Monitoring and Controlling a Project Portfolio

Monitoring and controlling a project portfolio is an on-going process. How and when it is performed is determined by the needs of the organization. One way that monitoring and controlling a project portfolio is different from establishing it initially is that the process includes evaluating on-going projects and rebalancing the portfolio. The evaluation of on-going projects involves determining if the project continues to support the objectives of the portfolio in terms of alignment with organizational strategy and project performance. The criteria used to assess the continued alignment of the project to organizational strategy are typically the same as when the project was first proposed for funding. The assessment of project performance against expected time and cost parameters is done using quantitative techniques, such as Earned Value Management.

For this Discussion:

• Why is it important to monitor and control a project portfolio on an on-going basis? What are the risks of not doing this?
• What is category balancing? What is triple constraint balancing? Provide examples of each.
• Can category balancing and triple constraint balancing be used concurrently? Why or why not?
• What is Earned Value Management (EVM)? How is it used in monitoring and controlling a project portfolio? Provide an example.