How different is Project Management from Project Portfolio Management

Project management and project portfolio management might sound like similar terms, but they have vastly different scopes in the context of the Work and Resource management sectors. Project management and project portfolio management are two software ideas that are of great use in the corporate sector. They deal with the management of various variables and inputs that might have to do with a company or firm's resources, labor, workforce, or projects. They function to make the jobs of project managers and project portfolio managers easier by calculating, analyzing, and manipulating data according to the requirements of the company. They help projects and project portfolios function better by creating information that might be useful for ensuring their smooth running.


Project management and project portfolio management are similar tools in some respects. They are both used to lower the pressure on employees and officers. They make decisions on their own, most of which are reliable. Stakeholders often trust results out of this software because of the high level of analysis, manipulation, and data handling involved.

What do you mean by project management?

Basically, a project is a temporary task undertaken to create or provide a unique piece of goods or services to a client. Projects achieve specific goals and objectives within a limited time frame. They also have a fixed start and endpoint. Project management concerns itself with one project at a time. Project management does not concern itself with how other projects are performing. It takes decisions based on the task at hand and analyses the risks and benefits accordingly.

Project management is the practice of using principles, ethics, and procedures to manage a project from its very beginning to the point it delivers its outcome. Often monitoring how it is performing, what it might result in, and how you can improve the quality of those results.

Project management might include the definition of project goals, the breakdown, and scheduling of tasks to various employees and stakeholders, the cost management of the project, the assignment, and proper usage of resources allocated to the project. Also, the effective communication of the project status against various milestones that you set by yourself assists in the completion of the project within the limited time frame.

The person managing the project is known as the project manager. Their responsibilities might include resource management, budget management, risk management, status reporting to team members and stakeholders, and schedule and approve various decisions that might arise during the project.

Effective project management means that the various teams and the team members must constantly develop and improve the project they have at hand, to give the company the boost it requires to take on more projects. Project managers who oversee individual projects should also make sure that the teams complete the assigned tasks on time and meet the desired requirements. Project management also determines the best practices, examines processes, and constantly works to improve efficiency in the project.

What is project portfolio management?

Project portfolio management concerns itself with multiple projects at the same time, often studying the relationship between those projects and how they might affect the company's future. Project portfolio software, unlike project management software, has to consider variables like potential clients, future investment patterns, and long-term benefits.

Project portfolio management deals with additional features like the centralization of projects, project alignment and prioritization, resource management and capacity training, time tracking, project financial management, integrated Gantt charts, and real-time analytics to measure and manage resources allocated to projects. PPM also deals with predictive portfolio analysis, investment planning, strategic planning, road-mapping, and program management.

The project portfolio management software also monitors projects, keeps all stakeholders informed about their status, and ensures the implementation of important projects first. It also makes sure that remaining capacities are also used for more initiatives.

PPM places great value on resource planning and conflict resolution, which in turn creates more value for a business in the market by avoiding clashes and conflicts, and effectively resolving them if they arise.

PPM tasks may also include strategic alignment, which means selecting and prioritizing projects that align with long-term strategic objectives and milestones, resource management, training and coaching project managers and teams, etc.

Project Management and Project Portfolio Management: The Difference

The line between project portfolio management and project management is not as clear as you might think. These two concepts often get confused between, causing a lot of misinformation to get floated around concerning their usage, functions, and importance. For companies that work on large numbers of projects at any given time, it is easy to differentiate between the two.

Project management focuses mainly on the faster and more efficient execution of particular, singular projects, while project portfolio management keeps the big picture in mind all the time. The latter is mainly used to keep in mind the long-term strategic goals of the company while making decisions about what projects to take up, which to drop, and what projects to prioritize. The software decides on the order of priority of the projects by the information supplied to it by project portfolio managers from time to time. You should make these decisions taking into account the cost of the project, the resources that you might have to utilize, and the returns on the investment that the project promises.

Both, project management and project portfolio management software makes sure a company keeps track of its short-term as well as their long-term plans. Both their immediate future and their 'future' future have to be in sync for the company to progress and keep reaching milestones. This software helps them do just that by managing their tasks, decisions, and resources for them in a wonderful way.

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