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Rationalize the Portfolio

To substantiate or justify the existence of the investments in the portfolio plan, rationalize them. For example, you can link the investments to specific high priority corporate goals or business alignment factors to justify their current priority.

Example: Rationalizing Investments Based on Current Priorities

The board of directors reviews the updated portfolio plan and provides feedback. For tax purposes, the company must recognize as little expense as possible. Therefore, the higher capital dollar amount must be considered. To incorporate this feedback, Raj creates Plan 2 from Plan 1 and reworks the waterline view manually. He drags the investments with higher capital costs to the top of the list to rank them higher.

The following table shows the Plan 2 version of the portfolio:

Investment

Duration (Months)

Goals

Cost

Benefit

Capital Cost

Operating Cost

Resources

Cost Accumulator

Back Office Financial

9

Improve Office Efficiencies

750,000

1,000,000

675,000

75,000

15

750,000

Interface to Material Supplier

9

Reduce Costs

700,000

2,500,000

600,000

100,000

30

1,450,000

Enterprise Time and Attendance

5

Improve Office Efficiencies

450,000

700,000

400,000

50,000

12

1,900,000

HR System Upgrade

6

Reduce Costs

300,000

100,000

275,000

25,000

12

2,200,000

Federated Security

2

Better Align Technologies

300,000

3,000,000

275,000

25,000

5

2,500,000

Administrative Expense System

3

Improve Office Efficiencies

250,000

20,000

200,000

50,000

5

2,750,000

JIT (Just in Time) System Upgrade

5

Improve Office Efficiencies

100,000

2,000,000

25,000

75,000

6

2,850,000

Cloud Based Order Intake

3

Increase Sales

100,000

750,000

 

100,000

3

2,950,000

Database Upgrades- Oracle 3

3

Better Align Technologies

200,000

100,000

 

200,000

6

3,150,000

GUI Redesign- Supplier Internet System

4

Better Align Technologies

50,000

60,000

 

50,000

1

3,200,000

After investment reviews, the board and the legal department weigh in and make the following recommendations for the plan:

Raj configures the Plan 2 waterline view to display an extra Mandatory field on the view to flag the mandatory investments. The following table shows the extra Mandatory field for the investments:

Investment

Duration (Months)

Mandatory

Goals

Cost

Benefit

Capital Cost

Operating Cost

Resources

Cost Accumulator

Federated Security

2

X

Better Align Technologies

300,000

3,000,000

275,000

25,000

5

300,000

Database Upgrades- Oracle

3

X

Better Align Technologies

200,000

100,000

 

200,000

6

500,000

Back-Office Financial System

9

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

750,000

1,000,000

675,000

75,000

15

1,250,000

Interface to Material Supplier

9

 

Reduce Costs

700,000

2,500,000

600,000

100,000

30

1,950,000

Enterprise Time and Attendance

5

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

450,000

700,000

400,000

50,000

12

2,400,000

HR System Upgrade 6

6

 

Reduce Costs

300,000

100,000

275,000

25,000

12

2,700,000

Administrative Expense System

3

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

250,000

20,000

200,000

50,000

5

2,950,000

JIT (Just in Time) System Upgrade

5

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

100,000

2,000,000

25,000

75,000

6

3,050,000

Cloud Based Order Intake

3

 

Increase Sales

100,000

750,000

 

100,000

3

3,150,000

GUI Redesign- Supplier Internet System 4

4

 

Better Align Technologies

50,000

60,000

 

50,000

1

3,200,000

After reviewing the latest investments list in the portfolio plan, Lauren makes the following observations:

Raj creates Plan 3 from Plan 2 and incorporates the feedback into the Plan 3 to come up with the final rationalized list of investments. The following table shows the final list of approved and unapproved investments that are based on the latest priorities and budget constraint of $2,600, 000. The waterline for funded investments is drawn at the JIT System Upgrade initiative where the portfolio runs out of funds.

Project

Duration (Months)

Mandatory

Goals

Cost

Benefit

Capital Cost

Operating Cost

Resources

Cost Accumulator

Federated Security

2

X

Better Align Technologies

300,000

3,000,000

275,000

25,000

5

300,000

Database Upgrades- Oracle

3

X

Better Align Technologies

200,000

100,000

 

200,000

6

500,000

Back Office Financial System

9

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

750,000

1,000,000

675,000

75,000

15

1,250,000

Interface to Material Supplier

9

 

Reduce Costs

700,000

2,500,000

600,000

100,000

30

1,950,000

Enterprise Time and Attendance

5

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

450,000

700,000

400,000

50,000

12

2,400,000

Cloud Based Order Intake

3

 

Increase Sales

100,000

750,000

 

100,000

3

2,500,000

JIT (Just in Time) System Upgrade

5

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

100,000

2,000,000

25,000

75,000

6

2,600,000

(Funding cut off)

HR System Upgrade

6

 

Reduce Costs

300,000

100,000

275,000

25,000

12

2,900,000

Administrative Expense System

3

 

Improve Office Efficiencies

250,000

20,000

200,000

50,000

5

3,150,000

GUI Redesign- Supplier Internet System

4

 

Better Align Technologies

50,000

60,000

 

50,000

1

3,200,000