Altus Portfolio

Definitions

Portfolios

Portfolio management is not concerned with the detailed of projects and programs, rather, it approaches the management of change projects and programs from a strategic viewpoint.
Altus enables portfolios to be created which enable programs and projects to be linked to corporate strategy providing a high-level view of delivery.

Programs

Programs are focussed on the delivery of outcomes rather than outputs (the domain of projects).
Altus enables programs to be created and managed by program managers to group together projects that are working towards delivering a common outcome for the organisation.

Challenges

The challenge record is part of the intake process in Altus.
The challenge is a mechanism for the organisation to identify a problem or objective holistically at the highest level.
These can be linked to Strategic themes and further expanded on via Ideas.

Ideas

An idea is usually the direct response to a Challenge that has been raised.
The idea is very high level and seeks to provide some objective numbers regarding cost, risk profile and strategic alignment.
The approval of an idea generates a proposal record where further information can be captured.

Proposals

The proposal is the ‘concept brief’ that must be approved before a project is created.
This is where problem statement, benefits, costs, return on investment, and high-level time frames are captured.
The approval of a proposal generates a project record.

Project, program, portfolio rollup

Previously to determine the ownership of a project to a portfolio it was quite difficult to do so due to the multiple relationships possible. (ie a project could be directly connected to a portfolio or indirectly via a program). To help reporting we have created a background relationship sensei_reportingportfolio which will track this relationship. This relationship is automatically filled via a plugin which fires when

The project has been created/updated.
A program has been updated.

It uses configuration setup within the plugin steps to determine the changes required.

For an example of the relationship setup, please consult the below diagram.

Image shows a diagram of the relationship between the portfolio, program and project.

No further setup is required, if there is need for this type of relationship for another three tiered entity setup, this can be configured to achieve the same effect.

Projects Tab

In Portfolio and Program records, the project tab shows the list of associated projects in a hierarchical list with a Gantt within a view module called Altus Explorer.

Example of Altus Explorer in a Portfolio:

Screenshot of Altus Explorer in a Portfolio