That description fits the CIO at Merrill Lynch who runs a $2 billion IT project portfolio using Business Engine. With an approach that should appeal to financial firms that are well accustomed to thinking about portfolios and asset allocation, Business Engine Network (BEN) combines project management with financial analysis to help firms determine how, where, and when to invest in IT.

Business Engine combines the enterprise version of Microsoft Project with financial analysis tools. Project management is not just for construction; it is playing a big role in financial firms including Deutsche Bank, CSFB, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, ING, and the Boeing Employee Credit Union.

If the portfolio approach doesn't appeal, take a look at Jost Hoppermann of Forrester Research, who prefers a political analogy. He suggests thinking like a town planner who faces multiple development plans in a community with conflicting needs but built on a common infrastructure. This is not to suggest, of course, that politics ever enter into IT decision making within strictly rational financial services firms.

Mark Strauch, chief operating officer at Business Engine, said that IT organizations in the US and UK are taking to the idea of portfolio management for IT in part because it provides a way to address the conflicting demands within the organization.

"IT serves many masters in these big banks and insurance companies. They inevitably have multiple business units that all place demands on IT, and IT has to juggle their demands and make trade-off decisions."

Beyond playing defense, IT organizations can use a portfolio approach to add value to the process, he added.

"Instead of just asking 'What would you like me to build?' IT can provide visibility back to the line of business leader to explain how building it one way will allow IT to perform twice as much work as using another approach," Strauch said.

It's like asking a contractor to do an expansion on your house. You want to discuss alternate approaches, their costs and how they affect the structure, he added.

With a portfolio approach to project management, a bank can line up all the potential investments and prioritize them with the business customers.

"You can't do this in a large financial institution without a commitment to portfolio management," he said. With a portfolio approach a firm can line up the candidate investments and pick which ones deliver the greatest value with the least risk.

Enterprise IT portfolio management can also uncover redundant projects in different business units.

"When you put your portfolio on the page and compare demand for projects to supply of resources, BEN will show if you have enough resources in aggregate."

A bank might find that it doesn't have enough SQL Server experts in one city for a project it needs, but it does have sufficient staff in another location, so it can move the development project to take advantage of them.

"You can't manage what you can't see," said Strauch.

(For the WFS story on Merrill Lynch, see http://www.businessengine.com/news/media/Windows%20in%20Financial%20Services_Sept%202002_2.pdf)

www.businessengine.com

For more information on Microsoft Project go to the Office section on Microsoft.com and click on Project.