Multi-Project Management & Project Portfolio Management differences

Since there will be a very big release coming lately, which will include portfolio management in ZenTao, as well as previous ones, i.e, application lifecycle management based on scrum, such as multi-project management as above. This time, i want to talk a little bit about MPM and PPM and the differences between them.

Multi-Project Management (MPM) is the management of all parallel projects of one organizational unit, drawing on the same resource pool.

Meanwhile, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is concerned with:

The monitoring of all running projects
Tthe strategic selection of future projects based on the monitoring results

Multi-Project Management is tactical and operational. Resource management and project prioritization are among its top challenges. Multi-project management focuses on the present – projects that have been initiated already have to be managed and brought to a successful closure.

Project Portfolio Management is strategic. The goal is to work on the right projects as a company. Portfolio managers determine the combination of projects a company will work on, i.e. the project portfolio. Project portfolio management should result in improved multi-project management. Project portfolio management focuses on the future – evaluating project opportunities to decide which projects should be initiated. The chosen problems need to be in line with the company’s business strategy. Project portfolio managers also need to analyze present and past projects in order to see what projects will work in the future.

Project Portfolio Management on the other hand is tactical and operational, like multi-project management. The difference to multi-project management is that the projects within a program are interdependent and serve to achieve a common overall goal. Programs usually have their own Program Office coordinating all projects within the program.