Project and Portfolio Management

Project and portfolio management (PPM) applications are used for automating and optimizing the initiating, planning/scheduling, allocation, monitoring, and measuring of activities and resources required to complete projects. In addition, the portfolio management capabilities enable the tracking of an aggregation of project, products, programs, and/or initiatives to oversee resource allocation, for making ongoing investment and prioritization decisions, and to track risks — as part of an overall portfolio. Ultimately, PPM applications help organizations to manage the scope, time, and cost of discrete sets of related people processes (projects) on an individual and portfolio basis. IDC uses a wide definition of PPM to include the breadth of solutions that use PPM features at their core, such as construction management, facilities management, professional service automation, aspects of IT governance solutions, and other industry-oriented solutions developed around the primary premise of successful "project" completion as the main business purpose. The following are representative vendors and products in this market:

• Computer Associates (CA) Clarity Portfolio Manager and Clarity Project Manager (former Niku)
• Deltek Vision
• Meridian Proliance
• Microsoft Office Project
• Oracle Projects
• Primavera Project Management
• SAP xRPM (Resource and Portfolio Management)