Portfolio Server – Questions and Answers

By:  Tanya Foster

The following are some of the questions that arose from a Portfolio Server webinar that Tanya Foster did on Microsoft Portfolio Server.  Included are her answers that were sent to the attendees.

1.       How does Portfolio Server help me in my organization?

·         Portfolio Server can help you in several ways.  Because Portfolio Server allows you to group all of your projects and programs together, you get a quick snapshot of your entire portfolio.  This helps you to ensure that your organization is working on  the projects that will bring the most value and are aligned with corporate criteria

·         It also helps to create a standardized method for collecting data for your projects and programs.

·         And it allows you to measure the performance of each portfolio as it’s progressing along.

2.       What are the modules that were mentioned during the webinar and what do they do?

The three modules are the Builder Module, Optimizer Module, and the Dashboard Module.

·         The Builder Module- This is where you enter the bulk of your information.  This module helps to standardize the data that is collected.  The data that you put into the Builder Module is what the other two modules use to provide you with information, charts and much more.

·         The Optimizer Module – Takes the information that you provided in the Builder Module and uses complex algorithms to come up with the top portfolio’s that would benefit your organization.

·         The Dashboard Module – Provides you with a visual way to see how your projects and programs are doing by creating charts and graphs, or a simple dashboard view with traffic light indicators.

3.       Who in my company would be most likely to use this?

It’s great for Project and Program managers as well as top level management.  Anyone on the PMO staff would find this to be a great tool to help effectively compile and manage the organizations entire portfolio. 

4.       If I have Project Server and I get Portfolio Server, do I need different licenses?

·         Portfolio Server is licensed separately from Project Server, so you will have to have a separate license.  You will need one license for each server that Portfolio Server is installed on and then you will need a CAL (Client Access License) for each computer that will be accessing Portfolio Server.

5.       My company has several Project Servers all serving different departments.  Can we link all of these servers to Portfolio Server so we can see the big picture?

·         You can link multiple Project Servers to one Portfolio Server.

6.       What information in Project 2007 is transferred to Portfolio Server?

The following information can be exchanged back and forth between both Project and Portfolio Server.

·         Custom fields

·         Schedule information such as budget, actual and forecast

·         Resource availability, resource budget, resource actual and forecast

7.       You can store documents in Project Server on the Windows Sharepoint Workspace.  Does Portfolio Server have something similar?

·         Portfolio Server uses Windows Sharepoint Services just like Project Server.

8.       Can you export information from Portfolio Server to Excel?

·         Yes.  Portfolio Server is tightly integrated with most Microsoft Office 2007 applications.

9.       My company doesn’t use Microsoft Project 2007, we’re still on 2003.  Can we use Portfolio Server with Microsoft Project 2003?

·         No. Portfolio Server 2007 is only compatible with Microsoft Project Server 2007.

10.   Where can I get help on installing or training for Portfolio Server 2007?

·         PMP Specialists can help you

·         http://www.pmpspecialists.com/contact_us.html

 

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