Information technology portfolio management implementation: a case study

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of IT portfolio management (IT PoM) and develop a framework guided by adaptive structuration theory to describe the key structures, features, and appropriation steps needed to effectively manage IT investments and assets.

Using a longitudinal case study approach, data were collected over an eight-month period from a US Fortune 500 company during its IT PoM implementation effort.

The case analysis highlights three major IT PoM features appropriated by the organization: creating the portfolio; assessing and analyzing the portfolio characteristics based on risk, benefits, alignment, criticality, and cost; and balancing decisions to start projects or terminate under-performing IT assets such as servers and applications. The spirit of IT PoM was interpreted differently by different stakeholders (data providers, business units, and IT PoM team) leading to resistance to implementation. The case data underscores the importance of establishing a governance steering committee and new internal structures to help push the balancing decisions across the organization.

The results are useful in developing guidelines and strategies to achieve successful implementation of IT PoM and to highlight critical factors that practitioners need to pay close attention to during an IT PoM implementation.

This study represents one of the first attempts to describe a detailed IT PoM implementation process and how IT PoM appropriation process can lead to improved decision making within the organization.