A support tool for selecting and scheduling project portfolios

Abstract

Project portfolio selection is an important issue that arises repeatedly over an organization's lifetime. The problem consists of how to plan and allocate a limited set of resources among a set of candidate projects within a given time horizon, while taking into account multiple objectives and constraints that can be different at each period of the planning horizon. This article describes a software tool with a user-friendly environment called the Project Portfolio Selection Tool (PPST), which assists decision makers (DMs) to simultaneously select and schedule efficient project portfolios. This software tool incorporates a general multiobjective model and uses a metaheuristic algorithm as a search engine. By using an interactive procedure, PPST also supports DMs in exploring the solution space to find the most suitable portfolio according to their preferences. We present an application of the software in a state university setting to illustrate the rationale underlying this environment and its usefulness.