SmartSuite for the Portfolio Manager
The Portfolio Manager balances demand, capacity and investment across the initiative portfolio: scoring and selecting projects against strategy, tracking portfolio financials and resource allocation, managing interdependencies and re-planning when priorities or funding change. They report portfolio performance to the PMO.
What you own
The Portfolio Manager balances demand, capacity and investment across the initiative portfolio: scoring and selecting projects against strategy, tracking portfolio financials and resource allocation, managing interdependencies and re-planning when priorities or funding change.
- Score and prioritize initiatives against strategic objectives
- Balance demand with resource capacity and funding
- Track portfolio financials, forecasts and variances
- Manage interdependencies and portfolio-level risks
- Run portfolio reviews and re-prioritization
- Report portfolio performance and benefits to leadership
Reporting lines
Who this role reports to, who reports to them, and the peers they work with most.
Reports to
Direct reports
Works closely with
How SmartSuite supports this role
Lead
Intake. Scores incoming demand against strategy and capacity before it enters the portfolio.
Financials. Tracks portfolio budgets, actuals and forecasts with variance alerts.
Resourcing. Shows resource demand against capacity across initiatives.
Reporting. Produces portfolio dashboards and prioritization views for leadership.
Products this role uses most
Industry reference
The PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management (4th edition, November 2017) sets out the portfolio life cycle, strategic management, governance, capacity and capability management, stakeholder engagement, value management and risk management the Portfolio Manager runs, and PeopleCert's Management of Portfolios guidance (formerly Axelos) describes the same practice as a define-and-deliver cycle.
Public sector and regulated organizations add capital-planning rules on top: US federal agencies plan, budget and manage capital assets under Part 7 of OMB Circular A-11 and its Capital Programming Guide, EU financial entities govern ICT change under DORA, and listed companies treat gate decisions on projects that change financial systems as SOX change-control evidence.
Related roles
Explore Further
Guides and definitions from the GRC Knowledge Center and the What-is glossary, chosen for this role.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Portfolio Manager accountable for?
The Portfolio Manager balances demand, capacity and investment across the initiative portfolio: scoring and prioritizing initiatives against strategic objectives, balancing demand with resource capacity and funding, tracking portfolio financials, forecasts and variances, managing interdependencies and portfolio-level risks, running portfolio reviews and re-prioritization when priorities or funding change, and reporting portfolio performance and benefits to the Head of PMO and leadership. The PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management and Management of Portfolios describe the practice.
How does SmartSuite help a Portfolio Manager score demand against strategy?
Project Intake & Approvals scores incoming demand against strategy and capacity before it enters the portfolio, so every proposal is assessed on the same criteria, its contribution to the strategic objectives in Strategic Roadmapping is explicit and the capacity it would consume is visible before a decision. The Portfolio Manager presents comparable cases to the Chief Strategy Officer rather than competing narratives, and the PMO Analyst administers the form and scoring behind it.
How are portfolio budgets, actuals and forecasts tracked?
Project Financial Management tracks portfolio budgets, actuals and forecasts with variance alerts, so the Portfolio Manager is told when an initiative's forecast moves away from its budget rather than finding out at the quarterly review. The FP&A Manager sees the same figures for the finance view, and the variance across the portfolio is the basis for re-planning when funding changes. Portfolio Management holds the whole picture across initiatives.
How does SmartSuite show resource demand against capacity?
Resource Management shows resource demand against capacity across initiatives, so the Portfolio Manager can see where the same people or teams are committed to several initiatives at once and where capacity is unused. When a Program Manager asks for more or an initiative slips, the effect on the rest of the portfolio is visible in the same view, which is how interdependencies are managed rather than discovered.
How does this role report portfolio performance to the Head of PMO?
SmartSuite produces portfolio dashboards and prioritization views for leadership from the intake, financial and resource records as they stand. The Portfolio Manager can show the Head of PMO how initiatives rank against strategy, where financial variances sit and how capacity is allocated, and bring the same prioritization view into a portfolio review. The IT Service Manager sees the technology initiatives in the same portfolio, so the IT and business views agree.
What does a portfolio team need to get started with SmartSuite?
A portfolio team needs its current initiative list with owners, budgets and status, the strategic objectives it scores against and the resource pool. New customers can start with SmartSuite Onboarding, a guided four-week program around one or two priority workflows; for a portfolio team the first workflow is intake scoring, with financial tracking and the capacity view following. The first prioritization view shows where the existing portfolio sits against strategy, which is often the first honest ranking the organization has had, and capital-planning rules such as OMB Circular A-11 are met from the same records.
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