Aligning Projects with the Enterprise

In today's rapidly changing global business environment an increased number of organizations consider project management as a strategic tool and define success broadly and long‐term. Each project must be strategically aligned not only individually but also being managed as part of the overall project portfolio of the company. Project portfolio management (PPM) is part of the strategic subsystem of an enterprise. It deals with the selection and implementation of projects as a group linked to the strategic objectives of the enterprise. Enterprise project management (EPM) takes PPM to the next level, a 360‐degree strategy‐operations integrated way of project management where project managers are directly responsible for selecting and implementing projects in support of enterprise strategy and mission objectives. A critical part of the strategic alignment is the need for strategic project leadership. Strategic project leadership involves translating enterprise strategy into the project management operations, and vice versa.