Modeling projects interdependencies to measure their synergic impacts on a project portfolio

Mohammad Mahdi Nabati,Maryam Ashrafi

doi:10.5267/j.jpm.2021.2.003

Abstract

One of the most critical factors used to evaluate the efficiency of the portfolio selection process is the ability of the model to measure interdependencies among projects. Varieties of interactions among projects lead to several kinds of synergies in the whole portfolio, such as re-sources and knowledge interdependencies. There are few studies focused on project portfolio selection accompanied by modeling and estimating the impact of synergies between projects. Hence, this paper presents a model to select the best project portfolio applying a particular model to measure the effects of several types of interdependencies between paired projects. Then, the Promethee II method is used to prioritize projects. Then, the portfolio selection model, which is a non-linear integer model, is solved to find the best set of projects. Finally, numerical examples are addressed to illustrate the method results and validity.

Highlights

Trends in project management reveal that project-based organizations are the norm in the future
Senior managers of projectified organizations focus on the problem of selecting a project portfolio to achieve organization strategic objectives
In the meantime, considering projects’ interdependencies and their capacity to create synergies in a portfolio can play an essential role in organizational resources management and profitability

Summary

Introduction

Trends in project management reveal that project-based organizations are the norm in the future. It leads many organizations to establish a project portfolio management process to ensure a set of effective projects aligning with their strategies. The development and implementation of a portfolio management system is a critical operational need to ensure the alignment of the resource allocation process with organization strategies and help organizations execute the most effective projects based on managerial criteria (Bathallath, Smedberg, & Kjellin, 2016). If we can model a significant part of projects’ interdependencies in a portfolio, it results in selecting a set of harmonic projects and increasing the success probability of the portfolio (Kundisch & Christian, 2011). Practical findings of researchers emphasize that modeling projects’ interdependencies can lead to advantages such as profitability and effective management of the resources pool (Kundisch & Christian, 2011)

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion