How to Use Program and Portfolio Reporting in Project Insight

Program and portfolio reporting in Project Insight brings information from related projects together so program managers, portfolio managers, PMO leaders, and executives can monitor performance without reviewing each project separately.

Project Insight can roll project information up through the complete work hierarchy:

Portfolio → Program → Project → Task

This allows you to begin with a high-level view of organizational work and then drill into the programs, projects, and tasks contributing to the results.

What is program reporting?

Program reporting combines information from all projects assigned to a program.

It gives program managers a consolidated view of project schedules, milestones, tasks, financial performance, risks, issues, decisions, and other project activity.

Instead of opening every project or repeatedly creating individual report filters, you can use the program association to automatically bring related project information together.

What is portfolio reporting?

Portfolio reporting provides a broader view across multiple programs and individual projects.

A portfolio may include:

• Multiple programs
• Individual projects
• A combination of programs and projects

Portfolio reporting helps portfolio managers, PMO leaders, and executives understand how work is performing across strategic initiatives, departments, business areas, customers, products, or other organizational priorities.

What can you report on at the program and portfolio levels?

Depending on the report and features enabled in your workspace, program and portfolio reporting can include:

• Projects within a program or portfolio
• Project health and status
• Project phases and priorities
• Project schedules
• Open and completed milestones
• Current and overdue tasks
• Task assignments and owners
• Planned and actual work hours
• Budget, cost, and expense information
• Risks, actions, issues, and decisions
• Meeting minutes
• Custom fields and other project classifications

Program and portfolio reporting can be used across Project, Task, Time, Budget, and other supported reports.

What questions can program and portfolio reports answer?

Program and portfolio reports can help answer questions such as:

• Which programs or projects are at risk?
• Which projects are behind schedule?
• Which milestones are approaching or overdue?
• Which tasks are incomplete or overdue?
• How many hours were planned compared with actual hours?
• How are budgets and costs performing across related projects?
• Which risks or issues require leadership attention?
• Which decisions are still unresolved?
• Which projects are contributing to a program or portfolio result?
• What work is planned for the next month, quarter, or reporting period?
• How is work performing across a department, strategic initiative, or business area?

How does project data roll up into programs and portfolios?

Project Insight rolls information from tasks into projects, from projects into programs, and from programs into portfolios.

For example, planned and actual hours recorded at the task and project levels can be summarized at the program or portfolio level.

The same rollup approach can be used for information such as:

• Milestones
• Scheduled work
• Actual work
• Costs
• Expenses
• Budget information
• Risks
• Issues
• Actions
• Decisions

This allows leaders to review consolidated results while still identifying the underlying projects and tasks driving those results.

How do you create a program or portfolio report?

To create a report for a program or portfolio:

1. Open the report you want to use, such as a Project, Task, Time, or Budget Report.
2. Select Filter.
3. Locate the Program or Portfolio filter.
4. Select the program or portfolio you want to include.
5. Add Program or Portfolio as report columns when needed.
6. Use Group By to organize the results.
7. Select the data points or calculations you want to review.
8. Run the report.
9. Save, share, export, or schedule the report if it will be used regularly.

Program and Portfolio filters in a report.

How do you group a report by program or portfolio?

The Group By option organizes report results into a hierarchy that is easier to review.

Depending on the report, you may be able to group results by:

• Portfolio
• Program
• Project
• Task
• Department
• Project type
• Project priority
• Sponsor
• Task owner
• Custom fields or custom items

For example, a task report could be grouped as:

Portfolio → Program → Project → Task

This makes it possible to begin with the portfolio total and expand the results to see the programs, projects, and tasks underneath it.

Program and Portfolio in the Group By menu.

Can Program and Portfolio appear as report columns?

Yes. Program and Portfolio can be added as report columns where those fields are supported.

Adding these columns makes it easier to:

• Identify the program or portfolio associated with each project
• Sort report results
• Export program and portfolio associations
• Compare projects across programs or portfolios
• Create reusable report layouts

How do cross-project Gantt charts support program reporting?

A cross-project Gantt chart displays the schedules of multiple projects on one timeline.

Program and portfolio managers can use a cross-project Gantt chart to:

• Compare project schedules
• Review milestone dates
• Identify overlapping work
• Monitor upcoming deadlines
• See whether related projects are progressing as planned
• Review open and completed milestones

Open milestones may appear as outlined milestone symbols, while completed milestones appear filled in, making it easier to see progress across projects.

Can you review tasks across multiple projects?

Yes. Program and portfolio views can bring together tasks from the projects included in the selected program or portfolio.

Depending on the available views, you may be able to review tasks using:

• Planning Boards
• Assignment Boards
• Status Boards
• Task reports
• Cross-project schedules

These views can help you monitor task dates, assignments, status, and ownership across multiple projects without opening each project individually.

How do program and portfolio task boards work?

Program and portfolio task boards display tasks from multiple related projects in one view.

The available boards may include:

Planning Board

The Planning Board helps you review and adjust task dates across projects.

Assignment Board

The Assignment Board helps you see who is assigned to work across the program or portfolio.

Status Board

The Status Board organizes tasks by status so you can monitor work moving from one stage to another.

Tasks can also be grouped into swim lanes by fields such as:

• Project
• Task owner
• Status
• Other available grouping fields

This can be useful during program status meetings because the team can review work across multiple projects from one board.

Can you report on risks and issues across multiple projects?

Yes. Risks, actions, issues, and decisions recorded within individual projects can be reviewed together at the program or portfolio level.

This gives leaders a consolidated RAID view while allowing project managers to continue managing each item within its original project.

Program and portfolio RAID reporting can help answer questions such as:

• Which risks have the highest probability or impact?
• Which issues remain unresolved?
• Which actions are overdue?
• Which decisions require leadership attention?
• Which projects have the greatest concentration of risk?

Users can review the combined list and, where supported, add or update items without returning to each individual project.

Can you review meeting minutes across a program?

Yes. Meeting minutes associated with projects can be reviewed together at the program or portfolio level.

This can help users find:

• Decisions made in previous meetings
• Risks or issues that were discussed
• Action items assigned to team members
• Notes from meetings across related projects
• Historical context for current project activity

A consolidated meeting-minutes view reduces the need to search through individual projects or email threads to find previous discussions.

Can program and portfolio reports show planned versus actual performance?

Yes. Supported reports can compare planned and actual information across projects, programs, and portfolios.

Examples include:

• Planned hours compared with actual hours
• Planned costs compared with actual costs
• Scheduled work compared with completed work
• Budgeted amounts compared with recorded costs or expenses

For example, planned hours may come from the project schedule, while actual hours come from time entries submitted by team members.

The results can then be grouped by program, project, or task to show where differences occurred.

Can you report by month, quarter, or another period?

Yes. Time-phased budget and work reports can be used to review planned and actual performance for a selected reporting period.

You may use these reports to review:

• The previous month
• The current month
• The next month
• A quarter
• A fiscal period
• A custom date range

This helps program and portfolio managers understand both historical performance and upcoming demand.

Which projects are included in program and portfolio totals?

The projects included in calculations may depend on their status and the filters applied to the report.

For example:

• Active projects may be included in current calculations.
• Planned or inactive projects may be excluded from some totals until activated.
• Archived projects may be removed from standard views.
• Closed portfolios or programs may be excluded when open-only filters are applied.

Review the project status and report filters when totals do not match the projects you expected to see.

Can you combine programs and portfolios with other reporting fields?

Yes. Program and Portfolio can be used alongside other Project Insight fields.

For example, you may combine program or portfolio reporting with:

• Department
• Project type
• Project priority
• Project status
• Project phase
• Sponsor
• Company
• Resource
• Custom fields
• Custom items

This allows organizations with departmental PMOs, strategic initiatives, client portfolios, or multiple business units to organize the same project data in different ways.

Do you have to use both programs and portfolios?

No. Programs and portfolios can be used together or separately.

An organization may use:

• Projects only
• Programs and projects
• Portfolios and projects
• Portfolios, programs, and projects

For example, a smaller organization may only need programs to group related projects. A larger organization may use portfolios above programs to support an additional level of strategic reporting.

How do you enable program and portfolio management?

Program and portfolio management is enabled through the Project Insight add-ons area.

To enable it:

1. Open Add-ons.
2. Locate Program and Portfolio Management.
3. Install or enable the add-on.
4. Open the add-on configuration.
5. Enable Programs.
6. Enable Portfolios if your organization uses them.
7. Select the fields you want available on program and portfolio forms.
8. Save the configuration.

If Portfolio does not appear as an available field on a program, confirm that portfolios have been enabled in the add-on configuration.

How do you associate a project with a program?

To associate a project with a program:

1. Open the project.
2. Select Edit.
3. Locate the Program field.
4. Select the appropriate program.
5. Save the project.

Once the association is saved, the project can appear in the program’s views and reporting results.

How do you associate a program with a portfolio?

To associate a program with a portfolio:

1. Open the program.
2. Select Edit.
3. Locate the Portfolio field.
4. Select the appropriate portfolio.
5. Save the program.

Projects assigned to that program can then roll up into the selected portfolio.

If the Portfolio field does not appear, confirm that portfolios are enabled in the Program and Portfolio Management add-on.

Best practices for program and portfolio reporting

For more useful program and portfolio reports:

• Assign each project to the correct program or portfolio.
• Use consistent project statuses, phases, and priorities.
• Keep schedules and milestones current.
• Ask team members to enter time and expenses consistently.
• Record risks, issues, actions, and decisions within the related projects.
• Use saved report layouts for recurring reviews.
• Group results from portfolio to program to project when executives need both summary and detail.
• Use filters to focus reports on active work and the appropriate reporting period.
• Schedule recurring reports for stakeholders who need regular updates.

Program and portfolio reporting is only as complete as the project information being captured. Keeping project records current improves the accuracy of every higher-level rollup.