Task: Consolidate Progress and Results
Consolidate progress and results from components across the portfolio to drive high-quality decisions by all portfolio stakeholders.
Disciplines: Product Portfolio Management
Extends: Consolidate Progress and Results
Purpose
To ensure the existence of high-quality input that produces reliable data sources for analysis, trending, and reporting requirements of all portfolio stakeholders, thereby facilitating qualified and timely decisions.
Relationships
RolesPrimary Performer: Additional Performers:
Outputs
    Main Description

    Collect and validate all required portfolio decision support information, ensuring that all data is current and available across all dimensions of the portfolio, driving reporting and analysis steps carried out during the task of monitoring the portfolio and conducting reviews.

    The data gathered and validated is relative to all authorized components within the portfolio that are currently being executed, including the following data:

    • Expected deliverables, products, or features
    • Planned milestones or stage gates
    • Requirements or artifacts progression and completion compared to the plan
    • Use case completion and backlogs
    • Resource use and availability (people and facilities)
    • Portfolio metrics and measures (performance and quality)
    • Project or program health and indicators
    • Project schedule and cost compared to the plan
    • Change requests, risks, and issues

    Use supporting data review cycles while monitoring and controlling your portfolio. These cycles include daily team status and assignments, weekly project updates, monthly product reviews, and quarterly executive reviews. The collection and aggregation of data (in support of those distinct but connected cycles) are ongoing processes that produce specific deliverables and reports at particular points in time of the overall portfolio review cycle.

    The main outcome of this task is the production of solid and reliable data that drives timely, effective, and high-quality decisions by all portfolio stakeholders.

    Steps
    Identify and validate sources of required data

    A factor that is important in driving the quality of the information is capturing inputs from the right sources. This can be a support system or a specific stakeholder, such as product or project manager, functional manager, team lead, and so on.

    The first step to develop a data infrastructure that will guide quality decisions is to understand which is the most accurate source for the desired data or system of records for a particular information. With the origin of the information validated, it is equally important to communicate these sources to all portfolio stakeholders to avoid the proliferation of databases, spreadsheets, or other repositories for the same information.

    Execute data collection procedures

    Depending on the type and source of the required data, this step involves the following actions:

    • Running data exports, extracts, and reports from various source systems
    • Conducting interviews with specific stakeholders and project teams
    • Attending project teams meetings
    • Consolidating detailed inputs to the required level to support particular portfolio review cycles (such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually)
    Validate accuracy and completeness of data
    As the required data is captured and fed into the various portfolio review and analysis cycles, conduct quality and completeness checks to ensure all data is current, representative and complete. Those data checks can take the form of automated data validation scripts, process or data spot checks, audits, and peer reviews.
    Produce required reports and analysis
    Based on the standard formats (such as financial, schedule, timelines, resources, risks, etc.) that are pre-defined for each stakeholder group, produce the required reports and submit to stakeholders.
    Key Considerations
    Inputs to consider are internal source systems and portfolio stakeholders interviews.