In 2002, Synapse Group Inc., Stamford, Conn., USA, was experiencing growing pains. After Time Warner Inc. acquired the firm, this leading service provider for consumer magazine publishers needed to segue from a small entrepreneurial organization to a large corporation. Using a group consensus approach, an executive vice president (EVP) steering committee met every six weeks to prioritize all strategic projects. Leaders knew the IT development department delivered good strategic systems but were business owners consistently supporting the business when dealing with smaller, tactical projects? Leaders wondered how to best manage the growing demand for technology resources using existing bandwidth, while equitably supporting the fast-paced, market-focused company. Synapse enhanced there portfolio management system called STARS for capturing, monitoring and maintaining project status information. An IT review committee ranks all eligible projects in the STARS development queue. An analyst with the business integration group (BIG) works with each business subcommittee to analyze, understand and help set and communicate project priorities. Today, business owners support the overall rankings established by the IT review committee (Frank, L., April, 2004).

Companies can learn from this example to effectively create and use an application portfolio management approach to establish resource allocations and prioritization to support their short and long-term strategies.

CITE THIS AS:

YouSigma. (2008). “Synapse Group Inc Project Portfolio Management Approach." From http://www.yousigma.com.