Page 162 - Global Project Management Handbook

7-12 STATE OF THE ART OF GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CLUSTERS OF PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS IN THE
PROJECT-ORIENTED COMPANY

Project-oriented companies simultaneously perform a multitude of projects and programs.
They are therefore highly differentiated organizations. To comply with integration tasks,
projects and programs can be clustered into project portfolios, networks of projects, and
chains of projects. Synergies can be created by means of clustering several projects and
considering relationships between those projects. Furthermore, this clustering can pro-
mote the realization of the strategies and objectives of the project-oriented company.
Considering relationships between the projects in a relevant cluster of projects provides
optimization opportunities.
The project portfolio is the set of all projects of a project-oriented company. A project
portfolio takes into consideration all the current (and planned) projects and programs at a
given point in time. If a project-oriented company holds many projects in its portfolio
(e.g., more than 50 to 60 projects), it is sensible to define several project portfolios for dif-
ferent types of projects (e.g., contracting projects, product-development projects, etc.).
A project portfolio presents a point-in-time analysis.
A network of projects is a set of closely coupled projects held within the project port-
folio. Various criteria can be used for coupling projects into networks of projects, such as
the use of a joint technology, performance in the same geographic region, or performance
for a common customer.
A chain of projects is a set of sequential projects for the performance of several related
business processes. It represents a specific form of a network of projects. A chain of pro-
jects is analyzed over a period of time. Chains of a project and a program are also possible
(e.g., a conception project followed by a realization program).
Compared with projects and programs, project portfolios, networks of projects, and
chains of projects are not organizations but rather are clusters of organizations. As such,
they are objects of management consideration (Fig. 7.9).

FIGURE 7.9 Clusters of projects.