Project; is any work that produces specific result and is temporary, projects must have beginning and end, project can be part of program or portfolio but portfolios and programs can't be part of project
Program; is a group of related projects managed closely to get the benefits that can't be obtained from managing them separately, projects in the same program are often dependent on each other and the program management is concentrating on these interdependencies for example building skyscrapers is dramatically different from building residential homes so residential homes construction would be its own separate program
Portfolio; a set of projects , programs and operations that are linked together by a business goal, for example an IT organization has a portfolio of 2 programs the first one managing the projects of implementing readymade applications of specific brand and the second program of building its own products to handle certain business
So What is the acronym EPM stand for and what is it ?
Enterprise Project Management this is to answer what is EPM stand for :) but let's go back a little bit before answering the second part of the question. In the 1990s the focus of project management was only on how to manage and control single project but in the subsequent decade the focus lay more on the facts that
- The project is not likely the only project in the organization but it co-exists with many other projects in the organization.
- It may be part of program which in turn might exist in portfolio of multi programs.
- It is utilizing shared resources in the same organization with the co-existing projects.
That is clear here we are facing a serious problem of how to manage and control - or in other word "governance" - all of these projects in the above mentioned circumstances, here come the EPM or the Enterprise Project Management into play by providing a set of processes, methods and application packages its role is to facilitate managing, monitoring and assessing the status of all co-existing projects in the enterprise.
Typically organizations that adopt EPM might set up Project Management Office (PMO), might select to adopt a project management methodology like the methodology provided by PMI in its famous standard the PMBOK, PRINCE2, follow the concepts of IPMA or create its own proprietary method.
Nowadays EPM role not only to plan, track the existing projects but also to create portfolio (per budget size, calendar year, per business line, …..) of existing and future projects. This called Project Portfolio Management which will be next post subject so keep tuned ;)
Tools that support Enterprise Project Management include collaborative enterprise project management software such as allWISER, EPM Live, Wrike, Deltek EPM Suite and Microsoft EPM
