<p><strong>Introduction </strong>– Project-based organizations face a series of challenges when trying to implement and manage their project portfolios successfully in line with their strategic goals. Good project portfolio management (PPM) practices play a crucial role in maintaining well performing portfolios, but PPM is still a fairly new academic field. And it was found that the current PPM literature embodies a gap in providing explicit governance criteria to assure consistent portfolio decision-making.</p><p><strong>Problem </strong>– What are the criteria of portfolio governance that contribute to better aligning the project portfolio to organizational strategy? Do project-based organizations in fact not implement a governance framework to guide their decision-making rationale? If there is some sort of a governance framework, do project-based organizations implement it in a consistent manner every time they take portfolio-related decisions?</p><p><strong>Purpose </strong>– The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, we attempt to fill a gap in the current PPM literature by proposing a portfolio governance framework that could enhance project portfolio decision-making. Secondly, it is our goal to find out whether decision makers in project-based organizations consistently cover all issues related to portfolio governance at portfolio meetings.</p><p><strong>Methodology</strong> – The study employs both qualitative & quantitative methods to fulfill the two-fold nature of the study. A Portfolio Governance Framework, comprising 26 statements, was developed on the grounds of existing literature on PPM, strategy & governance. The proposed Framework was then used as a basis to carry out an online survey in which 31 respondents (executive level) from 25 project-based organizations (operating in Sweden) were asked about how consistent they are in discussing relevant portfolio governance issues.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong> – The empirical findings of this study indicate that the majority of project-based companies do not employ a governance framework when it comes to portfolio decision-making. In the few cases that they do, it is mostly a set of policies that is not applied on a consistent basis.</p>

Introduction – Project-based organizations face a series of challenges when trying to implement and manage their project portfolios successfully in line with their strategic goals. Good project portfolio management (PPM) practices play a crucial role in maintaining well performing portfolios, but PPM is still a fairly new academic field. And it was found that the current PPM literature embodies a gap in providing explicit governance criteria to assure consistent portfolio decision-making. Problem – What are the criteria of portfolio governance that contribute to better aligning the project portfolio to organizational strategy? Do project-based organizations in fact not implement a governance framework to guide their decision-making rationale? If there is some sort of a governance framework, do project-based organizations implement it in a consistent manner every time they take portfolio-related decisions? Purpose – The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, we attempt to fill a gap in the current PPM literature by proposing a portfolio governance framework that could enhance project portfolio decision-making. Secondly, it is our goal to find out whether decision makers in project-based organizations consistently cover all issues related to portfolio governance at portfolio meetings. Methodology – The study employs both qualitative &amp; quantitative methods to fulfill the two-fold nature of the study. A Portfolio Governance Framework, comprising 26 statements, was developed on the grounds of existing literature on PPM, strategy &amp; governance. The proposed Framework was then used as a basis to carry out an online survey in which 31 respondents (executive level) from 25 project-based organizations (operating in Sweden) were asked about how consistent they are in discussing relevant portfolio governance issues. Conclusion – The empirical findings of this study indicate that the majority of project-based companies do not employ a governance framework when it comes to portfolio decision-making. In the few cases that they do, it is mostly a set of policies that is not applied on a consistent basis.

Informationsteknologi är en framstående möjliggörare för verksamheters framtida utveckling. En verksamhets grad av framgång kommer att påverkas av i vilken utsträckning som verksamheten lyckas med styrningen av sina verksamhetsutvecklingsprojekt. Att styra enskilda projekt är svårt och att styra flera parallella projekt ökar svårighetsgraden ytterligare. Ett sätt att hantera flera projekt är att införa en projektportfölj. En lyckad portföljstyrning kommer leda till att verksamheten realiserar sina mål och strategier och får ut bästa tänkbara nytta av varje projekt. Däremot är styrningen av projektportföljer komplex och många av de mest erfarna yrkesverksamma kämpar med att få investeringarna att löna sig. Därför är det viktigt att verksamheter identifierar vilka faktorer som påverkar portföljstyrningens grad av framgång.  Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats i informatik är att identifiera och beskriva framgångsfaktorer för portföljstyrning av verksamhetsutvecklingsprojekt med stöd av IT inom en offentlig organisation. I studien har fallstudiemetoden tillämpats. En litteraturstudie har genomförts för att inhämta kunskaper och erfarenheter i tidigare forskningsstudier. Dessa har legat till grund för utformandet av en analysmodell. Primära empiriska data har samlats in genom personliga intervjuer via Teams.  Fem olika rollinnehavare från fallorganisationen har intervjuats beträffande deras erfarenheter och uppfattningar om faktorer som påverkar graden av framgångsrik portföljstyrning.  Studiens viktigaste slutsatser är: projektportföljen ska vara ihopkopplad med verksamhetens strategier, strukturer och arbetssätt ska vara både enkla att använda och anpassade till den specifika verksamheten, att möjliggöra beslutsfattande är viktigt och uppnås genom en tydlig beslutsstruktur samt genom att tilldela mandat.