Service Manager

Getting Started with Portfolio and Project Management

This topic contains information about how to set up a new portfolio and a project. For more information about the portfolios and budgets, see Working with Portfolio Management and for more information about projects, see Working with Portfolio Management.

•Creating a New Portfolio

•Creating a New Project and Project Plan

Creating a New Portfolio

Use the following procedure to start a new portfolio:

1.Log in to the Service Manager Application as a Portfolio Manager.

2.Open the Portfolio workspace.

3.Click New Portfolio.

4.Enter information. See Adding Information on the Overview Tab.

5.Determine which method to use for managing budgets and tracking costs:

•Method 1 - Master Budget Plan and Sub-Budget Plan: Create a budget for the portfolio and sub‑budget plans for the projects. After you associate a project with a portfolio, the system also associates the projects' sub‑budget plans with the portfolio. The system tracks project costs at an individual project level using the Cost Item tab. Costs are calculated automatically and the totals are displayed in the Consumed field for the portfolio.

•Method 2 - Lump Sum Allocation: On the Portfolio workspace, in the Allocated field, enter the total allocated budget for the portfolio. If you select this method, you must manually enter any amounts spent on the projects in the Consumed field to reflect the amount of money used. You can update the Consumed field at any time. See also Working with Portfolio Management.

For more information see also About Managing Budget Allocations for Portfolios and Projects.

6.Select one or more projects to link to the portfolio. If there are no available projects, create a new project by using the steps in Creating a New Project and Project Plan. Do the following:

a.

Click the Project tab. See Adding Information on the Project Tab.

b.

Click Link to bring up a list of available projects.

c.

Highlight a project and click Add. When a project is linked to a portfolio, the system displays it on the Portfolio dashboard within the associated portfolio.

7.Move to the Risk tab to add and create risks for the portfolio. If any known risks exist, enter them here. Risks are tracked from the portfolio and from the project. See Adding Information on the Risk Tab.

8.To enter any known issues, use the Issue tab to log them. See Adding Information on the Issue Tab.

9.Click Save.

You have now set up a new portfolio that is searchable from the Portfolio workspace. Go to the Portfolio dashboard, to view it.

Creating a New Project and Project Plan

1.Log in to the Service Manager Application as a Project Manager.

2.Open the Project workspace.

3.Click New Project.

4.Enter information.

5.If the project belongs to a portfolio, enter the name of the portfolio in the Portfolio field.

6.Click Save.

7.Next, determine which budget method to use to manage allocated funds, and track costs for the project. There are two methods:

•Budget Plan Method: Create a Budget Plan using the HEAT IT Financial Management (ITFM) module: If the project belongs to a portfolio, and there is a master budget plan, you can create a sub-budget plan for the project. Once the project is associated with a portfolio the sub-budget is tied to the portfolio master budget. This way any amounts consumed by the sub-budgets roll up to, and appear on the Consumed field for the portfolio budget. For more information, see Creating a Master Budget Plan. If the project is a standalone project, you can still create a budget plan for it, which does not need to be tied to a master budget plan.

The benefit of choosing this method is that when a project manager enters project expenses during each project phase, any expenses entered are automatically calculated and the total amounts for consumed budget are displayed on the project Overview tab.

If the projects budget plan is a sub-budget plan, and tied to the master budget of a portfolio, the system calculates new totals as the project expenses are entered, and adds these to the total 'consumed' amounts for the portfolio.

•Lump Sum Allocation Method: From the Overview tab of the project, enter an amount in the Allocated field. If you select this method, you must manually enter a value in the Consumed field to reflect the amount of money used by the project. You can update the Consumed field at any time. See also Working with Portfolio Management.

8.In Service Manager, you must have at least one phase for every project, even if it is a small project with a short time frame. Use the following procedure to create a project plan:

a.

Click the Phase tab.

b.

Click New Project Phase.

c.

Enter the required information.

d.

Click Save. The system displays the phase under the Phase tab.

e.

Highlight the phase and click Go To to view project phase information and to create tasks for this phase.

9.Add tasks by doing the following:

a.

Click New Task.

b.

Enter information for the task.

c.

Click Save.

d.

Repeat the actions to create the project plan and WBS for this project.

e.

Once the project plan is created, return to the main project window and click the Schedule tab to see the Gantt chart for this project plan. You can update the start date, duration, and percentage complete for each phase and task.

10.Edit the project status by doing the following:

a.

Click the Status Updates tab.

b.

Click New Notes.

c.

Enter a summary of the project status.

11.Enter risks as follows:

a.

Click the Risk tab.

b.

Click New Risk.

c.

Enter information for this risk.

12.After creating risks, log issues if any are identified for this project:

a.

Click the Issue tab.

b.

Click New Issue.

c.

Enter information for this issue.

13.If there are documents related to this project, click the Attachment tab to upload documents.

14.Click Save.