This document presents summary findings of research into the project portfolio management capability of organisations operating in Australia, including global organisations with an Australian presence. This research was undertaken in 2012. Detailed findings will be made available as part of a consolidated report including data from 2013 and 2011.

1. PPM Capability
Research 2012
Summary Findings
Bryan Fenech
3/4/2013
This file is copyright © Bryan Fenech 2013
This document presents summary findings of research into the project portfolio
management capability of organisations operating in Australia, including
global organisations with an Australian presence. This research was
undertaken in 2012. Detailed findings will be made available as part of a
consolidated report including data from 2013 and 2011.

2. Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2
Survey Participants .................................................................................................................. 3
Portfolio Management in the Enterprise ............................................................................... 5
Importance and Value of Portfolio Management ............................................................... 7
Portfolio Selection Processes ................................................................................................. 9
Triage and Prioritisation ............................................................................................................9
Sequencing ................................................................................................................................9
Portfolio Monitoring and Controlling ................................................................................... 11
Portfolio Governance ............................................................................................................ 12
Portfolio Management Software Products .......................................................................... 14
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

3. Introduction
The data upon which these summary findings are based was collected
through survey research collected from students enrolled in the Masters of
Business in IT Management at the University of Technology, Sydney. The data
is therefore of high quality and covers a range of industries.
The results are broken down by the following topics:
 Survey Participants – number, role, industry type and organization size
 Portfolio Management in the Enterprise – integration with operational
processes
 Importance and Value of Portfolio Management – maturity and
satisfaction
 Portfolio Selection Processes
 Portfolio Monitoring and Controlling Processes
 Portfolio Governance, and
 Portfolio Management Software Products
These findings are being made available to assist and portfolio management
practitioners. In due course detailed findings will be published covering 3
years of data and containing more involved analysis comparing industries,
organization types and approaches.
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

4. Survey Participants
27 Number of participants
surveyed
Breakdown by role
Breakdown by industry type
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

5. Breakdown by size of
organisation
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

6. Portfolio Management in the Enterprise
Do you have a formal project
portfolio management
capability in your organisation?
Where does this project
portfolio management
capability exist within your
organisation?
To what extent is portfolio
management integrated with
the business planning cycle in
your organisation?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.59
Median = 6.00
Mode = 5.00
To what extent is portfolio
management integrated with
the business reporting cycle in
your organization?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.56
Median = 6.00
Mode = 7.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

7. To what extent are reward
systems explicitly aligned with
portfolio management
metrics?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 4.52
Median = 5.00
Mode = 1.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

8. Importance and Value of Portfolio
Management
How important is project
portfolio management
perceived in your
organization?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 6.70
Median = 7.00
Mode = 8.00
How do you rate your
organisation’s overall
satisfaction with its portfolio
management process?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.78
Median = 6.00
Mode = 7.00
How well do you rate your
organisation’s overall project
portfolio management
capability?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.81
Median = 6.00
Mode = 6.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

9. Where does your organisation’s
portfolio management
capability bring the most
benefit?
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

10. Portfolio Selection Processes
Triage and Prioritisation
How well do you rate your
organisation’s ability to triage
and prioritise multiple projects?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 6.11
Median = 7.00
Mode = 7.00
How would you describe the
triage and prioritization scheme
in your organization?
Sequencing
Does your organization have
an explicit sequencing logic to
stagger projects around
resource and other constraints?
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

11. How well do you rate your
organisation’s ability to
manage resource contention
between projects?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.41
Median = 6.00
Mode = 6.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

12. Portfolio Monitoring and Controlling
How well do you rate your
organization’s ability to track
and report portfolio progress?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 6.22
Median = 7.00
Mode = 8.00
How well do you rate your
organisation’s ability to track
and report portfolio benefits?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.81
Median = 6.00
Mode = 6.00
How well do you rate your
organisation’s understanding of
interdependencies across its
project portfolio and how risks
and issues impacting one
project can have a broader
impact on other projects?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.89
Median = 6.00
Mode = 8.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

13. Portfolio Governance
Do you have a portfolio
steering/governance function
to oversee the overall project
portfolio?
How effective do you rate the
steering/PSG practice and
procedure function in your
organization?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 6.00
Median = 7.00
Mode = 7.00
With what frequency does your
portfolio steering/governance
function convene to review the
inflight project portfolio?
With what frequency does your
portfolio steering/governance
function convene to approve
selection of projects in portfolio
pipeline?
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

14. How well do you rate your
organisation’s communication
of portfolio management
decisions and information?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.59
Median = 6.00
Mode = 7.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700

15. Portfolio Management Software Products
Do you have a portfolio
management tool in your
organization to support your
portfolio management
capability?
To what extent are you using all
of the capabilities available in
your organisation’s portfolio
management tool?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 5.00
Median = 5.00
Mode = 7.00
How do you rate your
organisation’s overall
satisfaction with its portfolio
management tool?
Distribution of scores out of 10
Mean = 4.48
Median = 5.00
Mode = 5.00
For more information please contact
e bryan@ppmintelligence.com
t +61 437 769 700