Thanks and welcome to Dr. Per Svejvig and Dr. Shegaw Mengiste

1. IT Project Portfolio Management: Vertical and Horizontal Work Design Problems in a Public Organization

2. Thanks and welcome to • Dr. Per Svejvig and Dr. ShegawMengiste

3. Overview (RQ1) how does a public organization design IT PPM, (RQ2) what problems are caused by this design, (RQ3) and what changes can be recommended to improve IT PPM? • Definitions • Is this IS? • Practical problem (in local governments) • Research gab - Five concepts from work design theory Research questions Theoretical frame Introduction PhD Research process Contributions Discussion Analysis • Basis assumptions • Engaged Scholarship • - Three cycles of engagement - Concept map - Recommendations • Each research question's • contribution to the IS literature - Use of the five concepts

4. Introduction • IT Project Portfolio Management (IT PPM) • Analogy: IT PPM is like team management in professional cycling - it focuses on the team’s overall strategy and allocation of resources. (Fonstad and Robertson 2006).

5. Introduction • Information Systems characteristics: • IT PPM consists of vertical and horizontal mechanisms, linking different stakeholders from the business part and the and IT part of the organization (Fonstad and Robertson 2006). • IT PPM is interrelated with portfolios of IT applications, and portfolios of IT Infrastructure (Kumar et al. 2008). • IT PPM consists of IT projects, which I define as: the implementation or modification of a business unit’s access to information using technical media such as computers, cables or phone switches (Bonham 2005).

6. Introduction • Digital initiatives from the Danish government: • Increased amount of digitalization initiatives during the last 30 years • “the greatest digital leap so far” • (Regeringen 2011). Pressure A Practical problem 98 Danish local governments Cost cuts in the local governments budgets of historical dimensions: Budgets are 6 billion d.dk below the level in 2009 14.000 fulltime jobs in are abolish during 2011 (KL’s ØkonomiskeSekretariat 2012). Pressure *

7. Introduction Danish Local governments go towards an more offensive mode in IT PPM? Local governments DISIMIT 2012 (n=55) Norlan and McFarlan (2005)

8. Introduction Local government of Newport

9. Introduktion • From an Information Systems perspective • Call for more knowledge regarding the vertical and horizontal mechanisms connecting organizations strategy to the local IT projects (Fonstad and Robertson 2006) • Lack of empirical research identifying what IT PPM related problems a real life organization experiences. Most IT PPM research gives precedence to theory (Hansen and Kræmmergaard 2011), and will at worst ignore real life IT PPM problems. • IT PPM practices suggested by the literature do not fit the reality of local governments. (Pedersen and Hansen 2010; Hansen 2011; Pedersen and Nielsen 2012). *

10. Research questions • (RQ1)How does a public organization design IT PPM, (RQ2) what problems are caused by this design, (RQ3) and what changes can be recommended to improve IT PPM?

11. Research framework

12. Research process • Basic assumptions: • Research must contribute to practice as well as research otherwise we (in IS) will lose credibility in the long run (Van de Ven 2007). • Engaging in empirical reality increase the likelihood that research provides relevant results (Van de Ven 2007) • Analogy – like the work of a miner digging for valuable metal. The miner will never find all the valuable metal below the surface. But the amount of days used on working in the mine and careful planning at night, will increase the likelihood of valuable finding (Kvale 1994).

13. Research process

14. Research process

15. Analysis Concept 1: Vertical division of work:

16. Analysis Concept 1: Vertical division of work:

17. Analysis Concept 2: Horizontal division of work: Archer and Ghasemzadeh 2007

18. Analysis Concept 2: Horizontal division of work:

19. Research framework

20. Analysis Concept 3: Hierarchical decomposition problems Hansen and Kræmmergaard (2012a; 2012b)

21. Analysis Concept 4: Modularity problems: Hansen and Mengiste (2012)

22. Analysis Concept 5: Complex network problems:

23. Research framework

24. Discussion

25. Discussion Recommendations to address Hierarchical decomposition problems Hansen and Kræmmergaard (2012b)

26. Discussion Recommendations to address modularity problems Hansen and Mengiste (2012)

27. Discussion Recommendations to address complex network problems (Cummings 2009)

28. Discussion Recommendations to address complex network problems

29. Contributions • (RQ1)How does a public organization design IT PPM • Shows how vertical linking mechanisms, as emphasized by Fonstad and Robertson (2006), not only consist of funding reviews, reward systems, strategy boards: I find that authority, knowledge and resources can be divided across hierarchical levels • Shows how horizontal linking mechanisms, as emphasized, by Fonstad and Robertson (2006) demands coordinate between units, not only coordination between IT and business units

30. Contributions • (RQ2) what problems are caused by this design? • My research takes an more empirical driven approach to identify problems (searching in three fundamental problem areas). • My research is in contrast to the more normative advises from maturity and decision models in the IT PPM literature

31. Contributions • (RQ3) what changes can be recommended to improve IT PPM? • The IT PPM principles suggested by the literature does not fit the reality of Danish public organizations (Pedersen and Hansen 2010; Hansen 2011). • I agree with Verhoef (2002) that use of more formalized mechanisms in IT PPM in an public organization is beneficial But I find that IT PPM is more that rational mechanisms, and therefore differs from the assumption by Verhoef (2002), that organizational stakeholders, like stock-brokers can apply friction-free marked mechanisms to select the most beneficial portfolio of IT projects. • Thus I follow Hansen and Kræmmergard (2011), arguing that more research must be put on real life problems and conflicting interests, to provide more solid recommendations to improve IT PPM in a public organization