Saranamm,
I hope Aaren won't mind some constructive disagreement.
You are in the right place because there is a direct relationship between
project and program management, and also among these two vital management
disciplines and portfolio management and organizational strategy. You may
get versed on the similarities and differences by obtaining and reading the
following practice standards from the Project Management Institute (PMI):
1. The Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide Third Edition.
2. The Standard for Program Management.
3. The Standard for Portfolio Management.
PMI also has published a document that is titled, "Translating Corporate
Strategy to Projects" that you may find interesting.
Each practice standard listed above contains respective methodology, formal
knowledge areas, and processes along with their inputs, tools and techniques,
outputs, and interactions. If you compare the standards for project and for
program management you will see that the process or lifecycle groups are
similar but apply at different levels. There are five process groups for
projects and six for programs. Five of the six program management standard's
process groups have the same names as their counterparts in the project
management standard--for a good reason that is made clear if you also compare
the process maps in both documents. The sixth process group in the program
standard, actually the first in published order, is "Governance" and it is
arguably unique to program management.
The tool at the base of this discussion group, Microsoft Project, is just
that and is intended to support the implementation of project management
methodology, and not necessarily just the globally recognized PMI methodology.
I use MS Project daily to support project, program, and, at a fundamental
level, portfolio management.
After attending an enterprise project management (EPM) symposium provided by
a Microsoft Gold level partner this summer (which in part covered Project
2007), I can tell you that the tool is aimed at project and program
management, and also portfolio management going forward thanks to Microsoft's
acquisition of a suite of products in a portforlio management system that can
be integrated into the EPM solution as an option.
In programs, as a function of program management, you will find a sub
function named "multi-project management" that covers the management of
multiple projects and project managers. Microsoft Project comes in handy
when planning and launching and otherwise managing programs. It did for me
today in fact during the kickoff meeting for a program encompassing dozens of
recurring campus level site survey projects and as many recurring,
interrelated network wiring and equipment upgrade and replacement projects,
user orientation projects, and PC acquistion, imaging, deployment and
installation projects. I used MS Project Pro 2003 to develop a draft program
schedule while initiating the program--drafting the charter and scope
statement for the program sponsor's signature. I also inserted linked
"current", "next", and "planning horizon" views of of the program from the
draft schedule into a PowerPoint presentation that was used to acquaint the
program team (including four lead project managers and other resources),
customers, executives and other key stakeholders with what to expect in the
program over the next three years and beyond.
I hope this helps you feel welcome to the discussion group and gives you
some direction, and good luck in consulting.
And by the way, the Project Management Institute and Microsoft are
partnered, and their relationship is made clear by the language contained in
the built-in and Microsoft Online help provided for Microsoft Project users.
