Management of Portfolios Training

Public Scheduled and On-Site Courses (delivered on customer site)

About Management of Portfolios

To be successful, organizations must evolve and this means improving how they run their business on a daily basis (business as usual) and adapting to emerging demands and expectations. Management of Portfolios (MoP) helps organizations make decisions about implementing the right changes to business as usual; those changes are delivered via projects and programmes. It also provides a 'helicopter view' of all change activities - both those in planning and those in delivery - including providing a clear line of sight about what is in the portfolio, what it is costing, what risks are faced, what progress is being made, and with what impact on business as usual and the organization's strategic objectives.

Rather than representing a new discipline, MoP seeks to build on, and better co-ordinate, existing processes such as strategic planning, investment appraisal and project and programme management. MoP is not concerned with the detailed management of these projects and programmes; rather, it approaches the management of change projects and programmes from a strategic viewpoint, focusing on the key issues outlined above. This is reflected in the following formal definition for portfolio management, which is:

A co-ordinated collection of strategic processes and decisions that together enable the most effective balance of organizational change and business as usual

MoP can be used effectively within specific directorates of the organization - for example, the 'IT portfolio'. However, the greatest success is realised when management boards use portfolio management to deliver the organization's corporate change portfolio as a whole.

MoP addresses the fundamental questions:

Are we doing the right things?
Are we doing these things right?
Most significantly, are we realising all the benefits in terms of more effective services and efficiency savings from the changes we are implementing?

MoP Qualification Scheme

The MoP Qualification Scheme is developed by the APM Group Ltd in partnership with the Cabinet Office and The Stationery Office (TSO).

There are two MoP qualifications, the Foundation and the Practitioner:

MoP Foundation Qualification

The exam format is as follows:

Multiple choice
50 questions per paper
25 marks required to pass (out of 50 available) - 50%
40 minutes duration
Closed book

MoP Practitioner Qualification

Objective testing format
4 questions per paper with 20 marks available per question - all question items will be worth 1 mark, making the total number of marks available per paper 80
3 hours allowed
Open book exam (MoP guide only)
40 marks required (out of 80 available) to pass - 50%

Candidates must pass the Foundation Exam before the Practitioner Exam, either on the same day or separately. If a candidate has previously passed the Foundation Exam, they qualify to sit the Practitioner Exam without needing to re-sit the Foundation.

The 3-day MoP Foundation course includes the Foundation exam, which is taken on the last day of the course. The MoP Foundation & Practitioner course includes the Foundation exam on the third day, and the Practitioner exam on the fifth (final) day. The MoP Practitioner Upgrade course is for those who have passed their Foundation exam and would like to become Practitioners. The Practitoner exam is taken on the second of the two days.

Cannot find it....

If you are looking for a particular Management of Portfolios training course title but cannot find it in the above list, please contact the sales team via our training enquiries form or by telephone using the number shown at the top of the right hand column.

Public Schedule

View individual course outlines above to see available dates and locations.