Portfolio Management in Non-Profit Organizations: The Case of Groningen's Municipality

The purpose of this research is to develop a method to support governing the information function, and in particular, the planning and prioritization of IT projects. Groningen's municipality serves as a case study organization. The core of the methodology consists of the 'Hourglass', which provides the overview of IT and service programs. The Hourglass supports the Municipal Council to supervise the college program, which, in its turn, is based on a long- term strategy. These layers all play a subsequent role in the development of the project portfolio. Consequently, the Hourglass provides a transparent methodology that enables the development and tracing of the IT project portfolio of Groningen's municipality. The Hourglass methodology has been derived from the reviewing of literature and the conducting of case studies of Groningen's municipality. Literature regarding characteristics of the organization itself and external literature has been used. Within the municipality, the characteristics of projects and programs were studied and key decision makers were interviewed. The Hourglass methodology has now been operational for one year. This research also contains a method that prioritizes the proposed projects in a portfolio model. By using the prioritization technique, the implications that new projects have for the organization can be assessed in a significantly better manner. The Hourglass is also an instrument for the guidance of finances, planning of capacity and scheduling. Because of the Hourglass model, the successful and timely completion of projects has increased significantly.