Project portfolio management (PPM) software improves project efficiency, leads to better resource utilization, and provides real-time visibility to keep projects aligned with business objectives. Oracle PPM has many apps and tools dedicated to this discipline.

Let’s see what Oracle project portfolio management has to offer by first defining Oracle PPM software and who should use it. Then, we’ll review the top products Oracle offers to help manage a portfolio of projects.

What Is Oracle PPM Software?

Oracle project portfolio management software is a suite of enterprise-level tools designed to help organizations plan, manage and execute projects more efficiently. It provides a comprehensive set of capabilities for project, portfolio, resources, financial, and risk management.

Large enterprises typically use the software to manage complex, multi-project environments and portfolios to ensure that projects are aligned with strategic goals, executed efficiently and delivered on time and within budget. However, the tool has some issues, such as a steep learning curve, high implementation costs, limited customization options, complex integrations with other systems, potential issues with reporting and data visualization and a reputation for being less agile for fast-paced project environments. These hurdles might be too hard to clear, which is why there are other project portfolio management software options.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that’s an affordable and powerful alternative to Oracle PPM software. For example, our powerful project portfolio roadmaps collect all projects in a program or portfolio and display them on one Gantt chart, which has resource management, time tracking and task management features. Users can filter by assignee, project manager or customer to make forecasts, view which projects are open and who’s assigned to tasks as well as highlight key metrics for stakeholders. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Who Should Use Oracle PPM Software?

Oracle project portfolio management software is best suited for large and complex organizations that manage a variety of projects, often across multiple departments, divisions or geographies. The following types of organizations and individuals are likely to benefit the most from using it.

• Project Portfolio Managers: These professionals oversee a collection of projects within an organization, ensuring that the right projects are chosen, resources are allocated efficiently and strategic objectives are met.
• Project Management Offices: An internal or external project management office (PMO) sets standards, ensures project governance and supports project managers across the organization. They need tools to enforce best practices, ensure consistency and manage projects effectively.
• Program Managers: Program managers are responsible for managing a group of related projects that contribute to achieving a larger organizational goal or initiative. Like the others in this list, they need tools that enable them to manage and optimize the program, prioritizing projects based on strategic goals and ensuring resources are allocated effectively across all projects.

6 Top Oracle PPM Software

Oracle offers a suite of project portfolio management software projects that cater to various aspects of project, portfolio and program management. Let’s look at some of the best tools and see what they can do to help manage projects, programs and portfolios.

1. Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management

This is one of the most well-known project management tools, especially for large-scale, complex projects in industries such as construction, engineering and energy. It provides powerful scheduling, resource management and portfolio management tools. There are resource management features to allocate, level and optimize resources and integrated risk analysis features to predict and mitigate risks.

While a powerful tool with comprehensive features, this tool can be difficult to learn for new users and may require extensive training. This includes the complex setup, especially for large projects. It can prove time-consuming and difficult to get the software up and running. If those issues weren’t enough, this Oracle PPM software isn’t cheap. No one would expect it to be a steal, with all the features it has, but the tool is extremely expensive, particularly for smaller organizations or projects. On top of that, the user interface is often criticized for being outdated and not as intuitive as some modern software solutions.

2. Oracle Primavera Cloud

Another Oracle PPM software is this cloud-based solution that combines portfolio management, project execution, financials and resource management into one platform. It is particularly suitable for organizations looking for a fully integrated cloud solution. One advantage of this product is that it’s on the cloud, meaning it’s a flexible, easily scalable and accessible product. Also, a plus is its features, ranging from project financial management, resource planning and project execution to portfolio management. It also provides real-time dashboards and reporting for data-driven decisions and is a collaborative platform that helps teams work together.

As with many of the Oracle project portfolio management software products reviewed on this list, this one also involves a complex implementation. Getting the software up and running, not to mention customizing the system for an organization’s specific needs, can be very challenging. In some cases, it might be too challenging and have users looking for a different solution. Again, cost is an issue. This is a premium software and the costs associated with licensing and implementation can be very high and outside of most budgets. This is especially true for smaller teams and projects. The tool is for medium-to-large-sized enterprises and is often too complex for smaller organizations.

3. Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management

This is another cloud-based Oracle PPM software that has tools for managing projects, portfolios, resources and financials. It integrates with other Oracle Cloud applications, like Oracle ERP and Oracle HCM, to offer a unified platform for project management across various industries. Features include project planning and execution, such as task management, scheduling and milestone tracking. There’s also resource management to allocate, track and collaborate. Risk management tools identify, track and mitigate risks.

No surprise, the cost is high due to licensing and implementation. Additional customization, training and implementation costs will add up. There’s also a complicated pricing structure, depending on the modules and services selected. Then there’s the complex setup and customization. Due to the system’s extensive capabilities and integration with other Oracle Cloud modules, initial setup and customization takes time, which will delay the adoption of the software. When done, put aside a good amount of time for learning and training the team on how to use the tool. This is overkill for smaller organizations and larger ones need to calculate the costs and time involved in using this tool.

4. Oracle Aconex

This cloud-based project management tool is primarily used in the construction, engineering and infrastructure sectors. It focuses on streamlining communication, collaboration and document control throughout the project life cycle. Its document management includes version control, approval workflows and tracking documents across project phases. It has real-time collaboration, workflow automation and security measures to protect sensitive project data. It can integrate with other enterprise systems like Oracle ERP, providing communication between financial, operational and project data.

The problem with this Oracle PPM software is that it lacks advanced project scheduling, resource management and budgeting features that more comprehensive PPM tools offer. Therefore, we can’t recommend it for project management that requires task tracking, resource allocation or financial management. For those who are stuck with it, they’ll need to purchase other tools to fill in those holes. Even on its own, the user interface is complex and there are challenges to its navigation, which will prove frustrating. For all these reasons one would expect at least a fair price, but no, the software is expensive and there are hidden costs related to integrations, training and additional storage.

5. Oracle Hyperion Portfolio Management

Designed for managing and optimizing financial portfolios, particularly in the context of corporate finance, investments and project portfolios. It’s part of the broader Oracle Hyperion suite, which provides a range of financial management and performance management tools. This Oracle PPM software is tailored to help organizations manage their investments, make informed decisions and optimize financial outcomes.

Oracle can’t seem to make simple software. This one has a high learning curve and complex configuration like almost all the rest. Keeping consistent, the high cost of this product and ongoing operational costs are going to make a lot of potential users pass. If they don’t, prepare for a time-consuming setup that requires specialized expertise. Once done, the tool isn’t user-friendly, especially for those non-financial users. Anyone who wants to use it for project management will be disappointed. It doesn’t offer detailed project management features.

6. Oracle Analytics Cloud

This Oracle PPM software is a comprehensive, cloud-based business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform designed to help organizations analyze, visualize and derive insights from their data. It offers a wide range of analytics capabilities including reporting, dashboards, data visualization and advanced analytics, along with integration capabilities for various data sources. It’s collaborative and mobile-friendly to allow users to access dashboards and reports from their devices.

Again, this is complex software, especially for new users. It requires advanced setup and configuration by IT professionals or data analysts, which will slow down initial adaptation. Small-and-mid-sized companies will find the tool prohibitively expensive. Oracle’s pricing model is typically based on user count, storage or compute power, which can make it confusing to navigate. Even for those using it simply for analytics, the software has limited customization for some visualizations and those it has can be difficult for non-technical users to customize.

ProjectManager Is Better Than Oracle Project Portfolio Management Software

It’s clear that users who want to invest in Oracle PPM software better be ready to spend a lot of money for the privilege. At best, users will need to subscribe to a couple if not more of these products to get a full suite of project portfolio management features. Or they can use ProjectManager, award-winning project and portfolio management software that has analytic tools, programs and portfolio management tools all in one place and at a reasonable price. Users get secure data, risk management features to identify and mitigate risks, and document management, including version control and global search. There are automated workflows with task approval settings for quality control and seamless integration with cloud ERP to sync operation and financial data between systems to automate reports, invoices and expenses.

Robust Resource Management Features for PPM

Program and portfolio managers can plan human and non-human resources on robust Gantt charts. Then, when onboarding teams, they can set their availability, including vacation, PTO and global holidays, as well as skills, to streamline assignments. Roadmaps help to allocate resources across projects to make sure they’re available when and where they’re needed. There’s also a team page and color-coded workload chart to view resource utilization and balance workload to ensure everyone is working at capacity without risking burnout.

Real-Time Cost, Time and Cost Data Project Portfolio Dashboards

For a high-level overview of all the projects in a program or portfolio, toggle to the real-time portfolio dashboards. They automatically collect live data and display metrics such as time, cost, workload and more on easy-to-read graphs and charts. This is like getting a portfolio status report whenever one wants it. There are also customizable reports, including a portfolio status report, which can be filtered to highlight status, customer, priority and more. There are also reports on timesheets, variance, workload and more. All reports can be easily shared to keep stakeholders informed.

Related Content on Project Portfolio Management Tools

For those who want to read more about project portfolio management, we have a handful of links below to posts on software, templates and more.

• Best Project Portfolio Management Software
• Project Portfolio Management Software
• What Is Oracle Primavera P6? Uses, Features & Pricing
• PMO Templates for Excel and Word
• What Is Oracle Primavera Cloud? Uses, Features & Pricing

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, out in the field or anywhere in the world. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay up to date with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who are using our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.