Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

11.6. GOVERNANCE BOARD (DECISION REVIEW BOARD)

This is a formal team of executives from across the organization that ensures projects will meet/are meeting enterprise goals. This group functions more at a tactical level. They have the formal authority to prioritize projects and also approve projects that cut across multiple functional departments. Essentially, it's best if each business unit retains its autonomous right to run its business with minimal external oversight. However, the difficulty comes when different business units want to dip into a common pool of shared resources to execute their projects. This is where the governance board comes into play—to help determine the priority of projects for optimal utilization of resources and greatest returns. Prioritization at this level helps the business units that share resources to better prioritize their work, leaving politics and guesswork at the door.