Use a graph database to maintain and visualise a portfolio of projects.

See https://lawrencerowland.github.io/2020/05/07/Data-models-for-Project-Portfolios.html

This is a good way of getting started. It is very user-friendly and requires no code. It is all you need to do during design and set up of a portfolio.

You will find you progress onto option 2 when you are actually managing the portfolio day-to-day.

here

You do not need to be able to code right from the outset - as there are useful tools that allow you to set up the initial model.

arrows

spreadsheet-template

These will build the code as you sketch out your portfolio. You will then be able to open it and query it in Neo4j.

To manage the portfolio, and fully query the portfolio, you will need to learn the query language Cypher, which is pretty similar to SQL. There is a good introductory course on Neo4j website, which probably took me 3 days of effort in all.

here

1. annual business planning process selects and updates the portfolio
2. portfolio of current projects identified
3. portfolio reports exhibit characteristic "tells" of bottom up activity
4. client curious about emergent strategy

Possible "Tells"

ghost projects year by year rolling programmes design projects with general budget for implementation scope = benefits change requests coming out at all angles project / functional characterisation unstable

No common WBS structure

Unit costs unavailable

Key resources spread across several initiatives the design staff are very requirements-focussed the BAU staff are very agile-focussed

classic portfolio base-line and selection strategy contribution per project etc

What does the bottom-up look like in a P3 space ? what project staff are actually working on what low level internal clients are saying to their project providers what resistance to project progress looks like here As-is rather than to-be

typical ideation & innovation service typical portfolio review and selection service, with the first collection stage widened to include bottom-up, bringing modified benefits / scope categories new project proposals recommended project removals ("that doesn't work") New strategic control installation service for ongoing support

crowd source ideation categorise ghost projects, new work-packages & scope change requests check shop-floor BAU messaging from client with high-level message gather risk and dependency and EVENT data per project map and categorise the emerging scope categories and cost pressures

analyse and rationalise the emerging scope / benefits relationships analyse the relationships between common risks, dependencies and events

project list, progress reports, change requests, interviews Ideation app (Spigit, Brightspark) Updated Benefit and scope tree / graph

https://www.yworks.com Free products YEd Live and YEd are a good entry level to seeing the portfolio relationships as a graph https://neo4j.com provide Neo4j Desktop for running graph databases as a Community edition, along with a number of more sophisticated enterprise products.