Differences Between Portfolio and Program Management

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With ever-increasing focus on delivering return on investment (ROI) in business, many organizations have implemented Program Management and Portfolio Management functions to improve project success levels. Do you know the similarities and differences between them? Let’s take a closer look at what Program and Portfolio Managers do, and how they can improve your bottom line!

First, let’s get some definitions in place, and do some comparisons. Then, we can look at how organizations implement Portfolios and Programs to realize success. The quick definitions from the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition are:

- A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. Project Management is the science (and art) of organizing the components of a project. It involves the planning of an organization’s resources in order to move a specific project towards completion.

- A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Program Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program in order to meet the program requirements and to obtain benefits and control not available by managing project individually.

- A portfolio is a collection of projects and/or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate the effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. Portfolio Management refers to the centralized management of one or more portfolios to achieve strategic objectives.

The focus on objectives in these definitions is the key distinguisher between Program Management and Portfolio Management:

Program management is focused on tactically improving a group of mutually beneficial projects, and other initiatives, as a whole.

Portfolio management is focused on achieving strategic business goals from a collection of programs and projects which aren’t necessarily related.

Let’s look at a simple example to explore how the difference impacts a business:

Let’s assume our fictitious company Real Estate Gurus (REG) is in the real estate business to provide housing projects of various types. REG management and board have a strategic goal to improve the net profit of the company.

Debbie has been assigned as the Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio is categorized into buckets that allow Debbie to group projects and programs according to their potential profit (high, medium, low) each with their corresponding risk levels. Debbie’s efforts are focused on increasing the overall profits of the Portfolio. She has selected several high ROI (and high risk) projects to maximize profits.

In Debbie’s portfolio there are projects for new house construction, projects for remodeling of new apartments, projects for marketing new homes, and projects for improving the efficiency of new home designs using IT tools.

The Programs in place at REG consist of:

Construction projects, managed by Allan (Program Manager for Construction) Marketing projects, managed by Kathy (Program Manager for Marketing) IT for Construction projects, managed by Steve (Program Manager for IT) Allan, Program Manager for Construction is focused on improving the efficiency of projects selected, consolidating resource orders to get best pricing, using common practices and vendors for the apartment remodels we’re doing, and eliminating wasted time by identifying unused resources across multiple active projects.

To lessen the overall portfolio risk, Debbie has worked with Allan to initiate a new project to study “Best Practices” in the remodeling of new apartments. Robert, a Project Manager at REG has been assigned to that specific project.

Here’s a sequence of events:

Robert (Project Manager) assigned to the new “Best Practices” project reports to Allan, and identifies several improvements, such as new cost-effective insulation materials; use of natural light for reducing energy consumption; and using more efficient and more cost-effective appliances from a newly emerged Korean company.

Allan (Program Manager) chooses to implement the proposed improvements across the next few apartment remodeling projects, and sees significant cost reduction, realizing a boost in net profit on those projects.

Debbie (Portfolio Manager) sees this great improvement, and therefore chooses more “apartment remodeling” projects than in the past, boosting profits for the whole company.

Another success story!

By having a Portfolio Manager in place, the company has significantly increased its potential for profits through selection of higher-than-average ROI projects. The Program Manager has also contributed significantly to company’s success by identifying and providing best practices for projects.

In a nutshell, Portfolios are different from Projects or Programs. A Portfolio can contain multiple projects and/or programs, and can also contain works that are not project oriented. The primary focus of Portfolio Management is on managing organizational investment to maximize the company’s ROI. Program Management is about the execution of those selected programs and projects to maximize potential.

Too Hot to Fly: Summer Airline Pet Embargoes

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If you’re traveling with your pet this summer and plan to fly to your destination, make sure you familiarize yourself with the airline’s pet embargo policy before you book your flight. During the summer, many airlines don’t allow pets aboard flights-as checked baggage or as cargo-when temperatures are high. Airline pet embargoes are in the best interest of your pet and play a vital role in ensuring his safety.

Not only is air travel stressful for your pet, but it can also pose serious health risks. Being confined in his carrier for long periods of time during the hottest months of the year is potentially dangerous for your pet and may lead to dehydration and heatstroke. In addition, certain breeds, such as brachycephalic (snub-nosed) dogs and cats, are susceptible to pulmonary distress when temperatures are extreme.

According to the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA), embargoes protect pets from exposure to extreme heat while they’re in the holding areas and terminal facilities, while moving them between terminals and aircraft, or while they’re on an aircraft awaiting departure.

“Heat embargoes are critical during the summer months,” says Sally Smith, past president of IPATA. “They protect our pets and keep them safe and comfortable while traveling.”

Since airlines impose embargoes to ensure your pet’s safety, there are no exceptions. However, if an embargo is in effect on the day of your flight, the airline will work with you to re-route your flight, if possible, or schedule your flight for another day.

Although each airline establishes its own policies for pet embargoes, the following are a few commercial airlines and some of their regulations.

Alaska Airlines – Although Alaska Airlines doesn’t have any embargoes scheduled this summer, if temperatures are too high for pets to travel safely, they may place an embargo. However, your pet may travel with you in the cabin if he fits in an approved carrier that can be placed under your seat.

American Airlines – To ensure your pet isn’t exposed to extreme heat, American Airlines imposes an embargo any time the current or forecasted temperature is above 85 degrees Fahrenheit at any location on the itinerary. However, if your pet fits in an approved carrier that can be placed under your seat, he can travel with you in the cabin.

Delta Air Lines – To ensure the safety of your pet, Delta places an embargo on pets as checked baggage from May 15 through September 15. If at any point-origin, transit, destination-the temperature is forecast to be above 85 degrees Fahrenheit-or 75 degrees Fahrenheit for brachycephalic pets-your pet can’t travel. However, your pet may be able to fly as cargo via the Summer Live Animal Program. (Restrictions apply, particularly for brachycephalic pets.) Launched in 2011, the program, which is in effect from May 15 through October 15, lifts temperature restrictions and provides safe transportation of your pet in select cities. Delta Cargo uses climate-controlled vans to pick up and deliver your pet to or from the plane, holding areas, and cargo facilities. Your pet is also loaded or unloaded according to specific time frames. In addition, your pet may travel with you in the cabin if he fits in an approved carrier that can be placed under your seat.

Southwest Airlines – Since Southwest Airlines doesn’t allow pets to travel as checked baggage or in the cargo hold, they don’t impose pet embargoes. Your small cat or dog can travel with you in the cabin in an approved carrier that is small enough to fit under your seat.

Since each airline has a different summer pet embargo policy, visit TripsWithPets.com and review our Airline Pet Policies. And don’t forget to review our Pet Travel Tips for Flying and check out the airline-approved carriers at the TWP Store.

Your pet’s safety is your top priority. Choosing an airline that fits your needs can help ensure the flight is a positive experience for both you and your four-legged family member.

Poker Tournament Skills

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Apart from needing to have skills at playing poker to win tournaments, you also need to have a few other skills to become a good player in poker tournaments. We’re going to talk about a couple skills that are necessary to becoming a successful tournament player over the long-term.· You need to first find the type of poker tournament that is suitable for your playing style. If you’re a heads-up player then you should play heads-up tournaments. If you’re a tight player then you may want to look at playing double or nothing tournaments along with some bigger multi-table tournaments. Choosing the right type of game based on your playing style is one of the most important skills too have.· Although most tournament players don’t see the need to manage their bankroll, it’s still one of the most important poker tournament skills. If you only have a $500 bankroll and you’re playing in $50 tournaments, you’re not going to last more then a few weeks at best. You need to play a small percentage of your bankroll in every tournament and work on building it up so that you don’t go bankrupt on a few bad sessions.· You also need to make sure that your playing environment is ideal or else you risk losing money. You need to make sure you don’t have any distractions and if you’re multi-tabling you need to make sure you don’t play on more tables then you can handle. If you’re playing 4 tables and it seems like you’re having to make split second decisions you should try moving down to 2-3 tables.· Another important thing that poker tournament players need to do although not really a skill is choosing the right poker room to play in. Not every poker room is ideal for tournament players, but to keep it simple you’ll want to look at playing with the bigger poker rooms, as tournaments fill up much quicker and there are a lot more tournaments to choose from.

Best Online Poker Bonuses

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Poker bonus offers are the ideal way to attract more money into your poker bankroll. These special bonus codes can be used for clearing the bonus. However, it is not true that all the poker bonuses make it compulsory for you to enter the poker bonus code. It is important to use the special casinator links which you help you to receive the bonus offers which are exclusively offered only to the players.Free poker bonuses help an individual even if they are not playing really good and these free bonuses help the players in break even. The poker bonus helps in increasing your poker bankroll. There are many players who keep practicing and become poker pros. The income earned by playing poker becomes their secondary income.Online poker rooms offer basically, 2 groups of these poker bonus codes.Deposit poker bonuses – if you want to make use of this facility, you need to first make an initial deposit and only then you are eligible for using the special deposit bonus codes.Novice players can make use of these deposit bonuses. They are the big ones and hence the players who are interested need to make a deposit so that they can make use of these special bonus codes so as to get the free bonuses. There are many players who would like to pull out all their money once they clear the bonus and then go in for a fresh deposit at some other poker room so that they are able to get biggest free bonus with some other unique poker bonus codes.There are many poker rooms which grant quick deposit bonus codes which are immediately transferred into the player’s poker account. By using these special bonus codes, first you have to make an initial deposit so that you are entitled to receive the bonus. It is not necessary for you to clear the bonus even though you need to fulfill the requirements even before cashing out.If you are a lower stake player then the fixed deposit bonus codes holds great value. You could get maximum bonus for a deposit of minimum amount. They get cleared very similar to deposit bonuses.Reload bonuses are offered by some poker rooms. An initial deposit needs to be made if you want to be entitled to this facility. Then use the special bonus codes, clear off the free bonus. They are comparatively smaller and are provided on a regular basis. It is offered on special occasions and it differs from poker room to poker room.Poker rooms also offer No deposit bonuses where in the player needs to get himself registered with real money poker account. Personal details are checked and verified. The other option is to play real money games and earn sufficient poker points.

Play Poker Online For Fun and Free

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Increasingly today we find hundreds of thousands of people who want to play poker games online for free. The popularity of these online poker game play sites is understandable when you consider the parallel popularity of The World Series of Poker television series on cable and satellite TV and the popularity of the fictional TV drama Las Vegas. Watching poker being played on TV makes people want to play the game themselves.Unfortunately, the people who want to play poker because they’ve seen it played on TV may not have any place to play because the local gambling rules in their home town make it illegal for them to play real life poker games in public, and they don’t live anywhere near a casino or card room. For these people, the only two choices they have to play poker games is to organize a game in their community or to play poker in an online game room.The majority of people choose to play online for free as it is much more convenient, plus you can find a game to join in with at virtually any time of the night or day, there is no need to organize anything as the poker site have done this for you. Once you have an account games can be played anywhere, even in work or the office during your lunch break. To play poker games online for fun in the free mode is the ideal way to practice if you are a novice. Not everyone wants to play online games for free though, some players enjoy the gamble. Reading the small print is essential especially as many sites have enticing special offers, which can be beneficial to depositors, make sure you read everything in the small print. You should know exactly what you’re signing up to before getting out the credit card and committing to a site.With new sites been launched all the time online players have a huge array of sites to pick from; this can be confusing at first when trying to pick a site as they all look good and each one has individual features.The best thing to do is to research each site first and only play poker games online for free, many of the sites offer this no commitment option and it is a great way of checking out the site before placing a deposit etc. This is a good way to see how their software runs and to make sure you are comfortable with its controls.