Project portfolio reporting: the diagnostic
A project portfolio is
"a collection of projects and/or programmes and other work that are grouped together to facilitate the effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives"
from the Project Management Institute's Standard for Portfolio Management.
The portfolio introduces significant business change and risk. And it can incur major costs - both planned and unplanned.
To succeed, the portfolio must be fully integrated with the business, each project properly initiated and its execution controlled. One dimension of this control is structured portfolio reporting.
The diagnostic study is the starting point. We review current reporting and make recommendations in three areas: Reporting Process, Report Content and Report Format. This takes as little as 2-4 weeks, depending on the complexity of your portfolio and the nature of existing reporting.
What are project portfolio reports for? How will they be produced?
The reporting process is driven by how, when and by whom reports are prepared and used. The portfolio management organisation and the sequence of project, programme, portfolio and executive management meetings shape this reporting process.
Reports will always rely on significant input from the reporting team, but a degree of automation does allow outlines to be produced quickly and efficiently. Each report is then completed by analysing progress, investigating problem areas and adding commentary on the results.
What must they contain?
Report content is informed by the priorities of the organisation, the characteristics of the portfolio - initiation and execution - and the connections between the portfolio and the rest of the organisation.
Together these provide 'lag' measures of achievement and 'lead' measures that inform the forecast. Some measures are presented as snapshots against plan, others as longer-term trends.
The result is more than simply a list of activities and dates. It focuses on objectives and risks, emphasises exceptional performance (variance from plan) and includes one-off analyses to shed light on emerging issues.
Finally, the content is not complete without some insightful commentary on the key messages and the areas for action.
Who are the reports for? How should they look?
To communicate quickly a large amount of information, the optimal report format is largely graphical. It is designed for use in paper or electronic form and begins with a concise summary of performance and the decisions required.
The design provides context, highlights priorities and exceptions and uses the same clear presentation each period. In this way, busy executives can spend time making informed decisions, not deciphering the report.
The next stage in making it happen is to prepare a mock-up of the new reports based on the findings of the diagnostic study.
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