Coordinating dozens of projects, people, and priorities can quickly turn into chaos without a plan. For PMO leaders, consultants, and portfolio managers, it‘s about making sure every project serves a bigger purpose. Project portfolio management (PPM) process connects day-to-day execution with strategic goals, helps your team work smarter, and gives you a clearer view of what‘s driving value.
In this guide, we‘ll walk through each stage of the PPM lifecycle and show you how to build a process that‘s easy to manage, scale, and improve as your organization grows.
What is the project portfolio management process?
Project portfolio management process is about how well your organization handles the big picture of project work. It‘s making sure the full mix of projects connects back to your business strategy. That means having a clear process for choosing what to work on, figuring out how to get it done, and checking in along the way to see if it‘s all delivering the value you expected. While project management focuses on getting a specific job done, portfolio management zooms out to help you pick the right mix of projects that support overall business direction.
- Collect and review new project ideas
- Prioritize work that truly supports strategic goals
- Match resources with where they‘ll have the most impact
- Stay on top of project progress and adapt when needed
Project portfolio management stages
Creating a process for managing your project portfolio starts with a clear structure. These stages offer a step-by-step approach to help your team stay organized, use time and resources wisely, and keep projects aligned with broader business priorities. You can always adapt the details to fit your team, but the structure here gives you a reliable place to start.
| Stage | Objective | Outputs | Birdview tools to help |
| Demand intake | Collect project ideas consistently | Standardized proposals, intake backlog | Custom forms, request pipeline |
| Evaluation | Assess project value, effort, and alignment | Scoring results, shortlists, business cases | Custom fields |
| Approval | Ensure the right projects get formal sign-off | Approval records, audit trails | Automated workflows, approval routing, activity log |
| Prioritization | Rank projects based on strategic fit and urgency | Prioritized project list, visual portfolio view | Portfolio dashboards, filtering |
| Resource allocation | Assign people and budget efficiently across projects | Resource plans, team assignments | Resource Planning, Workload View, capacity forecasting |
| Monitoring and optimization | Track progress, spot risks, and adapt as needed | Performance metrics, real-time visibility | BI dashboards, timeline tracking, health indicators |
1. Demand intake
This stage is all about gathering project ideas and requests from across your organization. These might come from department leaders, executives, or client feedback. Without a structured intake process, it‘s easy for ideas to be overlooked or to pile up without clarity.
To bring order to the process:
- Use a centralized intake form for submitting proposals
- Collect important data like business impact, cost estimate, and timing
- Assign someone like a portfolio coordinator to manage incoming requests
📍 Example: A Custom form allows teams to submit proposals in a standardized format. Submitted ideas feed directly into the request pipeline, giving stakeholders visibility and structure.
2. Evaluation
Once ideas are in the system, it‘s time to evaluate which ones are worth pursuing. This means looking at potential value, risks, and how well a project fits with your overall goals.
A solid evaluation step includes:
- Scoring each request on value, timing, effort, and risk
- Getting input from finance, operations, strategy, or other relevant teams
- Using templates so every project is evaluated consistently
Some projects may not move forward right away, but this step helps you focus on the strongest opportunities.
📍 Example: With Custom fields, teams can apply consistent criteria to proposals. This enables better side-by-side comparisons of ideas across the portfolio.
3. Approval
Before any project kicks off, it usually needs a formal go-ahead. This step brings in governance and makes sure the organization stays focused on the right work.
To manage this process:
- Define thresholds for when higher-level approval is needed
- Clearly identify who‘s responsible for each decision
- Keep a record of who approved what and when
📍 Example: An automated approval flow directs each request to the appropriate reviewers, logs decisions, and builds an approval history you can reference at any time.
4. Prioritization
Once a project is approved, the next question is: when should it start? With limited time, people, and money, you‘ll need to decide what comes first.
Prioritization can be done using:
- Scoring systems that weigh impact, urgency, and required effort
- MoSCoW method to classify work as Must, Should, Could, or Won‘t do
- Visual tools that map out value vs. risk
These tools help make decisions more transparent and focus efforts on the work that matters most.
📍 Example: Portfolio views can display projects with filters and scores to highlight those that align best with business strategy. Teams can use tags and custom dashboards to spotlight top priorities.
5. Resource allocation
With your priorities set, it‘s time to assign the right people and resources to the right work. This step helps to ensuring that no one is stretched too thin and the team can actually deliver.
To do this well:
- Look at team capacity across locations, roles, and departments
- Use planning tools to catch conflicts and availability gaps
- Build in some buffer space to handle changes
📍 Example: Resource Planning and Workload View tools give real-time insight into team availability and assignments. Managers can spot overloads quickly and make adjustments to keep delivery on track.
6. Monitoring and optimization
Once a project starts, portfolio management shifts into active monitoring. The goal here is to make sure each project delivers what it promised–and if not, make adjustments.
To stay on top of performance:
- Track budget, timelines, scope, and expected outcomes
- Use live dashboards to see how things are going
- Schedule regular check-ins to adjust resources or priorities as needed
📍 Example: Business Intelligence Dashboards bring together performance data from across the portfolio. PMOs can watch trends in real time, flag risks quickly, and make informed decisions without relying on delayed manual updates.
Further reading:
Common challenges in the PPM process
Even with a strong framework in place, managing a portfolio isn‘t always smooth. Teams often run into roadblocks caused by gaps in data, unclear processes, or a lack of coordination. Recognizing these early helps keep the system on track.
- Inconsistent intake details: If proposals vary in quality or miss key info, it‘s tough to compare or evaluate them properly.
- Misaligned project choices: Sometimes projects get approved for the wrong reasons, like internal politics, rather than real business value.
- Resource shortages: Great projects can still stall if the right people aren‘t available or are already overloaded.
- Data silos: When teams use different systems, it‘s hard to get a full picture of what‘s happening.
- Weak governance: Without clear approval steps or decision-makers, things slow down or become inconsistent.
- Limited executive support: Without leadership backing, teams struggle to secure resources or resolve conflicts.
- Too many projects, not enough capacity: Trying to do it all leads to delays, burnout, and lower-quality work.
Tools that support the PPM process
Trying to manage this entire process manually or in spreadsheets can quickly become overwhelming. Purpose-built tools like Birdview PSA provide structure, automation, and visibility across all six stages.
Project intake forms and workflows
- Standard forms make it easier to collect the right details upfront.
- Automated workflows help move requests through review steps efficiently.
Project prioritization tools
- Scoring tools apply consistent criteria to all potential projects.
- Teams can focus on high-value work instead of reacting to noise.
Resource capacity planning tools
- These tools show who‘s available, who‘s overloaded, and where there‘s slack.
- That helps avoid overscheduling and improves forecasting.
Portfolio dashboards and analytics
- Real-time dashboards show what‘s working and what‘s not.
- Metrics help track alignment, budget, timelines, and more.
Together, these tools support a more streamlined, reliable portfolio management process, cutting down on manual effort, improving transparency, and helping teams stay focused on delivering long-term value.
Optimize your PPM process with Birdview PSA
Birdview gives PMO teams and enterprise project groups the structure and visibility they need to manage the full portfolio lifecycle. From collecting project ideas to setting priorities and tracking delivery, Birdview supports every step with flexible tools built to scale.
Whether you‘re starting from scratch or improving an existing process, Birdview helps teams stay aligned with strategy, make decisions faster, and respond to change with confidence.
