Portfolio items in PPM represent individual projects, project proposals, services, or product initiatives. At item level, you can enter critical success factors and plan finances and capacities.
The progress of an item (such as its specification, planning, and execution) can be represented by decision points. Based on the decision points and the data of the items, you can monitor these in PPM, compare them with each other, and make decisions about future progress.
The data itself can be entered manually, derived by using questionnaires and scoring models, or determined from allocated projects and controlling objects through integration with Project Management and FI/CO systems. For a detailed structuring and resource planning, items can also use a built-in function for project management in PPM.
When you create items, they are allocated to just one portfolio bucket. If necessary, you can change this allocation afterward, that is, you can move items from one bucket to another. However, these buckets must all belong to the same portfolio.
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Portfolio Item Details 2/2
When you create an item, you must always specify a portfolio item type or an item template. The portfolio item type specifies several properties of the item, such as decision points. In addition to the portfolio item type, the item template includes additional master data, such as area and priority.
You have different options for creating items. You can create items individually or you can create multiple items at the same time. In addition, you can use an interface in the PPM core system to generate portfolio items based on a Microsoft Excel file.
The data of an item is summarized on various tab pages. The General Information tab page, for example, contains the name, external identification, and description of the item. The General Information tab also includes information about the planned, expected, and actual start and end of the item. In addition, you can enter information about the status, location, category, and priority of the item. You can also define critical success factors, such as the probability of technical and commercial success or the assessed risk of the item.
The Additional Information tab contains details about the actual decision point, for example, the status. However, changes to the decision point are not specified here but on the separate Phases and Decisions tab.
On the Financial Information tab, you can select the currency and period breakdown for financial planning at the item level. These fields are mandatory, but the item automatically transfers the values from the parent bucket as default values when you create it. On this tab page, you can define values for the estimated launch and development costs as well as the net present value of the item.
Together with the probabilities for technical and commercial success, the system calculates the expected commercial value of this item. The fields for the planned, actual, and budget values are derived from the financial planning data or by integration of the item with a FI/CO system.
On the Capacity Information tab, you can decide which time unit you want to use for capacity planning. You can also define the actual headcount of the item for informational purposes.
On the Authorizations tab, navigated to by Miscellaneous → Authorizations, you can add new users that have authorizations, for example, to read or change the item, or you can change the authorizations inherited from the parent bucket.
In the same way as for the buckets, you can also enter additional information for items on the Note tab, navigated to by Documents and Notes → Notes. When you add a note, the system automatically adds details about the person who enters the note, and the time it was added.
Companies need additional fields for informational purposes at the item level. These customer fields can be defined in the PPM core system. The customer fields are then shown on the tab pages in the items.