Developing a Project Portfolio Strategy

Challenge

A leading pharmaceutical company, committed to scientific innovation, sought to create an industry changing portfolio management approach. The organization recently became an autonomous business unit and needed an independent portfolio approach to strategically navigate an evolving legal environment and quantify its value to customers and to the company.

The organization needed a new portfolio management strategy and supporting portfolio management tool to enable tradeoff decisions based on optimizing its mission, rather than return on investment.

Approach: Think + Do

Acquis partnered with the client to define a new portfolio management strategy and create a tool to operationalize the approach. We collaborated with key stakeholders across the organization to develop and lead a multi-phase product rollout that met customer needs.

We focused on helping the client to define a new taxonomy for portfolio management, translating innovative and strategic concepts into a practical tool to operationalize change, understanding and addressing organizational interdependencies to manage rollout risks, and supporting stakeholder adoption of new approaches through extensive training and knowledge exchange.

Results

We established the organization as a value driver for its customers and business colleagues by quantifying its value. We created a new “currency” for the value of activities, proving that benefits can be measured in metrics other than dollars. We enabled a successful rollout amidst organizational change, and helped solidify the organization as the innovator in its field. We launched a new portfolio management product, empowering the organization to make more informed and measurable decisions.