Working with Program Management
About Programs
A Program is a group of related Projects managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. Program management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to meet program requirements.
Programs allow Portfolio, Project, and Demand Managers to group Projects into logical groups or to a specific initiative within the company (example: You could use a Program to group together all Projects that are developing features for Product A, or all those that use SQL).
A Program can be a long-lived entity that has Projects refined and added to it over time. It doesn't have to start and end with a specific set of Projects; it can continue until a certain goal is reached.
When managing budgets, the Estimated Effort and Planned Effort for all Projects are rolled up to the Program. Likewise for the total Allocated Budget, Consumed Budget, and Remaining budget - they are all rolled up to the Program.
Using the Program Workspace
•Getting Started in the Program Workspace
•Adding Overview Information for a Program
•Link a Master Budget using the Master Budgets Tab
Getting Started in the Program Workspace
Follow these steps to create a Program:
1.Log in to the application as a Portfolio, Project, or Demand Manager.
2.Open the Program workspace. The system displays a list of Programs.
3.Do one of the following:
•To view or edit an existing Program, open a Program.
•To create a new Program, click New Program.
4.Adding Overview Information for a Program.
6.Link a Master Budget using the Master Budgets Tab.
7.Click Save.
Adding Overview Information for a Program
Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Program Name* |
Provide a unique name for the Program up to 255 characters long. |
| Summary* | Provide a description of the Projects or the goals of this Program. |
| Start Date*/End Date | Select the start and end dates for all Projects that are a part of this Program. This factors into the Program health. |
|
Program Owner |
Click on the magnifying glass to search for an existing Program Owner. Click on the arrow and select Add New, Edit or Go To to see an employee's record. |
|
Program Sponsor |
Click on the magnifying glass to search for an existing Program Sponsor. Click on the arrow and select Add New, Edit or Go To to see an employee's record. |
| Status |
Select the status of the Program from the drop-down list. Choose from: Initial, Active, On Hold, Cancelled, Closed. |
|
Strategic Objective |
Strategic Objectives set the major benchmarks for success. Click on the magnifying glass to search for an organizational goal that helps to convert a broad vision into more specific plans and Projects. Click on the arrow and select Add New, Edit or Go To to see the Strategic Objective record. |
| Alignment To |
Select from Portfolios or Program. What you select determines the route/mechanism for rolling up of Effort and Budget from Projects, via Program, and into a Portfolio. The content of this drop-down list changes dependent on whether you are creating a Program, Portfolio, or Project. When you select from the list, the tabs underneath also change to reflect what you can select from. For example, if you select Program, you see a Major Program tab. Click Link and you are shown only those programs with different alignments ie. the permitted ones. You only see Programs aligned to a Portfolio. The field is unavailable if there is already a link to a Portfolio. Click Unlink if you want to change the relationship. See Relationships Within PPM for an overview of how relationships work with budgets. |
| Start Date | Choose a start date for the Program from the calendar. |
| End Date | Choose an end date for the Program from the calendar. |
Completing the Details Tab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Budget |
|
|
Allocated |
Read only field calculated by rolling up the Allocated Budget values from linked Projects and Sub-Programs. |
|
Consumed |
Read only field calculated by rolling up the Consumed Budget values from linked Projects and Sub-Programs. These are the costs consumed by the linked Projects. |
| Remaining |
Read only field calculated by rolling up the Allocated Budget values minus Consumed Budget values from linked Projects and Sub-Programs. Note: This field is red if the project is over-budget. |
Effort |
|
|
Planned (Hours) |
Read only field calculated by rolling up the Planned Effort values from Tasks within linked Projects, and Sub-Programs (with other linked Projects). |
|
Estimated (Hours) |
Ready only field calculated from the Estimated Effort values from the Project Phase and the associated Resource plan. |
|
Actual (Hours) |
Read only field calculated by rolling up the Actual Effort values from Tasks within linked Projects, and Sub-Programs (with other linked Projects). |
Health |
|
|
Schedule |
Select from On Track, At Risk, Off Track to reflect the health of the Program schedule. |
|
Program |
Select from On Track, At Risk, Off Track to reflect the health of the Program itself in terms of Project completion. |
|
Budget |
Select from On Track, At Risk, Off Track to reflect the health of the Program budget. |
Link a Master Budget using the Master Budgets Tab
1.Select the Master Budgets tab.
2.Click Link.
3.Select your Master Budget if it is already listed, or select the Custom Search option to search for a Master Budget using fields and expressions.
4.Click Select.
5.Click Save to save the Program.