Projects, Programs, Portfolios, and operations Management
A Program is a set of related projects, subprograms, and activities that can yield better result and more benefits when coordinated together. Program management, like project management, focuses on running programs and projects the right way.
A Portfolio is a set of programs, projects, and operations that are managed together to achieve a strategic goal. Portfolio management focuses on selecting the right programs and projects to execute.
Operations Management is concerned with managing ongoing processes. Managing the production in a factory is an example of operation management.
If we want to look at a big picture and see how these concepts go together, we can see that we have the portfolio that represents the set pf programs, projects, operations, and activities running under it (see following image). These projects programs, and activities could be running together or at different times. The results of these combined or individually could result in new operations of a new state of the company, organization, or portfolio.