Creating Portfolio Initiatives

Portfolio initiatives is a structuring tool in PPM. Initiatives are independent objects, similar to portfolio buckets and portfolio items, that can summarize data from assigned items and can be used for overall planning.

Unlike portfolio buckets, which have a more static structure, initiatives can also be used operationally. A portfolio initiative contains an actual start date and phases that structure the time of the process. It is due to this operative character that a portfolio initiative is also similar to a portfolio item.

For example, you find decision points in both objects. However, there are also differences. An initiative is designed for aggregation, whereas an item can also carry out concrete resource planning.

From a technical perspective, a portfolio initiative is an interdependency of a portfolio item and portfolio project. However, it is only designed to map certain functions, such as financial planning. A portfolio initiative is an interdependency only from a technical perspective; it has neither all the functions of a project nor all the functions of a portfolio item.​

A portfolio initiative consists of master data that is created in the head of the initiative. Phases and decision points are already created when the initiative is created. Both are used to map the progress of the initiative.

Phases and decision points are not created manually but according to the PPM configuration. There is no initiative without a phase or decision point.

An assignment to a portfolio bucket is already created when the initiative is created. The preceding video shows the basic structure of an initiative and its links to other objects.

In the course of editing an initiative, you can also consecutively create new portfolio items and assign existing ones. Such portfolio items are then assigned to the initiative as well as to a portfolio bucket, which also means that initiatives enable a different and additional perspective of portfolio items than portfolio buckets. You can keep using portfolio items without an assignment to an initiative.

An advantage of assigning several items to an initiative is that master data or authorizations can be exchanged. Authorizations can be inherited in a top-down manner. Scheduling data can then be inherited in a bottom-up manner, which implies that you can simplify data maintenance. Changed data can be kept synchronously.

In PPM, there are two scenarios for this purpose: horizontal and vertical data synchronization. You are not limited to the two objects, initiative and item, either. The synchronization of data is a part of Decision Flow Management (DFM), which was introduced with SAP Resource and Portfolio Management (SAP RPM) 4.5.

Portfolio initiatives are of operational character. However, they also summarize the data of subordinate objects. This difference is illustrated in the preceding video. You can see phases and decision points that represent the progress of the initiative and thus also affect the progress of subordinate objects.

The subordinate objects are portfolio items. In documentation, such items are usually referred to as initiative items to distinguish them from normal portfolio items.

• Overview specifies description and identification, status, dates, and settings for financial planning and capacity planning.
• Assigned items assign existing items to the initiative or create new items.
• Capacities and financial planning determine plan data manually, or determine the capacity data and financial data by rolling up the planning of subordinate items. Alternatively, derive financial planning from the capacity planning data.
• Stakeholders assign parties and persons involved in an initiative.
• Phases and decisions use phases and decision points to map the life cycle of an initiative. The phase concept is based on that of Project Management. Stakeholders can be included in the approval process.
• Questionnaires assign values to fields that would otherwise be difficult to determine.
• Checklists document the completion of the most important topics of an initiative. The structure of the checklists is again based on the checklists in Project Management.
• Change documents are used for attributes, status, object links, and authorizations.
• Process change changes the portfolio initiative type.
• Classification hierarchies for initiatives are used to map initiatives to alternative hierarchies in addition to a portfolio structure.
• Versions for initiative, assigned items, and projects to store historical data.

It is possible to exchange data between the items of an initiative and the actual initiative. This allows master data to be kept synchronously. The PPM terminology refers to attribute synchronization. You can also establish status synchronization or a synchronization of authorizations.

Attributes, statuses, and authorizations cannot be synchronized between only an initiative and its items.

The following objects are available as a source or target for synchronization:

• Portfolio initiative
• Decision point of an initiative
• Phase of an initiative
• Portfolio item
• Decision point of a portfolio item
• Portfolio project
• Phase of a portfolio project

In the standard system, suitable object link types that only need minor adjustments have already been configured for these objects. If you perform synchronization between a portfolio item and its associated project, this is referred to as "horizontal synchronization". The item and its corresponding project are two objects that have the same content level.

If you perform synchronization between portfolio initiatives and portfolio items, it is referred to as "vertical synchronization". Both objects are located at different levels of detail.

There is a standard configuration for the synchronization, but it must be adjusted first.

The following questions provide an idea of what is to be configured:

• What are the source and the target of the synchronization?
• Should the data exchange take place synchronously or asynchronously?
• How should the system respond when an object is created or changed?
• Should this synchronization be unidirectional or bidirectional?
• What needs to be synchronized?

Settings for the synchronization are available in Customizing under SAP Implementation Guide → PPM → Common Functions → Decision Flow Management Settings.​