What is a Project Portfolio?

A project portfolio is a document that consists of the past projects or sample works of a person. Through the project portfolio, you will know if a person is equipped in a work or not. The portfolio can prove the ability of a person regarding his or her different skills. If you are an employer and you want to ensure that you can get qualified candidates for the job, you must look at their portfolios to see their abilities. You will know if they are good at project management and you will see what they can do for you.

Having a project portfolio is a strategic way of showing what you can offer to a company. It is also used by companies who are offering products to clients. They will show a product portfolio that can show the greatness of their products. The portfolio will be a great presentation of what you can offer to clients. You can showcase what you can give. For those who want to get projects in art or design, the portfolio is truly a must because they can have examples of what they can create. You can put together all your designs in a portfolio that can give transparency to clients of what you can offer to them.

Project portfolio management is important so that we can create a great portfolio that will be accepted by clients. We can include an executive summary in our portfolio. We can have it at the beginning of our project portfolio. This can tell a good story of what we can provide to the clients. Then afterward, we can prove what we have said by giving them examples of what we can create, by showing examples of our works. If you are having an online portfolio, you can create a project portfolio dashboard that can make your portfolio better. You can better manage the portfolio through the dashboard.

Maybe you want to have some project ideas for your portfolio. This is needed because you have to ensure that your portfolio will look the best. You should know how to create a great portfolio that can amaze your clients. Whether you are an enterprise that wants to win clients or a freelancer who needs a project from the clients, you should use a governance model in creating your portfolio. A good example can help you to create the best portfolio. You will know all the things that you have to put in it. You will know how you can make it great. You will be aware of the best pieces that you have to include in the project portfolio. It does not matter how you can make your portfolio. What matters is you can make it the best portfolio you can ever have. Remember, the success of your project relies on the greatness of your project portfolio.

Tips on Project Portfolio

Are you looking for a project portfolio sample or a project portfolio example? Do you need it because you want to have some tips that you can use for your project portfolio? You do not have to look further. We can offer you some tips that you can apply. Have the following tips:

Know the Business Strategy: A project portfolio should be aligned with your business strategy. You should know how it can affect and change it. For example, if you want to increase your productivity, know that you have to improve your project portfolio as well.Choose the Right Projects: If you have a portfolio and you want to send them to clients, be sure that you are going to choose the right projects. You must tailor your portfolio to every project that you should have. So, if you think the project portfolio does not fit a certain project, you must not send it to that project. Choose the right projects for your project portfolio. This way, you can win clients. Your project portfolio will be perfect for those projects.Have a Project Management Office (PMO): You must create an office that can handle your project portfolio. Through this, your staff can formalize all the processes. You will handle all your activities better. You can even have senior executives that can help you with project portfolio management.Make Standards for Evaluation: Standards will be great for your project portfolio. By having particular standards, you will not create a project portfolio that will be mediocre for the clients. You can include the best things on your project portfolio as you follow some standards that can give it high quality. This can do you good because you can ensure that the clients will like your portfolio. You just have to focus on including the projects of the best quality in your project portfolio. In the end, you can get the best projects also.Have a Risk Management Strategy: Have a strategy for handling all the risks that you can have in creating a project portfolio. You can know all the risks by researching the projects. Be sure that you can only include things that are relevant to the project. Avoid any risk that can cause you to not have the project. Analyze what you have to do to make the project portfolio perfect.Have a Change Management Strategy: You cannot avoid changes when you are having a project. So, you have to find ways to manage changes. Customers may require revisions so you have to be adaptable to these kinds of changes. You need a change management strategy. This helps you so you can adjust to unexpected things.Use a PPM Tool: You should use a project portfolio management tool. This will simplify your work and you will have the best strategies. You can take control of the project and you can integrate new tactics.Manage Your Documents: One of the most important things is you have to keep your documents organized. Be sure that you can present them in a good way. You will be able to access it easily at all times also. Most of your documents can be in PDF. Have a separate folder for each of your files. This way, it will be easy for you to get every file. If you have too many PDF files, you can combine them all. Having a project file can help you manage your project portfolio. You can use an online PDF combiner for this. It can merge your documents without losing any information.Keep It Flexible: You must make your project portfolio flexible. You should tailor your project portfolio to every client. So, you must know how you can present your project portfolio well. Make it adjustable according to the needs of the clients. You can do this by having different variations of your project portfolio. You can think about the needs of the clients and make different portfolios that will be according to them.Value Your Project: You should give the right value for every project that you will have. If you do this, you will ensure that you will create the right project portfolio for it. You will make sure that you will create the best portfolio for every project. You will specifically tailor your project portfolio to each one of them. By doing this, you can win the approval of your clients. They will see that your portfolio is apt for their project. Thus, your project portfolio will be successful.Make a Governance Process: PPM implementations should follow a governance process. Your project portfolio will be more accepted this way. You have to consider the thresholds, timing, decision criteria, and organizational level of the project. As you understand all of these, you can make a great project portfolio.Be Open to Failures: You have to know that your project portfolio can fail. Not all the time it can give you the projects that you desire. You must be open to this kind of challenge. Failing does not mean that you have to fail all the time. If you know that you have given your best in creating your project portfolio, you have nothing to worry about. If you keep on failing, then you should do something to improve your project portfolio so that next time, it can win clients.

How to Create a Project Portfolio

Do you need a project portfolio template? Are you going to create a project portfolio? Maybe you need some steps that you can use in creating. Well, we can provide you with some steps that you can apply. Have the following steps:

1. Know Your Business Goals

You must first know your business goals to create the best project portfolio. Know the purpose of your portfolio. Is it meant for a big project? What exactly will the focus of your portfolio be? How can you specifically tailor it to the needs of the clients? You should know your business objectives so that you can create the right portfolio. You can be sure of all its contents. You will know what to include in it so that you can achieve your business goals. So, you must set your goals first, knowing that it can direct you on how you can make your portfolio great.

2. Gather Data on the Project

The next thing that you need to give focus on is the gathering of data on the project. Research the things that you need for the project. This will tell you how you will create your project portfolio. You can ensure that you can only include things that are related to the project. Collect all the data first. After that, you can decide which of your past works can relate to the project. So, when the clients examine your project portfolio, you can be sure that they will find what they are looking for.

3. List Your Best Projects

After knowing what you need for your project portfolio, you must start to list all your past projects that can get the clients impressed. Select the best of your projects. Pick the ones that have made you successful before. Be sure that all the projects that you will include are relevant to the projects. Select the ones that can align with your business objectives. You must make your project portfolio perfect. Make sure that the clients will like it when they see it. So, ensure that it will be great and not just good enough.

4. Validate Your Portfolio

After completing your portfolio, you need to validate it. Know its feasibility. You should ensure that it can align with all the resources that you will need for the project. Use the data that you have collected to create a more realistic portfolio. You have to ensure that the project will be feasible when you use your project portfolio.

5. Manage Your Portfolio

The last thing that you need to do is to manage your portfolio. You need to ascertain that you can apply it as you start the project. Look very closely at your performance so that you can give what the clients need. Make them see that you can do whatever they have seen in your project portfolio. You have to finish the project according to the greatness of your portfolio.


FAQs

How can you decide to choose the right project portfolio?

You should ponder first on some questions before you can decide on your project portfolio. Ask the following questions to yourself:

  • Is the project according to the work strategy of the organization?
  • Is the time to make the project appropriate?
  • What can the project do for your organization?
  • Is the project driven by the organization or driven by the customers?
  • How do you prioritize the project? Is it urgent or not?
  • Do you find any redundancies in the project? Have you done similar projects in the past? How can these projects complement each other?
  • Do you have a template for the project?
  • Will the resources be available when you need them?
  • Will the resources impact another project?
  • Are the expectations of the stakeholders realistic?
  • Are you all one in doing the project?
  • How can you identify the KPIs (key performance indicators)? How will your project portfolio impact the project?

Is a project portfolio important?

A project portfolio is important. It is vital because you can have a clear picture of all your business objectives. Individual projects may have risks and less ROI. But by having a project portfolio, you can have the right projects every time. It can give you an approach to build a foundation that can make you successful with your projects.

Be sure that your project portfolio will be aligned with your business goals. Through this, you can make your project portfolio effective. You can make your clients impressed and you can get the project that you need. Well, do you need a template for a project portfolio? This post has 20+ SAMPLE Project Portfolio in PDF | MS Word. They can help you so you can create a great project portfolio. What are you waiting for? Download now!