Technical convergence has allowed for an extremely robust capability to manage all aspects of an organizations portfolio (e.g., programs and projects) through centralized tools. These tools are collectively called Portfolio Project Management Systems (PPMS).

Today, most organizations can divide their business applications into one of two 2 broad categories:

  1. An Operations Support Systems (OSS). This defines applications that allow the business to fulfill its customer orders, goods, or services. These include ordering applications, general ledger applications, and billing systems.
  2. Work In Progress (WIP) systems. These are the systems that define the current work activity being performed to either grow the business or improve business products and processes. This includes customer funnel applications, forecasting applications, and the PPMS.

PPMS tools have the capability to look at the health of an organization through all projects across the organization’s portfolio. PPMS can help an organization assist in resource utilization, document risks, track issues, define variance, calculate earned value, and provide customization modules for specific business needs. Additionally, these tools provide more ways to see information, by way of reports, than any individual could possibly need in a review, and on top of that, PPMS’ have the capability to create custom reports to meet business-specific or ad-hoc needs.

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http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/178