions:
Portfolio management provides an overview of the organisation’s total investment in programmes and projects, ensuring ongoing alignment with the corporate strategic objectives
The term Portfolio refers to the total set of programmes and projects within an organisation, representing the complete picture of an organisation’s investment and resource commitment to deliver its strategic objectives
The fundamental objective of the Portfolio Management process is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the organization's overall goals while honouring constraints imposed by management or external real-world factors. Typical attributes of projects and programmes being analyzed in a Portfolio Management process include each project's total expected cost, consumption of scarce resources (human or otherwise) expected timeline and schedule of investment, expected nature, magnitude and timing of benefits to be realized, and relationship or inter-dependencies with other projects and programmes in the portfolio
Treating a set of projects and programmes as a portfolio would be, in most cases, an improvement on the ad hoc, one-off analysis of individual proposals