Project portfolio management websites and resources

Project Management

The term "project portfolio management" implies controlled and coordinated management of project portfolios for accomplishing a group of business aims. This paper begins by citing the number of website hits for the search terms "project management," "project portfolio management," "project management careers," and "IT project management." This is followed by brief descriptions of four major project management websites, including the Project Management Institute's website.

Project Management: 301,000,000 results

Project management careers: 48,600,000 results

Project portfolio management: 7,800,000 results

IT project management: 244,000,000 results

Project Portfolio Management Websites

www.projectsmart.co.uk

The resource -- Project Smart -- aids managers at every level in improving personal performance. The website offers a key knowledge base that can be availed by individuals involved in the management of different kinds of projects. Site personnel keep clients updated on new project management tactics, practices, etc., through exclusive updates provided on a weekly basis. Project Smart, which launched in the year 2000, intends to provide easy information access, in connection with the profession of project management. The website's philosophy is providing free, ethical, superior-quality, accessible content whilst encouraging open discussion. Functionality and content of the website is improving constantly, providing website visitors access to new project management theories, principles and practices, from a vast pool of experts in the subject matter. The site incorporates a number of articles on the aspect of leadership, planning, execution, management, etc., all of which are topics valuable to project management, helping form successful careers. Moreover, the site offers numerous templates and tools for creating project portfolios and project management books (projectsmart.co.uk, 2000).

2. www.servicenow.com

This website also offers easy accessibility to project management-related information. It also provides ethical, free, superior-quality content and encourages open discussion, with a large number of experts in project management providing recent project management content in the form of practices, principles, etc. It may be quite a challenge to understand the entire breadth of project portfolios and information technology projects in organizations. Legacy portfolio and project management systems are able to add considerable overhead to the tracking of resources, planning, and time sheets. Typically, dedicated project managers have to retype information from separate systems, and the process of knowledge-sharing often becomes hard for individual contributors. The site also provides management programs, services, products, and solutions, together with articles on client success (servicenow.com, n.d.).

3. www.innotas.com

The holistic cloud software for Portfolio Management -- Innotas -- offers solutions for information technology management, agile development, and project management offices. Founded in 2006, the website's vision is enhancing the information technology management process through adding increased accountability, transparency, and visibility to it. Equipped with considerable experience in IT management, founders of the site were aware of the fact that, having on-premise Portfolio Management and IT Governance solutions is highly expensive, took several months to implement, and required costly service engagements. On the basis of industry experience and this vision, Innotas saw Cloud (or SaaS (Software as a Service) or cloud computing) as the way to take in order for an economical, comprehensive information technology governance solution. The site would provide the perfect blend of superior functionality and simplicity in the areas of Application Portfolio and Project Portfolio Management, such that it would become easy for information technology managers/leaders to bring their organizations in line with overall business goals. Thus, a novel approach to information technology governance, application portfolio management and project portfolio management was born, which combined all requisite components into a single comprehensive cloud solution (www.innotas.com, 2006).

Innumerable firms hailing from various industries, such as healthcare, retail, government, education, manufacturing, financial services, etc. are leveraging Innotas' solution for serving their respective portfolio management and IT governance needs. In addition, the site has won a number of industry awards, some of which are as follows:

Info-Tech Research Group: Innovator Recognition

Think Strategies: Best of SaaS Showplace Award

Gartner: Ranked as a "Visionary" in the Magic Quadrant for Integrated Portfolio Analysis Applications

Gartner: Ranked as a " Director" within Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Centered Portfolio and Project Management Services (www.innotas.com, 2006)

4. www.pmi.org

PMI (project management institute) represents the leading non-profit global professional membership organization for the profession of project, portfolio, and program management. Established in the year 1969, the organization delivers value to over 2.9 million experts across the world by means of global advocacy, education, research, and collaboration. It advances careers, matures the project management profession, and increases corporate success via its internationally recognized certifications, standards, tools, resources, publications, academic research, networking opportunities, and courses in professional development. Under PMI, HSI (Human Systems International) offers benchmarking and organizational assessment services to major corporations and governments, whereas ProjectsAtWork.com and ProjectManagement.com create web-based international communities which serve to deliver improved tools, more resources, wider perspectives, and more extensive networks (www.pmi.org, n.d.).

How can organizations justify investing in enterprise project management for IT projects?