Portfolio and Program Management

Why Choose Garranto Academy for Portfolio and Program Management?

Garranto Academy delivers practical, case-based training that helps professionals strengthen portfolio governance, strategic prioritisation, programme monitoring, benefits realisation, and stakeholder engagement through hands-on exercises and reusable workplace tools.

Course Overview:

This two-day practical workshop equips professionals to manage portfolios and programmes aligned with organisational strategy and business value. Participants explore portfolio, programme, project and PMO roles, select suitable frameworks, establish governance, and prioritise initiatives using strategic fit, value, risk, capacity and dependencies. Through MDEC-style cases, team simulations and hands-on exercises, learners practise balancing constrained resources, managing interdependencies, monitoring delivery, and responding to changing conditions. They build decision-ready portfolio dashboards, define benefits with owners and measures, and develop stakeholder engagement plans for difficult trade-offs. The workshop culminates in a portfolio review board capstone and a personal 30-60-90 day action plan, supported by reusable templates for immediate workplace application. Learners also reflect on practical workplace challenges and opportunities during guided team discussions.

What You'll Learn in Our Portfolio and Program Management Course?

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:

• ✓Understand portfolio programme project distinctions and roles.

• ✓Apply frameworks to governance and oversight.

• ✓Prioritise initiatives using strategic value criteria.

• ✓Balance capacity risk and dependencies effectively.

• ✓Monitor programmes using plans and controls.

• ✓Build dashboards for informed portfolio decisions.

• ✓Define benefits owners baselines and measures.

• ✓Plan stakeholder engagement for difficult trade-offs.

Prerequisites

• ✓Working experience with projects

• ✓Basic organisational strategy understanding

• ✓No formal certification required

Course Outlines:

Module 1: Portfolio, Programme, Project and PMO Landscape

• ✓Topics: Portfolio, programme, project and business-as-usual distinctions; scope and success measures; portfolio, programme and project manager roles; PMO types; P3O model; PMI standards, PMBOK Guide, MSP and SAFe Lean Portfolio Management frameworks.

• ✓Activity: Classify MDEC-style work items and create a PMO role statement.

Module 2: Strategic Alignment and Prioritisation

• ✓Topics: Translating organisational goals into initiative selection; intake and categorisation; strategic fit, value, risk, cost, capacity and dependencies; weighted scoring models; value-risk bubble charts; balancing quick wins and long-term initiatives; reprioritisation triggers.

• ✓Activity: Score and rank candidate initiatives, plot a value-risk chart, and select a funded portfolio within constraints.

Module 3: Portfolio and Programme Governance

• ✓Topics: Portfolio, programme and project governance layers; decision rights; decision-rights matrices; stage gates, tolerances and escalation paths; assurance, health checks and benefits reviews; governance of multi-agency initiatives.

• ✓Activity: Design and peer-review a governance model with forums, membership, cadence, decisions and thresholds.

Module 4: Programme Management and Multi-Project Monitoring

• ✓Topics: Programme lifecycle and tranches; benefits-led planning; interdependencies and integrated plans; critical path analysis; resource conflicts; RAID management; programme-level change control; earned value basics and leading indicators.

• ✓Activity: Map dependencies across linked projects, assess schedule impacts, select responses, and update a RAID log.

Module 5: Portfolio Reporting for Decisions

• ✓Topics: Decision-focused reporting; leading and lagging indicators; RAG status and thresholds; data quality; consolidated portfolio views; dashboard design; reporting cadence; escalation to boards and management.

• ✓Activity: Reconcile initiative status data and build a one-page portfolio dashboard identifying decisions required.

Module 6: Benefits Realisation

• ✓Topics: Benefits lifecycle; benefits dependency networks; links between outputs, outcomes, benefits and strategic objectives; benefit owners, baselines, measures and timing; dis-benefits and leakage; post-project benefits tracking.

• ✓Activity: Create a benefits map and register with owners, baselines, targets and measurement dates.

Module 7: Stakeholder Management and Reprioritisation Negotiation

• ✓Topics: Stakeholder identification and analysis; power, interest and influence; engagement strategies; communication planning; negotiating trade-offs; communicating reprioritisation decisions; managing resistance across stakeholder groups.

• ✓Activity: Participate in a stakeholder role-play to negotiate competing priorities and develop an engagement plan.

Capstone: Portfolio Review Board

• ✓Topics: Integrating portfolio choices, dashboard reporting, benefits maps and stakeholder plans into a decision-ready recommendation.

• ✓Activity: Present a portfolio recommendation to a review panel, receive feedback, and prepare a personal 30-60-90 day action plan.

Course Outcomes:

Upon completing the Portfolio and Program Management course, participants will:

• ✓Distinguish portfolio, programme, project, and PMO responsibilities clearly.

• ✓Select appropriate frameworks for governance and strategic delivery.

• ✓Rank initiatives using strategic fit, value, risk, capacity.

• ✓Map dependencies and identify critical paths across projects.

• ✓Create dashboards that support timely portfolio decisions management.

• ✓Define benefits, owners, baselines, targets, and measurement dates.

• ✓Develop stakeholder engagement plans for contested prioritisation decisions.

• ✓Prepare practical 30-60-90 day action plans confidently.

Key Benefits of Portfolio and Program Management:

Strengthen strategic delivery by improving prioritisation, governance, resource balancing, portfolio visibility, benefits accountability, and stakeholder alignment across multiple initiatives.

How Portfolio and Program Management Supports Strategic Delivery?

Portfolio and programme management connects organisational strategy to coordinated execution by helping teams select valuable initiatives, manage dependencies, monitor progress, realise benefits, and make informed decisions as priorities change.