Project Portfolio Management Term Paper

Portfolio Management

The objective of Part A of this study is to analyze the key best practices that the organization can adopt to improve its project management maturity level and to examine and describe the key elements of change management, which could be used during an initiative to raise the project maturity level of an organization. OPM3 has specific benefits to the organization in that it makes provision of a method to advance the strategic goals of the organization using project management principles and practices. The Best Practices and Capabilities in the OPM3 Standards are reported to be "mapped to two key factors: (1) domain; and (2) stage. ( p.19) Domain is reported to refer to "the three domains of the project" which include: (1) project; (2) program; and (3) portfolio management. (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p. 19) Stage is reported to refer to "the stages of process improvement." (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p.19) Process improvement means making a process "capable" which involves the "sequential stage of improvement" which includes: (1) standardize; (2) measure; (3) control; and (4) continuously improve. (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p.19) Therefore, best practice and capability in the OPM3 Standard is reported to be linked to "one or more of these process improvement stages." (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p. 19) Capabilities in OPM3 are additionally linked to the five project management process groups including: (1) initiating; (2) planning; (3) executing; (4) controlling; and (5) closing.(Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p. 19) It is reported that the progression of the organization's increasing maturity, which OPM3 has designed, includes several dimensions or various ways of examining the maturity of the organization: (1) best practices in terms of the association with progressive stages of process improvement; and (2) progression of best practices associated with each of the domains. (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p. 4)

Part B

The objective of this study is to read two case studies and contrast the two cases in regards to the current situation within the corporation regarding portfolio project management or project management in general, the motivation for attempting to improve portfolio project management or project management, the specific steps each company took and the reasons for these steps and the benefits that each company achieved. The two case studies chosen include: (1) (1) Project Management Institute, Inc. (2007) PMI® case study: AAA of Northern California; and (2) Project Management Institute, Inc. (2007) PMI® case study: Savannah Final Eversion

Case Study 1: AAA Northern California

AAA of Northern California believed they could improve their program execution performance and desired to "increase basic metrics…above industry standards." (PMI Case Study) There was a large imbalance identified between the company's commitments and available resources as well as project that "arbitrarily expanded in scope throughout their lifecycle" in addition to a "lack of unified purpose between each program." (PMI Case Study, ) AAA of Northern.....