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IT Portfolio management from a academic perspective

IT Portfolio management from a academic perspective. Introduction. Academic experience PhD-student at Centre for IS management , Aalborg University Attached to the DISIMIT-project Grounded in the field of Information Systems (IS) (The difference between IT vs. IS)

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IT Portfolio management from a academic perspective

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  1. IT Portfolio management from a academic perspective

  2. Introduction • Academic experience • PhD-student at Centre for IS management , Aalborg University • Attached to the DISIMIT-project • Grounded in the field of Information Systems (IS) • (The difference between IT vs. IS) • Investigating IT portfolio management in a public organization • Practical experience • 3 years experience as IT project manager employed in: • The municipality of Copenhagen city • The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs/ The Danish Agency for Governmental Management

  3. Agenda • Part one: • IT Portfolio management (IT PM) as an academic field • Definition • Distinctions • Relevance in practice • Relevance in academia • Part Two: • “There is more to IT portfolio management than top-management making the right decisions: A review of the IT PM literature” • Describe four discourses in IT PM • Provide a path for future research and practice

  4. Part one: Distinctions and definitions of IT PM

  5. Definition IT PM: • ITPM as a continuous process to manage IT project, application, and infrastructure assets and their interdependencies, in order to maximize portfolio benefits, minimize risk and cost, and ensure alignment with organizational strategy over the long run.(Kumar et. al 2008)

  6. IT PM is management of three different sub-portfolios (Adopted from Kumar et. al 2008)

  7. IT application portfolio management (Adopted from Kumar et. al 2008)

  8. IT application portfolio management Weill and Vitale (1999)

  9. IT infrastructure portfolio management • IT PM is management of three different sub-portfolios – each portfolio involves different mechanisms (Adopted from Kumar et. al 2008)

  10. IT infrastructure portfolio management • Definition; centrally coordinated, shared IT services providing a foundation for the enterprise's IT capabilities and typically created before the precise usage needs are known (Weill and Ross 2004) • Changing processes are constrained or enabled by IT infrastructure (Broardbent 1999) .

  11. IT infrastructure portfolio management • Top six of core IT infrastructure services (Broardbent et. al 1999): • Manage firm-wide communication network services • Manage group-wide or firm-wide messaging services • Recommended standards for at least one component of IT architecture (e.g., hardware, operating systems, data, communications) • Implement security, disaster planning, and business recovery services for firm-wide installations and applications • Provide technology advice and support services • Manage, maintain, support large-scale data processing facilities (e.g., mainframe operations)

  12. IT Project portfolio management (Adopted from Kumar et. al 2008)

  13. IT Project portfolio management • [management of] a group of projects that are carried out under the sponsorship and/or management of a particular organization. These projects must compete for scarce resources (people, finances, time, etc.) available from the sponsor, since there are usually not enough resources to carry out every project proposed which meets the organization's minimum requirements on certain criteria such as potential profitability, etc” (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999).

  14. IT Project portfolio management • IT project portfolio management (IT PPM) • A dynamic range of mechanisms conducted in phases (Archer & Ghasemzadeh 1999) • These phases can according be synthesized to: • The pre-selection phase • The selection phase • The post-selection phase

  15. IT Project portfolio management Adopted from Archer and Ghasemzadeh (1999)

  16. IT Project portfolio management Weill and Ross (2009)

  17. IT PM is management of three different sub-portfolios • Reflections: • The literature emphasizes three types of intervening IT portfolio management: • IT application portfolio management • IT infrastructure portfolio management • IT project portfolio management • Does this reflect how IT PM is conducted in practice? • How are these different (sub) IT portfolios integrated in practice? • What are your challenges and what is your focus regarding IT PM?

  18. Relevance to practice: • Organizations experience ongoing challenges in their management of their portfolio of Information Technology (IT) as IT expenses have become a major part of the organizational budget (Jeffery and Leviveld 2004). • Hence, organizations implement a wide range of IT portfolio management (IT PM) arrangements to gain value from IT investments (Kumar et. al. 2008). • However, research shows that a vast amount of organizations are less successful in gaining value from their IT investments (Jeffery and Leviveld 2004; Weill and Aral 2006; Singh 2009; Weill and Ross 2009)

  19. Relevance to practice: • Reflections: • The maturity of IT PM/IT PPM in Danish organizations? • In the public sector? • In the private sector? • Who are the front-runners? • Which IT PM concepts are gaining a footing in DK? • P3O, PMI, Gartner, Project Excellence, Stanford's model, CA Clarity • Where do you find information about maturity in DK • IT iPraksis • DISIMIT-project • Dansk IT

  20. Relevance to academia • IT PM has been on the research agenda for more than three decades (McFarlan 1981) • Portfolio management is more developed in: • portfolio management in finance • portfolio management in research and development (R&D) • New Product Development (NPD)

  21. IT PM as an interdisciplinary field • An interdisciplinary field straddling other disciplines, you often must look not only within the discipline when reviewing and developing theory but also outside the field (Webster and Watson 2002) • A high-quality review is complete and focuses on concepts. A complete review covers relevant literature on the topic and is not confined to one research methodology, one set of journals, or one geographic (Webster and Watson 2002) • Therefore, a concept-centric review was conducted

  22. IT PM as an interdisciplinary field A concept-centric search for relevant IT PM literature (across different research field)

  23. IT PM as an interdisciplinary field The fourteen journals containing most articles regarding IT PM

  24. IT PM as an interdisciplinary field: • Reflections: • Which outlets are you utilizing knowledge from? • Journals? • Books? • Conferences? • Communities? • Courses? • Research institutions? • Research fields?

  25. Part two: There is more to IT portfolio management than top-management making the right decisions: A review of the IT PM literature.

  26. Scope of the article • The topic of this part of the presentation: • “There is more to IT portfolio management than top-management making the right decisions: A review of the IT PM literature” • Describe four discourses in IT PM • Provide a path for future research and practice • Note: • The examples in the articles are specific about IT PPM • The term IT PM is used due to an academic technicality; the article must communicate with the existing IT PM literature

  27. There is more to IT portfolio management • “There is more to IT portfolio management than top-management making the right decisions: A review of the IT PM literature” (Hansen and Kræmmergaard 2011) • The literature vastly emphasizes the organizational benefits of establishing IT PM when managing IT investments. Only a minor part of the literature emphasizes the unintended and negative consequences of IT Portfolio Management. • Thus, our paper aims to answer two research questions. • How is this bias discursively constructed in the IT PM literature? • Second, how can we provide a path for future research and practice?

  28. 2) There is more to IT portfolio management A concept-centric search for relevant IT PM literature (across different research fields)

  29. The framework by Deetz (1996) • Stanley Deetz, grounded in organizational science • Rethinking Burell and Morgan (1979) “Social Paradigms and Organizational analysis,” • The term “discourse” has been used by former researchers to describe different assumptions in organizational science research (Deetz 1996). • The framework can be used in management and organizational science • Schultze and Leidner (2002) have used the framework to investigate Knowledge management

  30. The framework by Deetz (1996) Dissensus Dialogic Critical Elite/A Priori Local/Emergent Normative Interpretive Consensus From Deetz (1996)

  31. The framework by Deetz (1996) How do researchers consider the natural state (regarding conflict) in the organization? Dissensus Elite/A Priori Local/Emergent What source of knowledge does the researcher rely upon? A theoretical/and a top management perspective - or more emphasis upon empirical data emerging from local or lower ranks in the organization Consensus From Deetz (1996)

  32. The framework by Deetz (1996) Deetz (1996)

  33. The framework by Deetz (1996) (Deetz 1996)

  34. The framework by Deetz (1996) Organizational metaphor: Polity Ambition: Participation, expanded knowledge Organizational metaphor: Carnival Ambition: Creativity and Diversity Dissensus Dialogic Critical Elite/A Priori Local/Emergent Normative Interpretive Organizational metaphor: Community Ambition: Commitment, quality in working life Organizational metaphor: Marketplace Ambition: Control and expertise Consensus From Deetz (1996)

  35. The distribution of the IT PM literature Dissensus 3 2 Elite/A Priori Local/Emergent 5 97 Consensus From Deetz (1996)

  36. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • Authors: De Reyck et. al. (2005) • Title: The impact of project portfolio management on information Technology projects • Grounding in empirical data: a survey with 31 responses • The outlet of the article: International Journal of Project management • Citations: 71 citations in Google scholar (June 2011)

  37. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • The plot of the article: • Using a literature review, De Reyck et. al. (2005) finds the “preconditions” and “key elements” in IT PPM • Makes an adoptions scheme containing all the “best practices” and defines three stages of PPM adoption • Investigates the impact of IT PPM upon; project performance and project problems • Provides a phased implementation plan for IT PPM.

  38. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • The preconditions in IT PPM according to De Reyck et. al. (2005): • Organizational strategy: • Business leaders involvement • Team skills

  39. An exemplary article from the normative iscourse • Key elements in IT PPM (De Reyck et. al. 2005): • Centralized view on all projects • Financial analysis • Risk analysis • Independencies • Prioritization • Constraints • Dynamic re-assessment of the portfolio • Need for specialized software • Impact on organizations • Problems within organizations

  40. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • The four aspects with the most impact (De Reyck et. al. 2005): • An inventory of projects (90% emphasize impact – strong!) • Align the project portfolio to a clear statement of the organizational objectives (88% emphasize impact) • The consolidation of information about projects and a standardization of project analysis (89 % emphasize impact) • Considerations about project interdependencies (86% emphasize impact)

  41. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • Stage I: portfolio inventory • Centralized project administration • Risk evaluation procedures • Explicit incorporation of resource constraints • Increasing business leaders’ accountability for project results • Stage II: portfolio administration • Project categorization • Evaluation of customer impact of the project portfolio results • Stage III: portfolio optimization • A project committee • Assessment of the financial value of the portfolio • Management of the project interdependencies • Tracking project benefits

  42. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • Contributions from the article by De Reyck et. al. (2005): • There is a positive correlation between organizations’ IT PPM-adoption level and project benefit from projects • There is a negative correlation between organizations’ IT PPM-adoption level and reported project problems • Organizations do not need to implement all elements to create benefits • *More value from projects and fewer project problems by implementing a

  43. An exemplary article form the normative discourse Deetz (1996)

  44. 2) There is more to IT portfolio management (the normative discourse) (Deetz 1996)

  45. An exemplary article from the normative discourse • Critique of De Reyck et. al. (2005) • The empirical grounding: • Direction in correlation between adoption and positive benefits? • Builds upon a survey with a respons-rate of 25% • A critique of the assumptions in the article: • Is IT PPM only involving top-management? • Is IT PPM a strictly rational endeavor?

  46. A metaphor developed from the normative discourse • The articles representing the normative discourse are primarily inspired by economics and mathematics. • Verhoef (2002) regards IT PM as an: approach where decisions on whether or not to invest in IT are based on potential return, and decisions to terminate or make additional investments are based on performance much like an investment broker is measured and rewarded based on managing risks and achieving results (Verhoef 2002).

  47. A metaphor developed from the normative discourse Fourcategories of IT PM litterature(across different research fields) Dissensus Elite/A Priori Local/Emergent Normative “IT PM as market relations” Consensus From Deetz (1996)

  48. An exemplary article from the critical discourse • A exemplary article form the critical discourse: • Authors: (Platje and Seidel et. al. 1993) • Title: Breakthrough in multiproject management: how to escape the vicious cycle of planning and control • Grounding in empirical data: Not clear • The outlet of the article: International Journal of Project management • Citations:74 citations in Google scholar (June 2011)

  49. An exemplary article from the critical discourse • The plot: • Planning and controlling concepts are not suitable for multi project situations. • Uses organizational sociology and chaos theory to shown that multiproject environments may lead a organization into a vicious cycle of bureaucracy and inflexibility

  50. An exemplary article from the critical discourse • The problem: The vicious circle: Platje and Seidel et. al. (1993)

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