Improving the Transparency of a Modernization Service Project Portfolio
Söderblom, Arttu (2022)
Söderblom, Arttu
2022
Tietojohtamisen DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Information and Knowledge Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-06-27
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202206215758
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202206215758
Tiivistelmä
Project portfolios are popular in managing several parallel projects with shared resources, strategic goals, and management. In general, portfolios are aimed to be managed in a way that maximizes their value creation, balances risks with goals and integrates the projects into the strategy. However, reaching these goals requires for the content of the portfolio to be transparent, to know how it should be managed. On the other hand, the portfolio must be understood in the light of what it aims to achieve and what type of external factors contribute to it. It is therefore not completely insignificant whether it is a product development project portfolio where all people are in the same line organization or if the project portfolio contains delivery projects that are carried out with the help of stakeholders. The most distinct difference between these is that the former is a means of implementing the strategy in concrete business development, whereas the latter is a means of implementing the business itself.
This thesis studies the project portfolio of a modernization services department of an international supplier of industrial logistics solutions. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. The challenge for the target department is that it does not have enough information to manage both the portfolio and the projects effectively. The aim of the study is to identify which contextual factors affect the project portfolio and what challenges they pose to its transparency. The aim is also to find out how the transparency of this project portfolio could be improved so that the department could manage the whole more efficiently.
The main empirical method of data collection was semi-structured interviews, which in this case were conducted on both the portfolio management level and on project managers under the portfolio. Secondary empirical data collection was carried out through workshops as well as internal meetings, observation, systems, and documents.
The study reveals that significant contextual factors in the portfolio arise from its position in the organization, the operating ways of the organization and the department, the type of projects and the way in which projects are implemented. These, in turn, affect the transparency of operations, so it is challenging to know what is going on, but also what should be done. One of the strongest factors influencing transparency is the projects’ strong dependency of their stakeholders and that the flow of information between them is not smooth. On the other hand, understanding the content of the portfolio is also challenging, as customer needs vary and, as a result, there is a great deal of variation in projects, making them hard to fit into a single model to be followed.
However, the study shows that improving the transparency of a modernization project portfolio can be achieved through documentation, formalization and standardization, information systems, and adopting a perspective broader than a single portfolio. This is also the recommended order of action, as sufficient maturity of the aforementioned factors allows the next step to be successful. Of particular importance here was the improvement of the external transparency of the portfolio by creating formal processes for working with stakeholders so that all parties have clear roles and simple ways to communicate and report, thus making the activities of all parties more transparent. This is also seen as a motivating factor, for example in the use of information systems, since others should be able to use the information that is created. This suggests a need for clear information exchange mechanisms between project and portfolio levels, but also between stakeholders and the portfolio.
However, more research is required, especially on delivery project portfolios and modernization service project portfolios, their contexts and transparency.
This thesis studies the project portfolio of a modernization services department of an international supplier of industrial logistics solutions. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. The challenge for the target department is that it does not have enough information to manage both the portfolio and the projects effectively. The aim of the study is to identify which contextual factors affect the project portfolio and what challenges they pose to its transparency. The aim is also to find out how the transparency of this project portfolio could be improved so that the department could manage the whole more efficiently.
The main empirical method of data collection was semi-structured interviews, which in this case were conducted on both the portfolio management level and on project managers under the portfolio. Secondary empirical data collection was carried out through workshops as well as internal meetings, observation, systems, and documents.
The study reveals that significant contextual factors in the portfolio arise from its position in the organization, the operating ways of the organization and the department, the type of projects and the way in which projects are implemented. These, in turn, affect the transparency of operations, so it is challenging to know what is going on, but also what should be done. One of the strongest factors influencing transparency is the projects’ strong dependency of their stakeholders and that the flow of information between them is not smooth. On the other hand, understanding the content of the portfolio is also challenging, as customer needs vary and, as a result, there is a great deal of variation in projects, making them hard to fit into a single model to be followed.
However, the study shows that improving the transparency of a modernization project portfolio can be achieved through documentation, formalization and standardization, information systems, and adopting a perspective broader than a single portfolio. This is also the recommended order of action, as sufficient maturity of the aforementioned factors allows the next step to be successful. Of particular importance here was the improvement of the external transparency of the portfolio by creating formal processes for working with stakeholders so that all parties have clear roles and simple ways to communicate and report, thus making the activities of all parties more transparent. This is also seen as a motivating factor, for example in the use of information systems, since others should be able to use the information that is created. This suggests a need for clear information exchange mechanisms between project and portfolio levels, but also between stakeholders and the portfolio.
However, more research is required, especially on delivery project portfolios and modernization service project portfolios, their contexts and transparency.